Caring Wisely FY26 Project Contest

UCSF Health and the UCSF Center for Healthcare Value (CHV) sponsors awards of up to $50,000 for one year to faculty and staff for collaborative projects that can be implemented to reduce waste and lower health care costs while maintaining or improving health at UCSF Health, which consists of UCSF Medical Center, Benioff Children’s Hospital San Francisco, Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, and the UCSF faculty practice group and ambulatory clinics.

 

 

We invite the submission of any proposal that improves healthcare value at UCSF Health. UCSF Health is also particularly interested in proposals that address value improvement opportunities in one of the below areas. All submissions must have a plan to evaluate and improve health equity:

  • Improve Hospital Throughput and Reduce Excess Inpatient Bed Days
  • Improve Outpatient, Inpatient, or Perioperative Clinical Access
  • Reduce Hospital Acquired Conditions and Infections
  • Reduce Unnecessary Testing

Read important information about this forum

  • January 21-February 28: Project Contest First Round

    Proposal Submission Deadline

    Proposal submissions due by 5pm | Friday, February 28, 2025

    • Projects with a projected direct cost savings of greater than $250,000 are more likely to be selected (click on the "Read important information about this forum" link on the home page to see more criteria for winning).
    • The Center for Healthcare Value will offer “Office Hours” to answer questions and provide guidance on cost analysis. To schedule a 25 minute Zoom meeting, please email rasmyah.hammoudeh@ucsf.edu

    During this time, project teams should:

    • Build your core team and extended stakeholders interested in this problem.
    • Browse proposals and comment to improve others' proposal.
    • Review comments and provide additional information if necessary.
  • March 10-14: Second Round Finalists Announced
    • Second Round Finalists announced on Friday, March 14, 2025
    • Proposal submissions are reviewed.
    • Selected finalists will be invited to proceed to the Optimization Phase.
  • March 14 - March 28: Second Round Finalists Optimization Phase

    Final updates to second round proposals must be complete before 5pm | Friday, March 28, 2025

    During this time, project teams should:

    • Optimize your proposal
      • Stay on top of OpenProposal comments, answer questions, and ask new ones!
    • Continue to build your core team and extended stakeholders interested in this problem
    • Obtain sign-off from the Executive Sponsor(s)
  • April 7- May 2: Executive Committee Review of Second Round Submissions
    • Finalist proposals are reviewed.
  • May 5: FY26 Caring WiselyTM $50K Project Awards Announced

    Winners will be announced on Monday, May 5, 2025

Open Submission

Proposals (18 total)

Displaying 1 - 10

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Targeting Plasma Metagenomic Sequencing to Improve Patient Care and Reduce Waste

Submitted by Natasha Spottiswoode on February 27, 2025 - 3:27pm Last revised by Rasmyah Hammoudeh on March 11, 2025 - 2:06pm.
Proposal Status: 
Selected for 2nd Round

PROPOSAL TITLE: Targeting Plasma Metagenomic Sequencing to Improve Patient Care and Reduce Waste

PROJECT LEAD(S): Natasha Spottiswoode, Monica Fung, Rama Yakubu

EXECUTIVE SPONSOR(S): Charles Chiu (UCSF Microbiology Director)

Establishing a Pharmacist-led Cytomegalovirus Stewardship Program to Reduce Hospital Admissions, Length of Stay, and CMV Resistance

Submitted by Jessica Reeves on March 3, 2025 - 11:04am Last revised by Rasmyah Hammoudeh on April 21, 2025 - 10:56am.
Proposal Status: 
Selected as Finalist

PROJECT LEAD(S): Jessica Reeves, PharmD and Aida Venado

Expanding the Accelerated Discharge Program: An Interprofessional Effort to Use Early Identification and Coordination of Next Day Discharges to Improve Rate of On-Time Discharges and Reduce Length of Stay

Submitted by David Arboleda on February 28, 2025 - 4:59pm Last revised by Rasmyah Hammoudeh on April 21, 2025 - 11:02am.
Proposal Status: 
Selected as Finalist

The ADP team systemically collected data on common discharge barriers, developed expertise in addressing common discharge barriers and inefficiencies, improved identification of patients likely to discharge and assisted with completing discharge tasks. Length of stay improved from 8.1 to 7.4 days in the intervention group.

Through the Caring Wisely program, our interprofessional team seeks to develop a platform to communicate discharge barriers with other disciplines at the unit and the health system level through Informatics and APeX build support. We ultimately aim to increase the number of on-time discharges, reduce length of stay, and support UCSF’s global capacity optimization efforts.

Remote Blood Pressure Monitoring Among High-Risk Obstetric Patients to Decrease Unnecessary Inpatient Utilization

Submitted by Christine Blauvelt on February 28, 2025 - 12:49pm Last revised by Rasmyah Hammoudeh on April 21, 2025 - 11:02am.
Proposal Status: 
Selected as Finalist

PROJECT LEADS: Christine Blauvelt MD, Neda Ghaffari MD, Roxanna Irani MD PhD 

EXECUTIVE SPONSOR: Nerys Benfield MD MPH  

ABSTRACT:  Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) are increasingly prevalent, posing significant risks to maternal health, including stroke and renal failure. At UCSF, one quarter of deliveries involve HDP, far exceeding the national average. Postpartum hypertension remains a leading cause of readmission, with about half of postpartum readmissions at UCSF due to hypertension-related issues. This proposal aims to implement a structured remote blood pressure (BP) monitoring program for high-risk patients, utilizing Bluetooth-enabled devices, an integrated APeX dashboard, and nurse-driven protocols for timely intervention. The program aims to improve BP self-monitoring, reduce postpartum length of stay, readmissions and emergency visits, and enhance patient confidence in managing their health. Preliminary data from our pilot program has shown promising results, with enrollees demonstrating high engagement, high patient satisfaction, and a 0% readmission rate for hypertension among postpartum participants. Our pilot has proven the feasibility and clinical importance of this work, and our Caring Wisely proposal aims to further build infrastructure and sustainability into our program so it can ultimately be expanded to all high-risk pregnant and postpartum patients at UCSF. 

 

 

An Evidence-Based Same-Day Discharge Pathway for Urologic Oncology Patients Undergoing Radical Prostatectomy

Submitted by Amy Showen on February 28, 2025 - 11:40am Last revised by Rasmyah Hammoudeh on April 21, 2025 - 11:01am.
Proposal Status: 
Selected as Finalist

PROPOSAL TITLE: An Evidence-Based Same-Day Discharge Pathway for Urologic Oncology Patients Undergoing Radical Prostatec

Optimizing comfort and reducing opioid and sedative exposure – a goal-directed, nurse-implemented comfort algorithm in the Pediatric Cardiac ICU

Submitted by Minso Kim on February 27, 2025 - 1:43pm Last revised by Minso Kim on April 22, 2025 - 5:54pm.
Proposal Status: 
Selected as Finalist

PROJECT LEAD(S): Minso Kim, Sandra Staveski, Lori Fineman, Amy McCammond

 

EXECUTIVE SPONSOR(S):  Shannon Fitzpatrick, MS, RN, CCRN, Patient Care Director, Pediatric Critical Care. University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Benioff Children’s Hospital (BCH) Mission Bay

 

Reducing Hospital-Acquired Infections Through Creation of HAI Diagnostic Excellence at UCSF

Submitted by Amy Larsen on March 3, 2025 - 8:46am Last revised by Rasmyah Hammoudeh on March 11, 2025 - 1:57pm.
Proposal Status: 
Review Complete

PROJECT LEAD(S): Cass Sandoval, Adult Critical Care CNS; Amy Larsen, Adult Critical Care CNS; Lindsay Bolt, Adult Medical CNS

EXECUTIVE SPONSOR(S): 

  • True North Outcomes Committee:
    • Art Dominguez, Chief Nursing Officer for Adult Services
    • Nerys Benfield, Chief Medical Officer for Adult Services
    • Debbie Yokoe, Medical Director, Hospital Epidemiology and Infection Prevention

ABSTRACT 

Pre-Surgery Clinic Patient Resource Navigator Program for the Benioff Children's Hospital

Submitted by Lan Vu on March 2, 2025 - 11:05pm Last revised by Rasmyah Hammoudeh on March 11, 2025 - 1:58pm.
Proposal Status: 
Review Complete
  • PROJECT LEAD(S): Lan Vu, MD, MAS; Doruk Ozgediz, MD, MSc
  • EXECUTIVE SPONSOR(S): Atsuko Baba, MD; Hanmin Lee, MD
  • ABSTRACT - One paragraph summary of your proposed initiative – Limit 1500 characters (with spaces)

There is growing literature on the importance of social drivers of health (SDoH) on surgical quality outcomes in the pediatric population.

Laser hair removal as a treatment modality in pilonidal disease: Providing access to care in the East Bay and beyond

Submitted by Alicen Kershaw on March 2, 2025 - 11:37am Last revised by Rasmyah Hammoudeh on March 11, 2025 - 1:59pm.
Proposal Status: 
Review Complete

PROPOSAL TITLE: Laser hair removal as a treatment modality in pilonidal disease: Providing access to care in the East Bay and beyond

PROJECT LEAD(S): Alicen Kershaw, NP, Layna Blurton, NP, Kreev Joundi, RN, Dr Sunghoon Kim

EXECUTIVE SPONSOR(S): Christopher Newton, MD

Headache Evaluation and Diagnosis - with Generative Artificial INtelligence (HEAD-GAIN): Improving Access, Reducing Overutilization

Submitted by Pierre Martin on March 1, 2025 - 12:00pm Last revised by Rasmyah Hammoudeh on March 11, 2025 - 2:01pm.
Proposal Status: 
Review Complete

PROJECT LEAD(S):

-               Pierre Martin, MD, MEd

-               Andrew Breithaupt, MD

EXECUTIVE SPONSOR(S): 

-               Maggie Waung, MD, PhD

ABSTRACT

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