DeLauro Announces $1.4 Million Grant for Preventive Care Program
Washington, DC – Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (CT-3) announced today that Griffin Hospital in Derby, CT will receive a $1.4 million grant from the Department of Health and Human Services to fund its Preventive Medicine Residency Program.
Funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the grant will enable Griffin Hospital to continue to train physicians in preventive medicine, a critical element in improving the nation's health and a large component of the new health care reform law, the Affordable Care Act. Under new regulations recently issued by the Department of Health and Human Services, health insurance companies will be required to provide preventive care measures, such as mammograms, immunizations, and colonoscopies, with no out-of-pocket costs.
Chronic and often preventable diseases cause 7 out of 10 deaths in our country, and account for 75 percent of our health care spending. Preventive care is essential to helping Americans avoid these life-threatening ailments, or catch them before it is too late. An estimated 88 million Americans will benefit over the next three years from the recent Department of Health & Human Services regulation ensuring that these life-saving preventive measures are free for at-risk individuals.
The Griffin Hospital Preventive Medicine Residency Program, which is one of two accredited graduate medical education programs offered by the hospital, exposes physician trainees to a broad curriculum focused on population and individual based health promotion and disease prevention with particular emphasis on the prevention of chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. Through community based and clinical research, Griffin Hospital's preventive medicine residents learn to understand the healthcare needs of the community and how best to meet them. These funds will enable the program's two-track partnership with the Yale School of Epidemiology and Public Health focus on chronic disease and cancer prevention.
"I am enormously pleased that Griffin Hospital will be receiving this grant to support their preventive care program. With an astounding 70 percent of the deaths in our country attributed to diseases that are chronic and potentially preventable, it is essential that we do all we can do ensure our doctors know how to keep their patients healthy. As a cancer survivor myself, I was very lucky to have excellent doctors who detected the disease early and have been cancer-free ever since. Had my doctors not caught my cancer at its earliest stage – had I not been able to afford preventive care and only seen a doctor when I felt sick – the final outcome might have been very different," said Congresswoman DeLauro. "These funds will help to train the next generation of doctors in preventive medicine and to ensure that our citizens lead healthier, longer, and more productive lives."
"This grant demonstrates the growing appreciation of the importance of establishing a strong base of highly trained preventive specialists to assess the health status and health care needs of our communities and to lead the effort at both the local and national level to improve the health of the population. Increasing the number of practicing preventive medicine specialists is critical to enhancing the effectiveness of the country's health care delivery system in that Preventive Medicine practitioners develop and employ strategies to encourage the adoption of healthy habits and practices and to detect and treat disease early which, over the long term, will reduce the burden of chronic disease with its associated cost to society in terms of both economic resources and human suffering. Griffin Hospital has been a pioneer in community oriented primary care and preventive medicine training," said Patrick Charmel, Griffin Hospital President and CEO. "Griffin developed the first combined preventive medicine –internal medicine training program in the country which has become a national model. Program graduates are eligible for board certification in both preventive and internal medicine and have gone on to distinguished careers as public health professionals, educators, researchers, and clinicians. I am very proud of our Preventive Medicine Program faculty, interns and residents for their commitment to excellence which has been recognized by the US Department of Health and Human Services with this important grant award."