Regence Foundation Awards Nearly $250,000 in Grants to Northwest Nonprofits

Grants to support innovative, collaborative programs that improve health care
quality and access

PORTLAND, Ore., Sept. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- The Regence Foundation announced today
$246,500 in grants for four Northwest nonprofits: HealthMatters of Central
Oregon, WithinReach, Critical Access Hospital Network and Northwest
Organization of Nurse Executives. The grants all support nonprofit programs
with innovative plans to improve quality of care and increase access to care.

"At The Regence Foundation, our mission is to support health care
transformation by partnering with nonprofits working to fix the root causes of
our broken health care system, specifically as it relates to quality and
access," said Michael Alexander, Regence Foundation board chair. "We commend
these grantees for their commitment to ensuring the community has access to
quality, affordable care close to home."

-- HealthMatters of Central Oregon (Bend, OR): $78,500 to fund its Care
Coordination Pathways initiative, which will establish a Medical Home
pilot program for area children, especially those with special health
needs. A Medical Home is an approach to care that can improve quality,
cost-effectiveness and patient satisfaction.
-- WithinReach (Seattle, WA): $75,000 to expand the number of programs
available on its ParentHelp123.org website. The site helps families
apply for federal- and state-sponsored programs and local services
including free or low-cost health insurance. It also locates critical
help such as food banks and other local resources.
-- Critical Access Hospital Network (Newport, WA): $43,000 to develop new
protocols for caring for rural patients with cardiovascular disease
and
congestive heart failure - two of the leading causes of death for
Washingtonians. The goals of the new protocols are to improve patient
outcomes and prevent avoidable hospitalizations among rural Eastern
Washington residents with these chronic conditions.

-- Northwest Organization of Nurse Executives (Seattle, WA): $50,000
challenge grant to support its Transforming In-patient Care pilot
program. The program, which is in partnership with the Washington
State
Hospital Association, will redesign the way nurses work in hospitals
to
increase the amount of time they spend with patients and help ease the
nursing shortage.

For more information about The Regence Foundation, please visit
www.regencefoundation.org.

About The Regence Foundation
The Regence Foundation is the corporate foundation of The Regence Group, the
largest health insurer in the Northwest/Intermountain region and a
not-for-profit independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield
Association. A 501(c)3 grantmaking organization, the Foundation partners with
organizations driving significant change in health care delivery and
accessibility in Idaho, Oregon, Utah and Washington.

SOURCE The Regence Foundation

Joanna Burke of The Regence Foundation, +1-503-225-6860, jcburke@regence.com