RWJF Selects Cincinnati Physician to Lead Aligning Forces for Quality Program

The Princeton, N.J.-based Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) announced that Robert Graham, M.D., has been named national program director of Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q), the cornerstone of its multi-year, $300 million commitment to improve the quality and equality of health care nationwide.

Graham will also hold an appointment as a research professor of Health Policy at George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services (GWU). GWU serves as the national program office of the Aligning Forces for Quality program.

Aligning Forces is RWJF’s signature effort to increase the overall quality of health care in 17 targeted communities nationwide. Since 2006, teams of local health care providers, consumers and payers have worked together to systematically improve the quality of care delivered in their local health care markets. In each region, multi-stakeholder alliances have developed comprehensive reports that measure the performance of local primary care physicians and shared the information with the public. The reports are used to educate consumers and help physicians identify where care can be improved. Specific programs to help health care providers improve their care have been launched in doctors’ offices and hospitals in all of the AF4Q regions. Special efforts are also underway in the communities to identify where racial and ethnic disparities in care may arise and address them.