Al Kinel led efforts for Unity Health System (Unity) to apply for and win several grants worth over $7 million to implement Healthcare Information Technology (HIT) and process changes to improve care, establish an infrastructure to improve the performance of the health system, and to enhance the way in which providers and administrators collaborate. Unity provides acute and long-term patient care, senior housing, laboratory services, and community outreach to residents in Rochester, NY, and surrounding counties.

The largest grant is over $6 million awarded from NY State Grant funds for a program called the Community Diabetes Collaborative (CDC). CDC is an initiative to establish innovative approaches and systems to improve outcomes for almost 3,000 patients with diabetes that are cared for by Unity primary care physicians and specialists, and other providers within Unity and the community.

Al provided leadership for the effort to win the grant by defining a vision for the IT-enabled innovative care approaches that are at the core of the grant, and attaining alignment among key stakeholders within and outside of Unity. He also managed the effort to define the IT solutions, the organizational construct to govern and deliver the functionality and change, negotiations with leading HIT vendors, a feasible budget, and creation of a grant application that complies with state guidelines.

After helping Unity to secure the grant award, Al defined a Program Management approach to successfully deploy the complex program, in concert with the IT Strategy of Unity. Al is currently managing the program which is staffed with over 150 part-time personnel and a myriad of vendors, and consists of related projects to:

• Select and implement Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) for a vascular surgery practice, a wound care clinic, and dialysis centers
• Select and implement technology to establish a longitudinal patient record for all Unity providers
• Leverage the Rochester (RHIO) to connect Unity to other providers and to establish specific clinical workflows and systems based on existing and future RHIO services
• Establish innovative decision support for protocols and standard of care for diabetes and communication among primary care physicians, endocrinologists, cardiologists, ophthalmologists, podiatrists, surgeons, radiologists, nephrologists, geriatricians, home health and long-term care clinicians.
• Establish tools and processes to improve patient education, alerts, and engagement.

Concurrently, Al has successfully led efforts to help Unity secure other grant funds from private foundations to deliver IT systems focused on improving quality and cost of care for specific conditions.