TUFTS HEALTH PLAN FOUNDATION RECEIVES NATIONAL GRANT TO ADDRESS NATIONAL/REGIONAL NURSING SHORTAGES

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	Contact:	Roberta Shaw
August 19, 2009		781-439-7152
		rshaw@denterleinworldwide.com

Collaboration will tackle nursing shortage in three New England states

Watertown, MA – Tufts Health Plan Foundation announced today that it has been chosen as one of 19 foundations nationwide to receive funding from Partners Investing in Nursing’s Future, a national initiative to help address the long-term shortage of nurses across the country.

To develop solutions and lead efforts within Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, the Tufts Health Plan Foundation has been awarded a two-year grant of $250,000 to support an extensive collaboration in the three states that will develop a regional approach to nursing education.  This tri-state collaboration, "Creativity and Connections: Building a Regional Nursing Education Framework," will leverage a broader nursing education community to increase the numbers and diversity of nursing faculty through scholarship support; increase nursing school capacity through the use of centralized clinical placement; and design a nursing education curriculum throughout New England that better meets the needs of our current health care environment.  The Tufts Health Plan Foundation will work specifically with the Massachusetts Hospital Association and all of the team members to implement this program.

"This regional collaboration is a testament to hospital associations, nursing organizations, nursing education and practice leaders, foundations, state governments and other stakeholders working together for sustainable solutions," said David Abelman, executive director of the Tufts Health Plan Foundation.  "Issues around nursing shortages affect all of us."

Led by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Northwest Health Foundation, Partners Investing in Nursing’s Future hopes that local and regional foundations can test innovative ideas locally that can be shared nationally with an exponential effect on the nursing workforce shortage.  Foundations receiving funds have forged local partnerships to apply for the competitive grant, raising awareness of the nursing shortage in their own communities. 

The tri-state collaboration, "Creativity and Connections" grew out of a partnership between the Massachusetts Hospital Association and the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education (DHE) that examined reasons behind the state’s nursing workforce shortage and other limitations on the capacity to educate new nurses.  By working with key stakeholders in the state, this partnership reaped some early successes in increasing the availability of clinical placements, and working with nursing programs on new approaches to educating nurses.  In collaboration with this partnership, Tufts Health Plan Foundation funded a nurse scholars program to help meet the escalating need for nurse educators in Massachusetts.  To broaden this approach to a regional scale and to respond to similar needs in their states, representatives from New Hampshire and Rhode Island joined Massachusetts to form the Creativity and Connections collaboration.

"This grant will help us expand our efforts to build a regional nursing education framework," noted Lynn Nicholas, FACHE, president and chief executive officer of the Massachusetts Hospital Association. "If we don’t deal with our shortage of nurses now, not only is patient care in our area at risk, but the health of the nation as a whole."

"Nurses are the nation’s most direct link to patient safety and quality of care.  We are committed to helping find the most innovative solutions to the nursing shortage so we can protect patients now and over the long term," said Susan B. Hassmiller, R.N., Ph.D., F.A.A.N., senior adviser for nursing at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. "This unique partnership of the philanthropic community helps identify new approaches that go well beyond what any one foundation could do alone."
Maureen Sroczynski, RN, MS, chief nursing consultant to the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education’s Nursing Initiative and the project’s leader, explained that a continuing, aggregate decline in the nursing workforce is expected due to a complex combination of factors including an aging population needing more and intensive health care services, an aging nursing workforce unable to sustain its numbers, and a nursing education system with too few educators to train the next generation of nurses.

In addition to the Tufts Health Plan Foundation, the Creativity and Connections project includes five other funders from New Hampshire and Rhode Island:
The Edward J. and Virginia M. Routhier Foundation of Rhode Island
The New Hampshire Nurses Foundation
The University of Rhode Island Institute for Nursing Leadership and Faculty Development
The Rhode Island Nurses Association
The Rhode Island Nursing Foundation

During the first three years of the Partners Investing in Nursing’s Future, 69 foundation partners in 24 states and the territories of the Western Pacific established more than 300 local partnerships among nursing organizations, funders and workforce development boards to address the nursing shortage.  The 2009 grant cycle funding totals more than $10 million of investment by the program in local partnerships.  In addition, Partners Investing in Nursing’s Future has leveraged more than $8 million in local and regional funding, ensuring the long term sustainability of the projects.

For more information about Partners Investing in Nursing’s Future, go to www.PartnersinNursing.org.

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The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change. For more than 30 years the Foundation has brought experience, commitment, and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those it serves. When it comes to helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, the Foundation expects to make a difference in your lifetime.
Founded in 1997, the Northwest Health Foundation is an independent, charitable foundation committed to advancing, supporting, and promoting the health of the people of Oregon and southwest Washington. Embracing its role as the community’s partner for better health, the Foundation achieves its mission primarily through grantmaking and support for advocacy efforts that influence public policy. See www.nwhf.org.

Tufts Health Plan launched the Tufts Health Plan Foundation in 2008. The Foundation’s mission is to promote healthy lifestyles and the delivery of quality care in our communities. In its first year, the Foundation focused on Disparities, Nursing Faculty Education and Health Consumer Education and awarded $2.5 million to more than 60 non-profit organizations throughout Massachusetts. The Tufts Health Plan Foundation is currently focusing on Healthy Aging to help meet the challenges of an aging society. Through grants in the three areas of Vibrant Lifestyles, Intergenerational Collaboration and Keeping Our Seniors Safe, the Foundation seeks to fund programs that will  elevate the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of older adults; enable them to contribute their experiences and knowledge to their communities; and ultimately help older adults live longer, healthier lives. See www.tuftshealthplanfoundation.org.

TUFTS HEALTH PLAN FOUNDATION RECEIVES NATIONAL GRANT TO ADDRESS NATIONAL/REGIONAL NURSING SHORTAGES (Microsoft Word Document)