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Last week, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) announced the first group of organizations for Health Care Innovation awards. As readers may already know, CMMI was established by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to test innovative payment and delivery models that have the potential to reduce costs while preserving or enhancing the quality of care. The awards recently announced are part of CMMI’s Health Care Innovation Challenge, which is granting up to $1 billion to applicants who can implement the most compelling new ideas to deliver better health care and to improve care and lower costs to people enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), particularly for those with the highest health care needs. Awards range from approximately $1 million to $30 million for a three-year period and focus on key CMS priorities areas:

• • Workforce Development and Deployment
• • Speed to Implementation
• • Model Sustainability

This is exciting stuff. There isn’t one magic bullet to solve the problems of low-quality, uncoordinated care and escalating health care costs. The CMMI grants will provide much-needed investments in promising approaches across the country to see if they can be brought to scale and expanded.

This a particularly wonderful opportunity for grantees like Cooper University Hospital, in Camden, New Jersey, which was already testing an innovative model of care and now can expand the model even further. Using its new CMMI grant, Cooper will continue to work with Camden Churches Organized for People (CCOP), a faith-based community organization affiliated with the PICO National Network, and Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers (CCHP), which is led by Dr. Jeffrey Brenner. For the last few years, CCOP and CCHP have been working together to help low-income Camden residents improve their access to health care and reduce avoidable emergency room visits. Now, both will be working with Cooper to reach out to even more Camden residents and “super-utilizers“ to improve their health. CCOP’s role will be to work with Cooper to identify and train 14 health care workers to serve as part of multidisciplinary care teams.

Cooper’s decision to work in partnership with consumer advocates is a clear acknowledgement that their participation is one of the keys to success. The Innovation Challenge presents a unique opportunity for advocates and community-based organizations to work with hospitals, providers and payers to develop a truly patient-centered delivery system.

The next announcement of CMMI grantees is slated for early June 2012. We hope CMMI – and their grantees – will take their cues from Camden and prioritize grants that build in consumer involvement from the start.

Readers can find detailed project descriptions of all grantees on the CMS Innovation Center website.

– Leena Sharma, State Advocacy Manager, Integrated Care Advocacy Project

Our weekly video roundup includes a unique assortment of Web videos hand-picked by our editors. This week, we look at ongoing attacks on women's reproductive health care, including efforts to block funding to Planned Parenthood, and hear from NARAL Pro-Choice America President Nancy Keenan about her decision to step down.

May 17, 2012 — The following summarizes select women's health-related videos.

Attacks on Planned Parenthood: The Texas Tribune spotlights the state's efforts to restrict funding to Planned Parenthood. Although the organization does not use public money for abortion services and is barred by law from doing so, many conservatives contend that any funding to the group indirectly "subsidizes" abortion. Family planning and other preventive services at Planned Parenthood clinics have become "caught in the crossfire," the Tribune reports, noting that the state Legislature cut $72 million for the services, while Gov. Rick Perry (R) has refused $35 million in federal Medicaid funds in order to avoid having to distribute any money to the organization (Tan, Texas Tribune, 5/10). On MSNBC, Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards speaks with Andrea Mitchell about a new Arizona law that bars public funding to the group and all other organizations that offer abortion care (Mitchell, "Andrea Mitchell Reports," MSNBC, 5/9).

War on women: MSNBC's Rachel Maddow explains why the phrase "war on women" is warranted and highlights some of the most recent attacks on women's reproductive health care (Maddow [1], "The Rachel Maddow Show," MSNBC, 5/14). Maddow also discusses two ongoing battles in Congress: the debate over the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act and a bill by Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) that would bar abortion care after 20 weeks of gestation in the District of Columbia (Maddow, "The Rachel Maddow Show," 5/16). On Current TV, comedian and author Lizz Winstead discusses her new book and how women are responding to fights over reproductive health care (Granholm, "The War Room," Current TV, 5/15).

Nancy Keenan: Current TV's Jennifer Granholm interviews NARAL Pro-Choice America President Nancy Keenan about the group's efforts to engage women in elections and her decision to step down at the end of the year (Granholm, "The War Room," Current TV, 5/16). Keenan also speaks with Rachel Maddow about her resignation and the importance of including younger leaders in the reproductive-rights movement (Maddow [2] "The Rachel Maddow Show," MSNBC, 5/14).

'Gateway hug': Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert weighs in on a new Tennessee law that prohibits sex education instructors from discussing "gateway sexual activity." Colbert suggests the state go a step further and ban students from engaging in "gateway, gateway sexual activities," including hair flipping, eye contact and going through puberty. "I believe puberty is a choice. ... If our children lack the self-control to hold in their hormones, then we have no option but to spay and neuter them," Colbert says (Colbert, "The Colbert Report," Comedy Central, 4/18).

Our weekly video roundup includes a unique assortment of Web videos hand-picked by our editors. This week, we look at ongoing attacks on women's reproductive health care, including efforts to block funding to Planned Parenthood, and hear from NARAL Pro-Choice America President Nancy Keenan about her decision to step down.

Weekly Video Round Up!

Our weekly video roundup includes a unique assortment of Web videos hand-picked by our editors. This week, we look at ongoing attacks on women's reproductive health care, including efforts to block funding to Planned Parenthood, and hear from NARAL Pro-Choice America President Nancy Keenan about her decision to step down.

Our weekly video roundup includes a unique assortment of Web videos hand-picked by our editors. This week, we look at ongoing attacks on women's reproductive health care, including efforts to block funding to Planned Parenthood, and hear from NARAL Pro-Choice America President Nancy Keenan about her decision to step down.

May 17, 2012 — The following summarizes select women's health-related videos.

Attacks on Planned Parenthood: The Texas Tribune spotlights the state's efforts to restrict funding to Planned Parenthood. Although the organization does not use public money for abortion services and is barred by law from doing so, many conservatives contend that any funding to the group indirectly "subsidizes" abortion. Family planning and other preventive services at Planned Parenthood clinics have become "caught in the crossfire," the Tribune reports, noting that the state Legislature cut $72 million for the services, while Gov. Rick Perry (R) has refused $35 million in federal Medicaid funds in order to avoid having to distribute any money to the organization (Tan, Texas Tribune, 5/10). On MSNBC, Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards speaks with Andrea Mitchell about a new Arizona law that bars public funding to the group and all other organizations that offer abortion care (Mitchell, "Andrea Mitchell Reports," MSNBC, 5/9).

War on women: MSNBC's Rachel Maddow explains why the phrase "war on women" is warranted and highlights some of the most recent attacks on women's reproductive health care (Maddow [1], "The Rachel Maddow Show," MSNBC, 5/14). Maddow also discusses two ongoing battles in Congress: the debate over the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act and a bill by Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) that would bar abortion care after 20 weeks of gestation in the District of Columbia (Maddow, "The Rachel Maddow Show," 5/16). On Current TV, comedian and author Lizz Winstead discusses her new book and how women are responding to fights over reproductive health care (Granholm, "The War Room," Current TV, 5/15).

Nancy Keenan: Current TV's Jennifer Granholm interviews NARAL Pro-Choice America President Nancy Keenan about the group's efforts to engage women in elections and her decision to step down at the end of the year (Granholm, "The War Room," Current TV, 5/16). Keenan also speaks with Rachel Maddow about her resignation and the importance of including younger leaders in the reproductive-rights movement (Maddow [2] "The Rachel Maddow Show," MSNBC, 5/14).

'Gateway hug': Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert weighs in on a new Tennessee law that prohibits sex education instructors from discussing "gateway sexual activity." Colbert suggests the state go a step further and ban students from engaging in "gateway, gateway sexual activities," including hair flipping, eye contact and going through puberty. "I believe puberty is a choice. ... If our children lack the self-control to hold in their hormones, then we have no option but to spay and neuter them," Colbert says (Colbert, "The Colbert Report," Comedy Central, 4/18).