Cardinal grants $1 million in health funding

DUBLIN, Ohio For the third consecutive year, the Cardinal Health Foundation has awarded more than $1 million in grant funding for U.S. hospitals, health systems and community health clinics.

The goal, the company noted, is to “improve the efficiency and quality of care” at those institutions. Forty organizations in 25 states will share in the funds, with individual grants ranging from $7,500 to $37,500.

Since the launch of its E3 Grant Program in 2008, the Cardinal Foundation has awarded 108 grants totaling more than $3 million “to help hospitals, health systems and clinics implement evidence-based best practices that improve patient safety and the cost effectiveness of health care.” The focus for the 2010 awards, according to the drug-distribution and health services giant, is “projects that will either improve medication management or improve efficiency and safety within the operating room.”

This year, the foundation also invited grant applicants to apply for scholarships to attend professional development programs hosted by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. To that end, scholarships were handed out to individuals from 37 heathcare facilities to attend IHI professional development programs “that will teach them how to create a culture of safety within their organizations,” Cardinal noted.

“By improving medication and operating room safety and efficiency, healthcare providers can dramatically reduce healthcare costs and even more importantly, they can save lives,” said Cardinal Health EVP public affairs Shelley Bird, who chairs the foundation.

Among this year’s grant recipients: Grady Hospital Health Foundation in Atlanta; Johns Hopkins Health System in Baltimore; Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and The Institute for Family Health in New York, the University of Alabama-Birmingham; Wayne State University; and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.