Tag Archives: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)

National Family Caregivers Month—November 2015

At some point in our lives, most of us will become caregivers to someone we love—whether offering support as they age or providing care due to a medical issue or chronic health condition. The recent National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP joint report, Caregiving in the U.S. 2015, indicated that nearly 43.5 million Americans provided unpaid care to an adult or child in the last year.

In addition to dealing with day to day living activities, family caregivers are often managing complex interactions with various providers, agencies, and healthcare professionals. They average about 24 hours a week on caregiving activities, although nearly a quarter provide more than 40 hours of care per week while also attempting to manage their personal health and wellness. These intense hours of caregiving can take a toll on the caregivers who, as a result, are more vulnerable to stress, financial strain, and health issues. During November, National Family Caregivers Month, we have an opportunity to recognize the critical and challenging role of family caregivers and to consider how to support these important members of society.

One way The Bizzell Group (Bizzell) is supporting these often unrecognized champions is through our current project to develop helpful resources for caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Several caregiver modules are being developed for the Health Resources and Services Administration within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that provide caregivers with strategies for more efficiently managing their personal health and wellness and that educate providers on how to integrate caregivers as active members of the care team. The caregiver modules will supplement a broad set of curricula for healthcare professionals on the identification and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. With a rapidly growing population of Americans over 65, many of whom are also family caregivers, it’s critical that caregivers have a source for accurate information, cutting edge strategies, and available resources.

Bizzell Awarded a Contract to Develop a Curriculum for Treating Alzheimer’s Disease

The Bizzell Group (Bizzell) is pleased to announce that our firm was awarded a multi-year contract with the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to develop a “Uniform Curriculum for the Identification and Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease for Primary Care Providers”. In designing a Uniform Curriculum to effectively identify and treat Alzheimer’s disease, Bizzell is developing training along the continuum of learning for health care providers which includes academic and health professional scholastic education for student trainees enrolled in health care training programs (e.g., schools of medicine, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, and master’s and doctoral-level graduate training programs), continuing medical education and continuing education for geriatric health care professionals.

Alzheimer’s disease is an epidemic that continues to grow as people live to an older age. Experts believe as many as 5.4 million people in the U.S. have Alzheimer’s disease. According to the National Institute on Aging, the number of people with the disease doubles every 5-year interval beyond age 65. Government projections show that the number of people ages 65 and older in the United States is expected to grow from 40 million in 2010 to 72.1 million in 2030.

“Our company is honored to lead this important national effort for the Health Resources and Services Administration”, said Anton Bizzell, MD, CEO of Bizzell. “Alzheimer’s disease was the contributing factor in the loss of both my maternal grandmother and great-grandmother and the work is clearly needed with the number of Americans living with Alzheimer’s disease expected to more than triple by 2050.”

HRSA IDIQ Contract Awarded to Bizzell

The Bizzell Group (Bizzell) celebrates the award of a critical Indefinite Delivery-Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract with the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the primary Federal agency for improving access to health care services for people who are uninsured, isolated or medically vulnerable.

Bizzell will provide technical and consultative assistance in support of HRSA grantees, including onsite and off-site visits and technical assistance (TA) for health centers, national cooperative agreements, State/regional primary care associations, FQHC Look-Alikes, universities, community-based programs, AIDS service organizations, grantees, etc.

The contract is intended to enhance overall primary health care program performance and management of grantee activities.  This particular award is perfectly aligned with Bizzell’s extensive experience in health care services and support.