The 2025 Preventive Services in Long-term Care Grant Program, specifically the Non-Emergency Medical Transportation in Long-term Care initiative, is designed to enhance the capacity of residential facilities for older adults to provide critical services to their residents. The Office of Rural Health and Primary Care (ORHPC), as the donor, aligns with this mission by focusing on improving long-term care (LTC) communities' ability to ensure the safety and continuity of services, particularly non-emergency medical transportation, for residents in skilled nursing/nursing facilities (SNF/NFs) and assisted living facilities (ALFs) within Greater Minnesota. The grant aims to foster creative and cost-effective solutions for these essential transportation services.
The primary target beneficiaries of this grant program are residents of LTC communities in Greater Minnesota who require non-emergency medical transportation. The impact goal is to develop and implement systems and strategies that guarantee residents have access to the safest, most appropriate, and cost-effective transportation for health-related appointments. This will improve their overall well-being and access to necessary healthcare services, ultimately enhancing their quality of life within LTC settings.
The program prioritizes several key areas to achieve its objectives. These include providing resources for coordinating non-emergency medical transportation across LTC facilities, developing or expanding formalized processes for rideshare services for residents, and investing in training, education, recruitment, and credentialing of staff and volunteers for transportation services. Furthermore, the grant focuses on technology, equipment, and staff to develop or expand transportation services, including reservation systems, modifications to vehicles for increased accessibility, and contracts with partner entities for transportation and related services. Partnerships with community health workers are also encouraged to facilitate transportation utilization.
Expected outcomes and measurable results include the establishment of robust non-emergency medical transportation systems within LTC communities, an increase in the number of residents participating in essential health-related appointments, and an improvement in the safety, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness of transportation services. The program anticipates the development and piloting of new transportation models and the modification of existing ones to better serve LTC communities. While the specific "Foundation's strategic priorities and theory of change" are not explicitly detailed as a separate entity in the provided text, the ORHPC's role as the donor implies a strategic priority on improving rural health and primary care access, with a theory of change rooted in enhancing infrastructure and capacity within LTC to achieve better health outcomes for older adults.
