Physician Practice

HHS spends $112 million to train physicians on best practices

Physician Practice Insider, June 2, 2015

HHS announced May 26 that it’s spending $112 million from a research trust fund established under the Affordable Care Act to create regional cooperatives in 12 states to provide training and resources to thousands of small primary care practices. The goal: improve heart health for nearly eight million patients served by those practices.

The program is part of an initiative called EvidenceNOW: Advancing Heart Health in Primary Care. HHS says heart disease is the leading cause of death for men and women in the United States. This initiative will use the latest evidence to encourage better care, smarter spending and healthier patients.
 
“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,” said HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell in the announcement, noting the program is aligned with HHS’ Million Hearts® initiative to prevent heart attacks and stroke.
 
The seven regional cooperatives will be spread across urban and rural areas, encompassing a broad diversity in delivery of healthcare services, and consist of public-private partnerships led by multidisciplinary teams of experts. Each cooperative will actively recruit and engage with 250–300 members of different primary care practices in a shared learning environment.
 
HHS says the services provided to primary care practices will include onsite coaching, consultation on improving healthcare delivery, sharing best practices, and electronic health record support.
 
Additionally, an eighth team will receive a grant to conduct an independent external evaluation of the overall EvidenceNOW initiative. HHS says the team will study the impact of program interventions on practice improvement and delivery of cardiovascular care. The team will also evaluate which support measures and improvement strategies are most effective.
 
The seven implementation grants will run for three years and the evaluation grant will extend four years.
 

Find more details on the EvidenceNOW initiative and each of the cooperatives at www.ahrq.gov/evidencenow.html.

 

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