The Department of and Human Services announced awards $112 million to 
regional cooperatives about 5,000 primary physicians in 12 states, aimed at improving the heart their nearly 8 million patients and preventing heart attacks and stroke. Heart disease is the leading cause death for men and women in the United States.
The , called EvidenceNOW: Advancing Heart in Primary , will help primary practices in urban and rural communities. The establishes seven regional cooperatives with teams experts who will work with up to 0 primary practices.
The services the cooperatives are aimed at helping primary practices incorporate cardiovascular prevention in their patients’ .
HHS also awarded a grant to support independent external evaluation the EvidenceNOW initiative, to study its impact practice improvement and to determine which quality improvement strategies are most effective.
The grants represent one the largest research investments so far by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Funding comes from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund created by the Act.