Programs Aligning Forces for Quality Main Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q)
Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q)
Aligning Forces for Quality: the Regional Market Project is a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) designed to help communities across the country improve the quality of health care within their geographic region. The $25-million program is part of RWJF's continuing effort to close the gap between the quality of health care that Americans now receive and what the health care system is capable of delivering. The foundational premise of Aligning Forces for Quality is that no single person, group or profession can improve the quality of care without the support of others. Maine is one of fifteen communities selected from across the country to participate in this initiative.
AF4Q in Maine is led by Quality Counts in close partnership with the Maine Health Management Coalition and the Maine Quality Forum. These partners work with numerous stakeholder groups including consumers, healthcare providers, purchasers, insurers, and public health organizations to improve healthcare by aligning efforts within and across three areas, or “forces”: quality improvement, public reporting and consumer engagement, with a particular focus on reducing disparities in healthcare across the state.As the lead agency for AF4Q in Maine, QC was initially awarded funding in March 2007 to promote alignment within and across the following 3 areas:
- Performance Measurement / Public Reporting
- Quality Improvement Capacity
- Consumer Engagement
In May 2008, RWJF expanded the scope of the AF4Q initiative to additionally include a focus on improving hospital quality, decreasing healthcare disparities, and engaging nurse leaders to improve quality. These funds will allow QC to build on the AF4Q goals by:
- Extending quality improvement efforts to include hospitals and other inpatient health care facilities
- Focusing and strengthening the role of nurse leaders and frontline nurses in quality improvement initiatives
- Developing, implementing and using performance measures to better identify and reduce racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare quality.
Latest AF4Q News