The Cooper Foundation has received a $982,000 grant from the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation to support the work of Cooper University Health Care’s (UHI) Urban Health Institute. These funds will support a new initiative – Reducing Disparities in Cardiovascular Care through Optimization of Risk Factors in Vulnerable Populations – that will provide behavior-change support, focus attention on social determinants of health, connect patients to community resources, and enhance medication adherence with the help of an interdisciplinary team.
“This generous grant from Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation will allow us to advance the efforts of Cooper’s Urban Health Institute to find innovative, new ways to provide care that both improves outcomes and reduces costs,” said Susan Bass Levin, President and CEO of The Cooper Foundation. “Most importantly, this funding will allow us to serve those most in need.”
The program will target Medicaid patients from Camden City or the region with a history of atrial fibrillation, heart attack, or stroke who are failing medical treatment or have a higher frequency of hospital or emergency room use. The overarching goal of the intervention is to decrease disparities in cardiovascular disease (CVD)-related care by delivering evidence-based care more uniformly across the under-resourced population of Camden, NJ. In the process, a sustainable model of care delivery will be developed to share with other communities. Using team-based care with a LPN, health coaches, and a clinical pharmacist with physician oversight, the program will connect several medical specialties with programming to address medical and non-medical factors affecting CVD risk.
“Cooper is dedicated to redesigning and improving care delivery to under-served populations,” said Steven T. Kaufman, MD, Division Head of Endocrinology at Cooper University Health Care, and Medical Director for the health system’s Urban Health Institute. “We are grateful to the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation for this grant funding which will allow us to reach even more individuals.”
The Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation is committed to improving and expanding care for uninsured or underinsured people who are struggling with cancer or cardiovascular disease.
“Cooper’s Urban Health Institute, working in partnership with the Camden community, is on the leading edge of innovation that produces systemic change for greater health equity,” said John Damonti, President of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation. “We are pleased to support their work focused on the need of patients to get timely access to specialty care to effectively manage cardiovascular disease.”