ACTION II Task Orders Awarded in 2013

ACTION II is a model of field-based research designed to promote innovation in health care delivery by accelerating the diffusion of research into practice. The ACTION II network includes 17 large partnerships and more than 350 collaborating organizations that provide health care to an estimated 50 percent of the U.S. population.

Select for the ACTION II Fact Sheet.

Patient Safety

Title: Improving Hospital Informed Consent with an Informed Consent Toolkit 
Project Purpose: The purpose of this project is to update and expand upon an existing hospital informed consent toolkit, pilot test the toolkit in four hospitals, and revise the toolkit based on the findings to ultimately provide hospitals an actionable tool with guidance on how to improve their informed consent processes for treatment and procedures.
ACTION II Partnership: Abt Associates Inc.
Project Period: 9/9/13-10/31/16
Total Cost: $788,417

Title: Updating and Expanding the AHRQ QI Toolkit for Hospitals
Project Purpose: The purpose of this project is to expand, evaluate and disseminate the AHRQ Quality Indicator (QI) Toolkit for Hospitals to reflect updates in the Patient Safety Indicators (PSIs) and Inpatient Quality Indicators (IQIs), include the Pediatric Quality Indicators (PDIs), and update evidence-based quality improvement strategies for all included indicators.
ACTION II Partnership: RAND
Project Period: 9/9/13-9/8/16
Total Cost: $990,339

Title: Comprehensive Patient Safety and Medical Liability Communication and Program Resolution Education Toolkit
Project Purpose: The purpose of the project is to create a comprehensive toolkit that will allow hospitals to implement communication and resolution programs aimed at improving their facilitation and management of patient safety events. Key elements of such programs include full disclosure of an adverse event, apology, and fair and rapid compensation. These efforts are intended to reduce the risk of the same error happening to another patient and reduce the likelihood of the patient or their family filing a lawsuit.
ACTION II Partnership: HRET
Project Period: 9/12/13–3/11/16
Total Cost: $1,565,243

Title: Nursing Home Antimicrobial Stewardship Tools and Guide
Project Purpose: The purpose of the project is to develop and Pilot a Guide to Nursing Home Antimicrobial Stewardship for nursing homes to use in implementing an antimicrobial stewardship program. The purpose of this guide is to make better decisions regarding antimicrobials prescribed for nursing home residents. The project will also include an evaluation of the Guide in 10 nursing home sites and development of recommendations for broad dissemination and for technical assistance needed to ensure that nursing homes can successfully implement different tools included in the Guide.
ACTION II Partnership: American Institutes for Research (AIR)
Project Period: 9/17/13–9/16/16
Total Cost: $1,973,641

Title: Long-term Care Integrated Safety and Risk Management Program
Project Purpose: The purpose of the project is to create and pilot test an integrated safety and risk management program, and associated facilitator training materials, for use by nursing homes with varying quality improvement capabilities and interests as they move forward to meet the new federal regulations for expanded quality improvement programing. The integrated program will utilize On-Time Quality Improvement for Long Term Care (On-Time) tools/reports, TeamSTEPPS for Long Term Care materials and the Nursing Home Survey on Patient Safety Culture (NHS-PSC).
ACTION II Partnership: Abt Associates
Project Period: 9/3/13-3/2/15
Total Cost: $680,282

Title: National Implementation of Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP) to reduce Catheter-associated Urinary Tract Infection (CAUTI) in Long Term Care Facilities (LTCF).
Project Purpose: The purpose of this task order is to support the development, implementation, adoption, and use of a Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP) to reduce Catheter-associated Urinary Tract Infection (CAUTI) in long term care facilities/nursing homes in all States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico through State-based or regional consortia/collaborative in a phased approach.
ACTION II Partnership: HRET
Project Period: 9/19/13-9/18/16
Total Cost: $11,640,916 (Base plus 2 Options)

Title: Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP) for Ventilator-Associated Conditions (VAC) and Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia (VAP) Prevention
Project Purpose: The purpose of this project is the nationwide dissemination and implementation of a comprehensive safety program to prevent Ventilator-Associated Conditions (VAC) in all States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico through State-based or regional consortia in a phased approach. The new Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP) for VAC uses an intervention bundle to prevent VAC, and includes infectious VAC, which encompasses ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). The project will accelerate the adoption of care bundles to reduce VAC and will assess the impact of the defined strategies or comprehensive program on VAC rates using a regional or statewide approach.
ACTION II Partnership: Johns Hopkins University
Project Period: 9/23/13-9/22/16
Total Cost: $7,281,691 (Base plus 2 Options)

Value

Title: Taking Efficiency Interventions to Scale
Project Purpose: The purpose of the study is to increase knowledge about effective strategies for spreading interventions to improve the efficiency of care delivery. The project will examine how an intervention to improve the efficiency of primary care teams is being spread across a large safety-net provider organization. The contractor will work with Penobscot Community Health Care (PCHC), a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) located in Bangor, Maine, to evaluate its efforts in spreading a "delegate model" of primary care to five of its service sites.
ACTION II Partnership: John Snow Inc.
Project Period: 9/25/13- 9/24/16
Total Cost: $1,308,915

Title: Spreading Lean: Taking Efficiency Interventions in Health Services Delivery to Scale
Project Purpose: This project will study the implementation, spread, and sustainability of Lean as a large-scale quality improvement initiative at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF). The purpose of the study is to increase and disseminate knowledge about effective strategies for spreading interventions to improve the efficiency of care delivery.
ACTION II Partnership: Kaiser/HMORN Community Provider Network Partnership
Project Period: 9/26/13-9/25/16
Total Cost: $772,712

Health IT

Title: Evaluation of Stage 3 Meaningful Use Objectives: Analysis in Oklahoma and the District of Columbia
Project Purpose: The purpose of the project is to implement a set of meaningful use (MU) level 3 proposed objectives (focused on patient engagement, interoperability and care coordination) in an urban hospital and rural ambulatory care settings in order to provide field-based input and feedback regarding benefits, barriers and best practices for the attainment of MU 3.
ACTION II Partnership: The Lewin Group
Project Period: 9/26/13-9/25/14
Total Cost: $672,837

Title: Evaluation of Stage 3 Meaningful Use Objectives
Project Purpose: The purpose of the project is to obtain important practical feedback from hospital and ambulatory clinic sites about: the draft Stage 3 meaningful use (MU) objectives: the EHR innovations to support the objectives; and the anticipated value provided to organizations pursuing the objectives in the areas of care coordination (CC) and patient and family engagement (PFE).
ACTION II Partnership: RTI International
Project Period: 9/26/13-9/25/14
Total Cost: $534,827

Title: Evaluation of Stage 3 Meaningful Use Objectives
Project Purpose: The purpose of the project is to seek input from the field concerning the feasibility, challenges, necessary innovation/enhancement, and strategic value of the proposed MU3 objectives in the domains of: family engagement, interoperability, and care coordination.
ACTION II Partnership: Abt Associates Inc.
Project Period: 9/26/13-9/25/14
Total Cost: $355,717

Title: Evaluation of Stage 3 Meaningful Use Objectives: Analysis is Maryland and Arkansas
Project Purpose and Objectives: The purpose of the project is to evaluate the proposed MU3 objectives among six hospitals to: identify strengths and weakness of the proposed MU3 plans; propose policy and technical strategies for improving the measures as the program is rolled out; identify EHR/HIT innovations that would support the attainment of MU3 objectives; suggest approaches that would assist EHs in maximizing the value of participation in MU3. These outcomes will shed light on ways to modify the MU3 metrics to increase benefits for patients, providers and society-at-large.
ACTION II Partnership: Johns Hopkins University – Armstrong Institute
Project Period: 9/26/2013 -9/25/14
Total Cost: $630,568