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Camden, NJ – 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 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.”
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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 underserved 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.”
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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, 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.”
About The Cooper Foundation/Cooper University Health Care
The Cooper Foundation serves as the philanthropic, community outreach and community development arm of Cooper University Health Care, one of the largest health systems in southern New Jersey with more than 100 outpatient offices and its flagship, Cooper University Hospital located in Camden, N.J.
Cooper University Hospital is the premier university hospital serving South Jersey and the Delaware Valley. Cooper has reaffirmed its role as a leader in medical education and research with the opening of Cooper Medical School of Rowan University in 2012, the first four-year allopathic medical school in South Jersey. Cooper is renowned for signature programs in cardiology, cancer, critical care, pediatrics, trauma, orthopaedics, and neurosciences. Cooper is also home to the only state designated children’s hospital in South Jersey—the Children’s Regional Hospital at Cooper.
Over the last decade, Cooper has transformed its Camden City neighborhood into the Cooper Health Sciences Campus. In October 2013, the new MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper, a freestanding cancer center for comprehensive care, opened on the Health Sciences Campus.
About Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation
The Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation is committed to improving the health outcomes of populations disproportionately affected by serious diseases by strengthening health care worker capacity, integrating medical care and community-based supportive services, and addressing unmet medical need.
The Foundation engages partners to develop, execute, evaluate, and promote innovative programs to help patients with lung cancer, veterans’ mental health and well-being, and removing barriers to accessing care in the United States; HIV and comorbid diseases such as cervical and breast cancers and tuberculosis in sub-Saharan Africa; and hepatitis B and C in China and India. For more information about Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation visit us at BMS.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook.
(Source: Media Release)