$112M going to small providers to improve heart health
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has awarded $112 million to regional cooperatives to work with about 5,000 primary care providers in 12 states to improve heart health, the leading cause of death in the U.S.
HHS Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell said EvidenceNOW: Advancing Heart Health in Primary Care, will help primary care practices in both urban and rural communities use the latest evidence to encourage Better Care, Smarter Spending, and Healthier People. The awards align with the department’s Million Hearts national initiative to prevent heart attacks and stroke.
The EvidenceNOW initiative establishes seven regional cooperatives composed of multidisciplinary teams of experts that will each provide quality improvement services to up to 300 small primary care practices. These services include onsite coaching, consultation from experts in healthcare delivery improvement, sharing best practices and EHR support. This initiative will help small primary care practices incorporate the most recent evidence on how best to deliver cardiovascular prevention.
“By targeting smaller practices, we have a unique opportunity to reduce cardiovascular risk factors for hundreds of thousands of patients, and learn what kind of support results in better patient outcomes,” Burwell said in a release.
In addition, an eighth awardee will receive a grant to conduct an independent external evaluation of the overall EvidenceNOW initiative. The evaluation team will study the impact of the EvidenceNOW interventions on practice improvement and the delivery of cardiovascular care. The evaluation team will also study which practice supports and quality improvement strategies are most effective in improving the implementation of new evidence. The seven implementation grants will run for three years, and the evaluation grant for four years.
Together, these grants represent one of the largest research investments to date by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Funding for this initiative comes from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund created by the Affordable Care Act.
Editor
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.