Cabinet Peaks Medical Center Foundation and the medical center’s quality and discharge planning department were awarded a Montana Healthcare Foundation Grant in April, the center announced June 8.

The $44,236 grant is “to aid in the enhanced transition of care involving all aspects of wellness for the residents of Lincoln County,” a news release states. Two part-time staffers have thus far been hired to help with the project, which aims to “develop a new approach to discharge planning for hospitalized patients.”

“The new system will help identify and address social factors that may influence outcomes, such as ability to afford housing, food, heating and medications,” the news release states. The medical center will work with partners that include local clinics and social service agencies on ways to identify these needs.

The project also “seeks to reduce readmissions related to socioeconomic barriers to health and to increase the acuity to patients seen in the emergency department,” as well as to use local clinics for outpatient care, according to the news release.

For more information call Laura Larson-Crismore at Cabinet Peaks Medical Center at 406-283-7000.