Three Finalists Named for the 2017 $100,000 Hearst Health Prize in Partnership With the Jefferson College of Population Health

NEW YORK, NY and PHILADELPHIA, PA--(Marketwired - January 24, 2017) - Hearst Health, a division of Hearst, and the Jefferson College of Population Health of Thomas Jefferson University, today announced the three finalists for the 2017 Hearst Health Prize, an annual $100,000 award given in recognition of an organization's or individual's outstanding achievement in managing or improving health in the U.S. The announcement was made by Gregory Dorn, MD, MPH, president of Hearst Health, and David B. Nash, MD, MBA, dean of the Jefferson College of Population Health, who is also one of the judges.

The finalists are (in alphabetical order):

American Heart Association/American Stroke Association: "Target: Stroke" is a national initiative aimed at increasing the number of eligible stroke patients receiving tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) within the specified time frame in order to protect the brain from disability. The initiative enrolled more than 1,200 U.S. hospitals. Every year 795,000 Americans have a stroke. It is the fifth leading cause of death in the U.S. and the number one cause of preventable disability. What matters most in the protection of the brain from disability is time.

Impact of program:

• Patients treated within 60 minutes experienced improved outcomes including lower in-hospital mortality and reduced long-term disability
• Participating hospitals dropped average door-to-needle times from 74 minutes to 59 minutes
• Today, 75 percent of patients are treated within the 60-minute door-to-needle time (from 2010 to 2016 the growth in the number of hospitals receiving recognition for treatment goals via "Target: Stroke" grew from 8.9 percent to 46.2 percent)

California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative based at Stanford University (CMQCC): CMQCC's mission is to reduce preventable maternal mortality and morbidity, and reduce racial-ethnic disparities in birth outcomes. Through a series of data-driven quality improvement projects, CMQCC's work contributed to a significant decline in maternal mortality in California at a time when U.S. rates doubled.

Impact of program:

• CMQCC partnered with many organizations within the state to lead a series of coordinated targeted quality improvement initiatives that drove a decline in California's maternal mortality rate of more than 55 percent from 2006 to 2013 (from 16.9 to 7.3 deaths per 100,000 live births)
• Severe maternal morbidity was reduced by 20.8 percent from 2014 to 2016 among 126 hospitals (288,210 births) participating in the California Partnership for Maternal Safety Collaborative, an initiative of CMQCC along with other stakeholders; As a point of comparison, a 48-hospital sample (83,632 births) not participating in the initiative had a 1.2 percent reduction in maternal morbidity

Intermountain Healthcare: Approximately 43 million American adults (18 percent of the total adult population in the U.S.) have a mental illness. In 2000, Intermountain Healthcare created a Mental Health Integration program for patients that embeds mental health screening and treatment within primary care and select specialty practices, utilizing a team-based approach to help patients and their families manage the complexity of both mental and physical health.

Impact of program, based on a retrospective longitudinal cohort study between 2003 and 2013 (data of 113,453 unique patients) comparing Team-Based Care to Traditional Practice Medicine:

• The Team-Based Care model had higher rates of active depression screening (46 vs. 24.1 percent); adherence to diabetes care bundle (24.6 vs. 19.5 percent); and documentation of self-care plans (48.4 vs. 8.7 percent)
• Rates of healthcare utilization were lower for Team-Based Care patients (18.1 vs. 23.5 visits per 100 person-years)
• Significant reductions in payments to the delivery system were associated with Team-Based Care group vs. the Traditional Practice Medicine ($3,400.62 vs. $3,515.71) and were lower than the investments in the Team-Based Care program

The finalists will present their programs at a special poster session at the 17^th annual Population Health Colloquium in Philadelphia on March 27, 2017 at 5:30 p.m. One winner of the Hearst Health Prize will be announced at the Colloquium on the following morning, March 28, at 9:30 a.m.

"One of our primary goals for the Hearst Health Prize is to generate widespread awareness for extraordinary accomplishments in the field of population health and advance the peer-reviewed body of work," Dorn said. "All three finalists' programs are making significant progress against enormous healthcare challenges."

"We received a wealth of submissions from hospitals and health systems, academic medical centers, community organizations, nonprofits, healthcare technology companies and health departments across the U.S.," Nash said. "It has been very exciting to see the breadth of these population health programs, learn about their impact and share these insights."

The applications were evaluated based on the program's population health impact or outcome, demonstrated by measurable improvement; use of evidence-based interventions and best practices to improve the quality of care; promotion of communication, collaboration and engagement; scalability and sustainability; and innovation. The finalists were the highest scoring in these criteria based on evaluation by a distinguished panel of judges.

The following organizations received Honorable Mention for their programs (in alphabetical order):

• Baylor College of Medicine
• Children's Health System of Texas
• Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH)
• Dornsife School of Public Health, Drexel University
• Metropolitan Chicago Breast Cancer Task Force
• New York-Presbyterian Hospital
• Rush University Medical Center

For additional information about the Hearst Health Prize, please go to www.jefferson.edu/HearstHealthPrize or visit the Hearst Health booth #2531 at HIMSS17, February 20-22 in Orlando, Florida.

About Hearst Health:

The Hearst Health network includes FDB (First Databank), Zynx Health, MCG, Homecare Homebase, MedHOK, Hearst Health International, Hearst Health Ventures and the Hearst Health Innovation Lab (www.hearsthealth.com). The mission of the Hearst Health network is to help guide the most important care moments by delivering vital information into the hands of everyone who touches a person's health journey. Each year in the U.S., care guidance from the Hearst Health network reaches 84 percent of discharged patients, 177 million insured individuals, 60 million home health visits, and 3.1 billion dispensed prescriptions.

About the Jefferson College of Population Health:

The Jefferson College of Population Health (JCPH) is the first college of its kind in the country. Established in 2008, it is part of Thomas Jefferson University, a leading academic health center founded in Philadelphia in 1824 as Jefferson Medical College (now Sidney Kimmel Medical College). The College is dedicated to exploring the policies and forces that define the health and well-being of populations. Its mission is to prepare leaders with global vision to examine the social determinants of health and to evaluate, develop and implement health policies and systems that will improve the health of populations and thereby enhance the quality of life. Jefferson College of Population Health provides exemplary graduate academic programming in population health, public health, health policy, healthcare quality and safety, and applied health economics and outcomes research. Its educational offerings are enhanced by research, publications and continuing education and professional development offerings in these areas.

About The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association:

The American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association are devoted to saving people from heart disease and stroke -- America's No. 1 and No.5 killers. We team with millions of volunteers to fund innovative research, fight for stronger public health policies, and provide lifesaving tools and information to prevent and treat these diseases. The Dallas-based American Heart Association is the nation's oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. The American Stroke Association is a division of the American Heart Association. For more information visit: http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/.

About California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative based at Stanford University (CMQCC):

CMQCC is a multi-stakeholder organization that drives improvement in maternal and infant outcomes through rapid-cycle data analytics and collaborative action. Founded in 2006 with a mission to end preventable morbidity, mortality and racial disparities in California maternity care, CMQCC represents a partnership of more than 40 public and private agencies, programs, professional groups, health systems, and universities. CMQCC currently receives funding from the California HealthCare Foundation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Merck for Mothers and the California Department of Public Health, Maternal Child Adolescent Health Division. For more information visit: https://www.cmqcc.org/.

About Intermountain Healthcare:

Intermountain Healthcare is a Utah-based, not-for-profit system of 22 hospitals, 185 clinics, a Medical Group with some 1,300 employed physicians, a health plans division called SelectHealth, and other health services. Helping people live the healthiest lives possible, Intermountain is widely recognized as a leader in transforming healthcare through high quality and sustainable costs. For more information visit: https://intermountainhealthcare.org/.