Hospitals in pursuit of excellence

Reaching Vulnerable Patient Populations

St. Joseph Health, Queen of the Valley Medical Center, a 208-bed hospital in Napa, California, is improving the health and quality of life for Napa County’s most vulnerable populations. The hospital’s CARE—case management, advocacy, resources and education—Network delivers timely health care services to chronically ill patients who are low-income and uninsured or underinsured. In 2014, the CARE Network provided intensive community-based care management to 344 patients and brief care coordination and navigation to 378 patients. As a result, hospitalizations and emergency room utilization each decreased about 64 percent for these patients. Through its children’s mobile dental clinic, Queen of the Valley Medical Center offers free dental services for children living at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. In 2014, more than 2,000 children in Napa County received services through this clinic. To address mental health needs, the hospital developed community-based behavioral health programs for underserved older adults and for chronically ill patients, while also providing perinatal emotional wellness and counseling for patients. These programs have conducted more than 1,200 depression screenings and more than 1,000 in-person therapy sessions. St. Joseph Health, Queen of the Valley Medical Center is a 2015 Foster G. McGaw Prize finalist. The 2015 winner is Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Applications for the 2016 prize are due April 1.

For more information about Queen of the Valley, contact Christina Harris, coordinator, communications and marketing, at christina.harris@stjoe.org. For more information about the Foster G. McGaw Prize and winners and finalists, visit http://www.aha.org/foster