Expecting Success: Excellence in Cardiac CareWho We AreExpecting Success is a $13 million national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation launched in 2004 and designed to improve the quality of health care provided to minority Americans. The program focuses on the continuum of cardiovascular care delivered in inpatient and outpatient settings and has four goals:
Under the program, 10 competitively selected acute-care hospitals, or consortia of hospitals, serving substantial numbers of African-American and/or Latino patients will participate in a 29-month collaborative Learning Network designed to foster shared learning and innovation. The Center for Health Services Research and Policy in the Department of Health Policy serves as the National Program Office (NPO) for Expecting Success. What We DoSpecific activities of the National Program Office include: Improving Inpatient Effectiveness of CareThe National Program Office will assemble a cadre of experts in quality improvement, evidence-based practice, survey and sampling methodologies, collecting race and ethnicity data and other areas. These experts will work with a team from each Learning Network site to improve care for minority patients with cardiovascular disease. Each site will be assessed in terms of its readiness for change and will create a Cardiovascular Improvement Plan to guide its activities. Community Demonstration ProjectsIn partnership with appropriate local providers, the Learning Network sites will implement self-defined demonstration projects to improve the broader continuum of care available to minority patients with cardiovascular disease. These demonstration grants, used either for entirely new strategies or for interventions that have been implemented elsewhere but whose outcome has not been rigorously assessed, are intended to further the "state of the art" of delivering cardiovascular care to minorities. Market AssessmentsThe National Program Office will assess the local cardiovascular care market in each of the Learning Network sites. The assessments are primarily intended to serve as a resource to the sites, and to inform their activities in all phases of the project. The assessments will review trends in local demographics, disease prevalence, health care delivery, finance and insurance and seek to identify potential barriers for underserved minority populations in accessing high-quality cardiovascular care. Public reports highlighting some of the major issues identified in the assessment will also be prepared. FacultyContact UsExpecting Success National Program Office National Program Office Director: Bruce Siegel, MD, MPH |
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