VA IS THE FIRST HOSPITAL SYSTEM TO CONDUCT A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW to determine what level of inpatient surgeries may be performed in each of its 112 surgery programs. After an expert work group’s review of surgical standards, VA conducted on-site studies of each of its hospitals between June 2009 and March 2010. As a result, VA has assigned each of its medical centers an inpatient “surgical complexity” level—complex, intermediate, or standard. VA has authorized 66 hospitals to conduct “complex” inpatient surgeries; 33 hospitals to conduct “intermediate” inpatient surgeries; and 13 to conduct “standard” inpatient surgeries. Hospitals with a “complex” rating require special infrastructure allowing intricate operations, such as cardiac surgery, craniotomies, and total pancreatectomies. Those with an “intermediate” rating may perform surgeries such as colon resections, repairs of abdominal aortic aneurysms, and complete joint replacement.  Those with a “standard” complexity rating may perform inpatient surgeries requiring limited infrastructure, such as hernia repair, cholecystecomy, urologic procedures and ENT surgeries. VA does not anticipate that any veteran surgery will need to be rescheduled at these or other facilities due to the initiative.

A CENTER OF EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH ON DISABILITY SERVICES, Care Coordination and Integration will be established using $6 million in Recovery Act funds, HHS announced last month. The contract has been awarded to Mathematica Policy Research, Inc for a two-year period and is aimed at building the infrastructure necessary to support and conduct research on the effectiveness and comparative effectiveness of systems of care for people with disabilities. The center will identify data sources, evaluate the usability of data, conduct research, and disseminate scientifically and clinically relevant information to help patients, providers, policy makers, consumers, caregivers, and family members make decisions on health care.  One of the key components of this effort is the collaboration with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Chronic Conditions Warehouse. The center will link Medicaid data sources and other datasets relevant to people with disability to the CCW. In addition, Medicaid data—state plan and waiver services supplied by specific states—will be assessed and used to identify and propose ways to achieve greater consistency on how services are used and defined.

A PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, NSF, AND NIH has created a $12 million competition to foster innovation. The i6 Challenge will award up to $1 million to each of six teams around the country with the most innovative ideas to drive technology commercialization and entrepreneurship. NIH and NSF will award a total of up to $6 million in additional funding to NIH or NSF Small Business Innovation Research grantees associated with winning teams. Entrepreneurs, investors, universities, foundations, and non-profits are encouraged to participate in the i6 Challenge. The deadline for applications is July 15, 2010. Information can be found at www.eda.gov/i6.

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