August 23, 2013

Cincinnati is in the national spotlight for our startup culture. These startups, seeded by venture capital, are helping transform Greater Cincinnati’s business climate. There’s another kind of venture capital flowing as well—changing how health care is delivered to improve quality, enhance patient satisfaction and reduce costs.

By the end of 2013, Bethesda Inc., one of two sponsors of TriHealth, will have invested more than $18.6 million over the past three years in innovative health care programs.

Grants Spark Design Changes

Health care is in the midst of its biggest change since Medicare began in 1967. Now is the time to be forward-looking and develop new ideas that will break new ground locally and
nationally.

For example:

• A three-year Bethesda Inc. grant to the Health Collaborative of Greater Cincinnati helped build Your Health Matters (yourhealthmatters.org). This Web site is one of the nation’s first to provide quality information to consumers, including measuring the results of care for diabetes and other chronic diseases.
• A two-year grant to TriHealth allowed us to be among the first nationally to adopt the Patient-Centered Medical Home model as our standard for primary care. This was a key factor in attracting significant federal monies to pilot primary care payment models in the region.

Risk vs. Reward  

We know not all new ideas will work. However, the Bethesda Inc. grants allow us to take this risk because funding isn’t coming from patients or current operations. And these ideas are coming from practitioners themselves, in the field, who are doing the work.

The most exciting part is how much everyone is learning because each grant program is subject to rigorous evaluation and reporting. We see for ourselves the difference that’s being made—and the benefits to others.