CHARLESTON — Quality Insights, a nonprofit health care quality improvement company, is marking its 50th anniversary by providing $100,000 in grants to nonprofits and community organizations seeking to improve health and health care in West Virginia and eight other states and U.S. territories.

“Since our establishment in West Virginia in 1973, we have sought innovative ways to improve health and health care for everyone,” Dr. Sven Berg, Quality Insights’ chief executive officer, said.

“I am optimistic that this special grant opportunity will inspire innovation, boost promising projects, and foster collaboration to advance our mission to the benefit of all,” Berg said.

Quality Insights expects to fund eight to 15 grants in amounts up to $20,000 in areas where its staff of clinicians, data experts and community health workers collaborate with community coalitions, health care facilities and patients to improve care across a wide range of settings, including physician offices, nursing homes and renal dialysis facilities.

“We want to give back to the communities we serve through catalyzing community-driven and data-driven improvement in the quality of health and health care,” Dr. Jean Storm, medical director of Quality Insights, said.

In addition to West Virginia, the grants are available to nonprofit organizations in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Applications should address one or more of priority areas. The areas are provider care, grassroots efforts or education and research. More detailed descriptions of these priorities, along with grant guidelines and the application process, are available at www.qualityinsights.org/50.

The grant submission period opened on April 11 and will close 2 p.m. June 30, 2023. Quality Insights will hold a grant question-and-answer webinar on May 2 for interested organizations. Attendance is not required.

In West Virginia, Quality Insights’ work includes collaborating with Marshall University and the Healthy Connections coalition in Huntington on a successful public campaign to reduce the stigma of substance use disorder. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Quality Insights trained community health workers to help improve COVID-19 vaccination rates in rural West Virginia communities through education, linking health and social sciences, and helping facilitate access to those services.

Quality Insights also provides no-cost education, tools, resources and hands-on assistance to 90 percent of all nursing homes in West Virginia and coordinates six community coalitions, covering the entire state. The coalitions collaborate to reduce avoidable hospitalizations and improve care for patients with chronic conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease.

Quality Insights, founded in 1973, has engaged thousands of clinicians and partners to improve health and care for millions of patients. In the years ahead, Quality Insights intends to continue improving health and care through data-driven, outcome-focused solutions built on quality improvement science, analytics, information technology, education and collaboration.