Below are brief summaries of Grant Results Reports available on past grantmaking in this field of interest. In some cases, the grants were made before the team decided on its current strategic objective. Findings and lessons from the grants described have nonetheless informed RWJF’s grantmaking. Visit the Foundation’s Web site www.rwjf.org for more Grant Results Reports.

Seeking National Standards to Measure Quality of Health Care Providers
U.S. employers, consumers and others who purchase health care lack clearly defined, standardized measures that could help them choose high-quality providers. A coalition of leading consumer, purchaser and labor organizations established the Consumer-Purchaser Disclosure Project, aiming, by 2007, to enable people to select hospitals, physicians and treatments based on public reporting of nationally standardized measures for clinical quality, consumer experience and efficiency. Using six quality domains—safety, timeliness, effectiveness, efficiency, equity and patient-centeredness—project staff developed a framework for assessing performance measures from a consumer and purchaser perspective. They also proposed performance measures for hospitals, some of which were adopted by the National Quality Forum, a public-private partnership that is pursuing a national strategy for health care quality measurement and reporting. See the Grant Results Report at www.rwjf.org/reports/grr/045585.htm.

Living Will Project Reaches One Million People
The Commission on Aging with Dignity revised Five Wishes, a living will, to conform to laws in 33 states and the District of Columbia, then publicized and distributed it to a million people around the United States. Five Wishes explains how to write instructions about the kind of care people want if they are too ill to speak for themselves and how they can discuss those choices with family and medical providers. The Commission also developed another version of the document for companies to give to employees. More than 500 companies and 5,000 other organizations distributed this new version. Project staff also provided an enhanced Web site www.agingwithdignity.org. An evaluation of the project found that 52 percent of those who received Five Wishes completed it, making them three times more likely than the general population to complete an advance directive. See the Grant Results Report at www.rwjf.org/reports/grr/038914.htm.

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