Seven regional cooperatives representing nearly 5,000 primary care clinicians in 12 states received a total of $112 million from the federal government to help prevent cardiovascular disease in their patients.
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary Sylvia Burwell announced the EvidenceNOW initiative on May 26. Approximately 300 primary care practices will receive money to improve the health of 8 million patients. Each of the seven cooperatives is scheduled to run for three years.
HHS said in a news release that an eighth cooperative will receive funding to evaluate the initiative on its impact on improving practice management and delivering care for patients with heart disease, which is the leading cause of death in the U.S. for men and women.
The funding comes from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research trust fund, which was created as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
HHS said the initiative is focused on quality improvements for small practices with services such as on-site coaching, consults with healthcare delivery experts and support with EHRs.
Executive Editor
Tim Casey joined TriMed Media Group in 2015 as Executive Editor. For the previous four years, he worked as an editor and writer for HMP Communications, primarily focused on covering managed care issues and reporting from medical and health care conferences. He was also a staff reporter at the Sacramento Bee for more than four years covering professional, college and high school sports. He earned his undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of Notre Dame and his MBA degree from Georgetown University.