HomeMy WebLinkAboutGrant Req - Volunteers in MedicineEconomic Development Fund
Discretionary Grant Program
Organization: Volunteers in Medicine
Organization Description: Volunteers in Medicine Clinic of the Cascades is a non-
profit medical clinic on the St. Charles hospital campus. The organization's goal is to
serve the health care needs of uninsured Deschutes County residents who don't qualify
for Oregon Health Plan or Medicare and have no access to medical care.
Project Name: Information Technology Assistance Project
Project Description: These funds will be used to support three internal IT systems (E-
MD - EMR tracking system, Data Net Solutions — prescription and dispensary
coordination, Volgistics — volunteer coordination and tracking). These systems allow this
organization to track and chart patient visits, coordinate prescriptions, track patient
demographics, coordinate more than 300 volunteers, ensure adherence to clinical
protocols, manage inventory and supplies, track training and documentation. The
organization currently was a staff of 8.5 FTE and rely on the systems to ensure the
smooth operation of the clinic.
Project Period: Ongoing
Amount of Request: $2,500 (Annual subscription for systems = $7,110)
Previous Grants:
• June 2004: $5,500 Equipment ($5,500 Luke)
• January 2006: $4,500 Technology Hardware ($2,250 Daly; $2,250 Clarno)
• Dec. 2006: $3,000 Medical Equip. ($1,500 Clarno; $1,000 Daly; $500 Luke)
• Sept. 2007: $7,500 Medical Equip. ($3,000 Baney; $2,500 Luke; $2,000 Daly)
• FY 2009 Community Grant: $11,500
• Jan. 2009: $4,000 Equipment ($2,000 Unger; $1,000 Baney; $1,000 Luke)
• FY 2010 Community Grant: $10,000
6 VOLUNTEERS
IN MEDICINE
(1.11411. OF II H CAStAlrS
Providing Healthcare to the Medically Uninsured in Deschutes County
Mr. Dave Inbody
Deschutes County Administration
1300 NW Wall Street, Suite 200
Bend, OR 97701-1960
January 21, 2010
Dear Mr. Inbody:
Volunteers in Medicine Clinic of the Cascades respectfully submits this Request for Funding in the amount of $2,500 to
support and increase the ability of our clinic to coordinate specialty health care and dental care for our low-income,
uninsured patients by helping to fund our internal IT systems (Volgistics, E -MDs, and Data Net Solutions).
By helping us to fund our internal IT systems, Deschutes County will help to address the basic health care needs of our
patients by enabling us to coordinate our volunteers, prescription needs, and EMR system. All of VIM's patients are at
or below 200% of the federal poverty level, and thus considered to be a "special needs population." Our IT systems
enable us to see over 8,500 patient visits per year with the help of over 300 volunteers, all of which are coordinated by
only 8.5 FTE staff. We estimate that in 2009 VIM leveraged $6 million in care for our patients through our volunteers as
well as our community healthcare and dental partners. We are one of only three safety -net medical clinics in the Bend
area, and the only privately funded safety -net clinic in the region.
Thank you for taking the time to review our application.
Sincerely,
rr
r
Katherine Mastrangelo
Executive Director
542.585.9005
www.vim-cascades.org
2300 Neff Road = Bend, Oregon 97701 phone 541/330 9001 - fax 541/585 9002 - www.vim-cascades.orc
Deschutes County Board of Commissioners
1300 NW Wall St., Bend, OR 97701-1960
(541) 388-6570 — Fax (541) 385-3202 — Phone
www.deschutes.org
DESCHUTES COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT FUND
DISCRETIONARY GRANT PROGRAM APPLICATION
Direct Application to:
Commissioner Tammy Baney
Commissioner Dennis R. Luke
Date:
January 20, 2010
Project Beginning Date:
Amount of Request:
Applicant/Organization:
Address:
Project Name:
Ongoing
$2,500
Commissioner Alan Unger
All Three Commissioners
x
IT Assistance Project
Volunteers in Medicine,
Clinic of the Cascades
2300 NE Neff Rd.
Contact Name(s):
Fax:
Katherine Mastrangelo
(541) 585-9002
Alt. Number:
N/A
Project End Date:
Date Funds Needed:
Tax ID #:
City & Zip:
Telephone:
Email:
Ongoing
ASAP
93-1327847
Bend, 97701
(541) 585-9005
kat.mastrangelo@vim-cascades.org
* See separate documents for answers to questions 1— 6, budget, and 501c3 Status
Tammy Baney:
Dennis Luke:
Alan Unger:
Amount:
Amount:
Amount:
Signature:
Signature:
Signature:
DESCHUTES COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT FUND
DISCRETIONARY GRANT PROGRAM APPLICATION QUESTIONS
VOLUNTEERS
IN MEDICINE
CLINIC OF THE CASCADES
Volunteers in Medicine Clinic of the Cascades
1. Describe the applicant Organization, including its purpose, leadership structure, and activities.
History, Mission & Vision:
Volunteers in Medicine (VIM) Clinic of the Cascades is a private, non-profit, volunteer -powered medical
clinic that serves uninsured working families in Deschutes County. The Clinic of the Cascades is one clinic
in a network of over seventy spread across the United States. The clinic is located in Bend, Oregon on
the campus of the St. Charles Medical Center. The Clinic of the Cascades has over 300 dedicated
physicians, nurses, physician assistants, pharmacists, screeners, schedulers, medical interpreters, mental
health counselors, undergraduate, graduate, and medical students who volunteer over 25,000 hours
annually to care for our patients.
Our mission is "To improve the health and wellness of the medically uninsured through the engagement
of professionals, community partners and dedicated volunteers in Deschutes County." The vision of VIM
Clinic of the Cascades is to become a premier model of effective, integrated, volunteer -based healthcare
in Deschutes County. VIM Clinic of the Cascades has identified the following core values to be integral
to our mission and vision:
• Compassion: service through a culture of caring and kindness
• Collaboration: cultivated through synergistic, integrated partnerships
• Success: achieved through ability, action and commitment to quality
• Enrichment: nurtured through volunteers and staff through opportunity for meaningful
contribution
• Empowerment: promoted in the lives of clients and families to improve their own health and
well-being
Since the opening, the Clinic of the Cascades has provided care for over 5,000 families (40,000 + patient
visits) in Deschutes County. The clinic is on track to provide healthcare services for approximately 8,500
patient visits per year. The number of patient visits has grown at over 10% per year, and is up 25% in
the last 2 years alone. We hold daily clinics at our facility, with 4-6 PCPs and specialists on average
staffing each clinic. VIM is filling an important and growing niche in our community. Furthermore,
Deschutes County has realized a healthier and stronger workforce because of the efforts of VIM—over
1,100 businesses benefit because their employees or employees' families receive care at the VIM Clinic
of the Cascades.
Leadership & Structure:
VIM is governed by a 13 -person Board of Directors with representation from the banking, business,
industry and legal professions, Cascade Healthcare Community, the clergy, physicians, Deschutes
County, and community volunteers.
The day to day operations of the clinic are overseen by an Executive Director who leads the
administrative and medical team in their supervision and direction of over 300 volunteers. The efforts
and expertise of the volunteers are overseen by a small staff of 10 employees (8.5 FTEs) providing
continuity in clinic operations, coordination, administration, care of facilities and fund raising.
Primary Activities:
VIM provides basic outpatient, specialty referral, mental health screening and treatment, chronic
disease management, prescription assistance, and dental services. These services are provided by our
volunteer doctors, nurses, phlebotomists, interpreters, psychologists, counselors and other volunteers
who donate their time and talents free of charge.
Specialty referral services are provided by our partners in the medical community who see VIM patients
pro bono or at a reduced fee. All of the largest specialty and multi -specialty medical groups in
Deschutes County participate in our programs.
VIM can perform some urgent care by appointment and urgent care triage. Currently, we have one
acute care clinic per week which is run by the physicians of St. Charles Bend Medical Center's Emergency
Department who generously donate their time and expertise.
2. Describe the proposed project of activity
Funding will be used to support the Internal IT Systems used to manage and coordinate patient visits,
prescriptions and volunteers at VIM. These three systems are E -MDs (EMR tracking system), Data Net
Solutions (prescriptions and dispensary coordination) and Volgistics (volunteer coordination and
tracking). These IT programs enable us to:
• Track patient visits and charting through an advanced EMR system called E -MDs.
• Coordinate prescriptions with external providers.
• Track patient demographics.
• Coordinate over 300 volunteers with little staff supervision.
• Ensure adherence to clinical protocols.
• Manage inventory and supplies.
• Be responsible for training and documentation.
With over 300 clinic volunteers staffing 5 clinics a week and only 8.5 FTE staff, we rely on our IT systems
to help us orchestrate each clinic. These systems have become increasingly important as the number of
patients we see has continued to increase. In the last two years we have seen over a 25% increase in
the number of patient visits we have seen internally. At the same time we have maintained our clinical
staffing level and decreased the administrative staffing due to budget tightening. Thus the ratio of
volunteers to staff and the ratio of patient visits to staff are continuing to increase.
The risk of not obtaining the funding requested is that we may have to cut the number of patients we
can see or turn away qualified volunteers because we lack the resources to properly coordinate and
oversee their activities.
3. Provide a timeline for completing the proposed project of activity
This is an ongoing project. We plan on supplementing this project in the future by applying for additional
foundation grants and increasing individual donations.
4. Explain how the proposed project or activity will impact the community's economic health.
The need for our services has continued to increase as more people in Deschutes County have lost jobs
and insurance coverage. We are seeing more patient visits with fewer staff and a smaller budget than
we were last year, which means our internal coordination needs to be as concrete and organized as
possible. As the economy continues to be depressed in Deschutes County we expect to see a continued
increase in the need for our services for the foreseeable future. Our three IT Systems enable us to meet
this need.
Medical related debt is the leading cause of bankruptcy in the United States. In Deschutes County,
where the unemployment rate was still 15.4% in November of 2009, the risk of mounting medical bills is
high for low-income individuals. All of VIM's patients are at or below 200% of the federal poverty level.
The population we serve do not qualify for any federal or state insurance, making them one of the most
likely groups to be unable to receive medical treatment before their symptoms become urgent. Our E -
MDs (EMR system), Volgistics, and Data net Solutions systems help us to ensure that these individuals
and their families to receive basic, acute and specialty care before they need to seek emergent care, and
we provide this service pro bono or at a significantly reduced rate.
Our technical systems enable us to coordinate large volumes of patient visits, prescriptions and
volunteers with minimal staff and financial input. We are currently leveraging approximately $8 worth
of care, for every $1 donated to our clinic. The $2,500 we are requesting is less than 1% of our total
budget for this project, but this $2,500 can help us to leverage approximately $20,000 worth of care for
our patients from internal volunteers and external community specialists. This has a significant impact
on our ability to serve the community.
5. Identify the specific communities or groups that will benefit
Volunteers in Medicine positively impacts the community in several important ways. First, we provide
access to comprehensive primary health care, mental health counseling, medical management,
prescription assistance, and specialty care coordination. All of our patients are low-income, medically
uninsured individuals who live or work in Deschutes County. All of our patients are at or below 200% of
the federal poverty level, and most of them are working. We help small employers in Deschutes County
to maintain a healthy work force. Our patients and their families work for over 1,100 local small
businesses, many of whom are unable to afford costly health insurance premiums to cover their
employees.
Secondly, we provide meaningful and important work for over 300 volunteers. We know their work is
important to them because of the dedication we see from them. Many of our volunteers work with us
weekly and some of them work with us almost daily. One of our original volunteers has logged over
3,300 patient hours with us and he continues to work with us several days per week.
Finally, the care that we leverage in the health care community means that physicians can see patients
on a pro-bono basis, with the assurance that the patient has a primary care home, can access the other
necessary care from other community providers, and that the burden is being shared equally across the
community. We estimate that we save the health care system in excess of $1 million annually by
treating our patients at our clinic instead of their seeking care in the Emergency Department. We take
this role to be integral to what we do. We are the only out-patient clinic that focuses on providing care
to the low-income working uninsured residents of Deschutes County on a pro-bono basis.
6. Itemize anticipated expenditures. Describe how grant funds will be used and include the source
and mounts of matching funds or in-kind contributions, if any. If the grant will support an ongoing
activity, explain how it will be funded in the future.
See Budget (Attachment A)
6 VOLUNTEERS
IN MEDICINE
Program Budget - VIM of the Cascades
IT Assistance Program
Attachmet A
Comment
Annual subscription for software used by our volunteers in
the Dispensary to fill drug prescriptions free of charge to
patients.
Annual subscription for our EMR system. This system is a
,vital part of our clinic, as it allows us to coordinate, chart,
and track patient records, without having a paper system.
Now, with the push to move all medical providers in
Deschutes County to EMR systems it is more vital than
ever to maintain this system.
We recently changed from Volunteer Works to Volgistics,
a new and improved volunteer management system. It
allows us to track volunteer numbers and hours, and is an
integral part of our volunteer coordination system.
We are asking for about 35% of the total annual cost for us
to maintain these three systems. The Deschutes County
funding will enable us to continue to use these three
systems, which are essential for maintaining a well -
coordinated and effective clinic with over 300 volunteers
and only 8.5 FTE staff.
Deschutes County
Request
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Data Net Solutions
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INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE
P. O. BOX 2508
CINCINNATI, OH 45201
Date : MAY 21 2006
VOLUNTEERS IN MEDICINE CLINIC OF
THE CASCADES
2300 NE NEFF
BEND, OR 97701
Dear Applicant:
DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
Employer Identification Number:
93-1327897
DLN:
17053091945106
Contact Person:
THOMAS C KOESTER IDS 31116
Contact Telephone Number:
(877) 829-5500
Public Charity Status:
170(b) (1) (A) (vi)
Our letter dated November 2001, stated you would be exempt from Federal
income tax under section 501(c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and you would
be treated as a public charity, rather than as a private foundation, during
an advance ruling period.
Based on the information you submitted, you are classified as a public charity
under the Code section listed in the heading of this letter. Since your
exempt status was not under consideration, you continue to be classified as
an organization exempt from Federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the
Code.
Publication 557, Tax -Exempt Status for Your Organization, provides detailed
information about your rights and responsibilities as an exempt organization.
You may request a copy by calling the toll-free number for forms,
(800) 829-3676. Information is also available on our Internet Web Site at
www.irs.gov.
If you have general questions about exempt organizations, please call our
toll-free number shown in the heading:
Please keep this letter in your permanent records.
Sincerely yours,
Lois G. Lerner
Director, Exempt Organizations
Rulings and Agreements