A statewide collaborative initiative to improve the quality of care for patients with acute myocardial infarction and heart failure.

Background: To enhance quality improvement, we created a unique statewide collaboration among 3 organizations: the Virginia Health Quality Center (Virginia's Medicare Quality Improvement Organization), the American College of Cardiology, and the American Heart Association. The goal was to improve discharge measures for acute myocardial infarction and heart failure.

Methods And Results: In 2004, 29 hospitals participated in the collaborative initiative.

Collaborative Initiatives in the Care of Early Stage Breast Cancer: Reduction in Variation of Breast-Conserving Therapy.

Breast-conserving therapy (BCT) has survival results comparable to those obtained with modified radical mastectomy (MST). However, studies suggest variations in the rates of breast-conserving therapy that are not explained by comorbidities or age. The Virginia Health Quality Center collaborated with 40 Virginia hospitals to address patterns of breast cancer treatment.