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Trinity Health to Join Nation’s Top Researchers to Improve Quality of Health Care

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Awards ‘ACTION’ Contracts

Novi, Michigan – The University of Iowa has been awarded an Accelerating Changes and Transformation in Organizations and Networks (ACTION) contract from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). The university was the lead for a partnership that includes Trinity Health and five other health systems.

ACTION links the nation's top researchers with some of the largest, top-ranking health systems to conduct research and identify best practices for the latest issues, on an accelerated timetable. AHRQ awarded its ACTION contracts to 15 health care partnerships across the United States. Those receiving an AHRQ contract are not awarded projects immediately but become a "pool" from which AHRQ solicits proposals for future projects.

“Trinity Health’s multi-state rollout of electronic health records for community hospitals makes the system an invaluable member of our consortium,” said Marcia Ward, Principal Investigator at the University of Iowa. “Trinity Health is on track to having the second-largest clinical database in the country and we look forward to leveraging this expansive use of evidence-based knowledge to make care better and safer for patients.”

In addition to Trinity Health, the University of Iowa-led partnership also includes: the Iowa Foundation for Medical Care; the Iowa Healthcare Collaborative; Iowa Hospital Association; the Iowa Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program, and the VA Heartland Network.

The goal of ACTION is to improve health care delivery systems and health outcomes by promoting innovation and accelerating the development, implementation, dissemination and uptake of demand-driven and evidence-based products, tools, strategies and findings.

The competition for ACTION awards was stiff, as awards could also go to those partnerships that had been formed for the Integrated Delivery System Research Network program, previously established by AHRQ as ACTION’s predecessor program. “Our new consortium succeeded in winning an award and I thank Trinity Health for partnering with us on this proposal,” Ward said. “I believe that Trinity Health’s strength as an innovator in health care delivery was a major factor in our partnership being among the winning groups.”

ACTION also provides Trinity Health with the opportunity to propose a myriad of care transforming research projects to AHRQ.

“Being part of a partnership that received an AHRQ ACTION contract is an exciting opportunity for Trinity Health, and validates our efforts to establish standards of patient care excellence through advanced, innovative technology,” said Paul Conlon, Senior Vice President, Clinical Quality and Patient Safety, Trinity Health. “This designation as an ACTION partner helps Trinity Health strengthen our commitment to local community health while systematically expanding excellence throughout the health care operating environment.”

Trinity Health is the only Michigan-based health care provider to be part of an ACTION partnership.