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A special publication highlighting Year One of the National Institute for Medical Respite Care July 12, 2021
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"Nothing has compared to this last year!"
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Julia Dobbins, NIMRC Director of Programs & Services
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| We are so excited this month to honor and celebrate the one-year anniversary of the launch of the National Institute for Medical Respite Care. The decision to launch a new initiative of the National Health Care for the Homeless Council in the middle of a global pandemic may have seemed odd to some but, as we reflect on the highlights of NIMRC in its first 12 months, we feel certain that our timing was right.
First and most importantly, this initiative brought with it a new Medical Respite/Recuperative Care team at the Council. In the short time that we’ve had Caitlin Synovec (Medical Respite Manager) and Stephen Wilder (Medical Respite Coordinator) on staff, they have expanded the depth and breadth of our medical respite/recuperative care resources, support, and expertise. They are creative, hard-working, and fiercely passionate about this work. We are proud to have them as inaugural members of this team.
In addition to new staff, our work at NIMRC has opened the door to several new local, state, and national partnerships. These partnerships and the projects we’ve developed together, are elevating the profile of medical respite/recuperative care and the Respite Care Providers' Network (RCPN) to communities and fields we have previously struggled to reach. We are at the table with hospital associations, health care plans, and state Medicaid staff as they discuss integration and expansion of medical respite/recuperative care services within complex systems of care. We are also introducing new organizations and foundations to the work of medical respite/recuperative care programs. These connections have led to exciting and innovative projects, including a two-year project funded by the CDC Foundation that supports nine medical respite/recuperative care programs in their COVID-19 response.
While we are proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish in this first year of NIMRC, we are thrilled about what is on the horizon. In the next few months, we will publish the updated Standards for Medical Respite Care based on feedback from national work groups, focus groups, and field tests. These updated standards reflect increased focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, consumer engagement, and addressing bias in a medical respite/recuperative care setting. This winter, we will complete a Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI)-funded project with 25 medical respite/recuperative program representatives that will result in a comprehensive research plan. In Spring 2022, we’ll pilot a new medical respite/recuperative care online course. We are developing new resources on clinical care, mental health in respite, fundraising and philanthropy, and partnering with health centers and Continuums of Care (CoCs). We also are excited to begin planning our next Medical Respite/Recuperative Care National Symposium, a follow-up to the symposium we hosted in Phoenix in 2018.
In August, I will celebrate nine years with the National Health Care for the Homeless Council. While all nine years have brought joy and challenge, nothing has compared to this last year. When I first began working with medical respite/recuperative care providers, I was struck by their warmth, generosity, tenacity, and unflappable nature. Seeing how programs and providers responded so quickly and thoughtfully to the COVID-19 pandemic was inspiring. We launched NIMRC with the goal of expanding medical respite/recuperative care nationally and we couldn’t have done that without this incredible community. We are grateful for your continued support and partnership, and I am grateful to stand side-by-side with you in this movement for health and housing justice.
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"Through NIMRC and its network of more than 115 programs and partners, we hope to continue providing care to those in immediate need, and to ensure that medical respite/recuperative care is a part of the solution to ending homelessness."
-- Bobby Watts, CEO, National Health Care for the Homeless Council, and Director, National Institute for Medical Respite Care
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The National Institute for Medical Respite Care launched on July 15, 2020, but it was an idea that was years in the making. The first national convening of medical respite providers took place in 2000. A few years after that, the Respite Care Providers’ Network was created with a mission to improve the health status of individuals who are homeless by supporting programs that provide medical respite/recuperative care and related services. Their many years of groundwork built the foundation for what was to become NIMRC. (Pictured below: Members of the RCPN and Council staff, 2016.)
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Today, there are approximately 1,800 individual members in the RCPN. On an organizational level, there are more than 115 medical respite/recuperative care programs, representing 35 states and the District of Columbia, listed in NIMRC’s national directory. (If your medical respite/recuperative care program is not reflected in the directory, you may complete a program profile form and contact Julia Dobbins.)
NIMRC has made a significant impact in its first year. In addition to partnering with the United Health Foundation and the CDC Foundation to award more than $2.4 million in support to 15 medical respite/recuperative care programs in 11 states and the District of Columbia, NIMRC also has published several reports and issue briefs, and provided training and technical assistance to medical respite/recuperative care programs throughout the nation.
Another milestone will be reached in the fall with the release of the 2021 Standards for Medical Respite Programs. Revised every five years with input from consumers, medical respite/recuperative care providers, and staff, the Standards reflect best practices in the field and serve as a framework to help programs operate safely, effectively, and seamlessly with local health care systems.
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Join us on Twitter on Thursday, July 15, at 2 p.m. ET/1 p.m. CT/12 p.m. MT/11 a.m. PT/10 a.m. AT/8 a.m. HAT as we celebrate NIMRC's one-year anniversary!
You’re invited to join the conversation on Twitter at @NatlInstMRCare. We will be sharing NIMRC highlights, resources, and more throughout the hour. We encourage you to share, retweet, and tag others using the #NIMRCTurns1 and #CelebrateNIMRC hashtags.
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"There is a chasm in care between being discharged from a hospital and arriving at a shelter. Medical respite/recuperative care uniquely fills that gap to help create a continuum of health care for people experiencing homelessness. NIMRC has been instrumental in leading the effort to address this chasm by defining and promoting holistic, high quality medical care through the promotion of medical respite. I have personally witnessed lives saved and positively changed while in respite programs. I cannot wait to see how many more respite programs will grow and open and, consequently, how many lives positively impacted through the leadership of NIMRC!"
-- Courtney Pladsen, NIMRC Director of Clinical & Quality Improvement
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Supporting Program Growth and Innovation
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Through partnerships with United Health Foundation and the CDC Foundation, NIMRC has been able to support programs nationwide in their work to develop and expand medical respite/recuperative care.
In Spring 2020, United Health Foundation granted $800,000 in support of medical respite/recuperative care programs. Awards were made to eight programs in five states and the District of Columbia. More recently, in February 2021, nine existing and emerging medical respite/recuperative care programs in six states and the District of Columbia received grants totaling $1.6 million from the CDC Foundation. The CDC Foundation funding enables programs to mitigate barriers resulting from inadequate facilities or physical space; insufficient staffing and personnel; and insufficient medical equipment.
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"NIMRC welcomed the opportunity to distribute $2.4 million to medical respite/recuperative care programs in 11 states through the Institute's grant making partnerships with United Health Foundation and the Centers for Disease Control Foundation in the past year. Thousands of medically vulnerable, unhoused people received care and services in the midst of the pandemic."
-- Dott Freeman, NIMRC Director of Philanthropy & Communications
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Year One Research and Training Highlights
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"As we move into NIMRC’s second year and implement the lessons learned from COVID-19 responses, we look forward to working even more closely with hospitals, state Medicaid programs, managed care entities, and others to develop and expand these programs as a vital component to ending homelessness."
-- Barbara DiPietro, NIMRC Director of Policy
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Follow us the most up-to-date information on the Council and NIMRC!
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National Institute for Medical Respite Care
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National Health Care for the Homeless Council
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| Grounded in human rights and social justice, the National Health Care for the Homeless Council's mission is to build an equitable, high-quality health care system through training, research, and advocacy in the movement to end homelessness.
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