# A POPULATION BASED APPROACH TO IMPROVE OUTCOMES AFTER OUT-OF-HOSPITAL CARDIAC ARREST

> **NIH NIH R01** · ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI · 2022 · $733,392

## Abstract

Abstract
Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is a major cause of death in the US, affecting over 300,000 citizens
annually. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) recently released “Strategies to Improve Survival from Cardiac Arrest:
A Time to Act,” stating “although breakthroughs in understanding and treatment are impressive, the ability to
consistently deliver timely interventions and high-quality care is less than impressive.” The IOM’s work
highlighted that the cooperation between stakeholders essential to deliver optimal care for patients with OHCA
is lacking. Indeed, marked geographic variability exists in the management and outcomes of OHCA, and
leading professional societies support the development of cardiac arrest systems of care. OHCA survival in a
given community is a function of its individuals (e.g. age, comorbid conditions), hospital characteristics (e.g.
protocols for targeted temperature management and early cardiac catheterization), and organization of the
system of care (e.g. percent of patients taken to high volume centers). In the current structure, accountability
for outcomes resides at the provider or facility level, but no regional benchmarks or incentives exist to improve
OHCA outcomes at the community level. The IOM defines total population health as “the health of all persons
living in a specified geopolitical area” and encourages health systems, hospitals, and payers to create systems
of care that meet the needs of patients and improve the health of the total population. The proposed study
develops a new attribution method for Medicare beneficiaries sustaining OHCA by applying spatial methods to
identify naturally occurring geographic clusters defined not by health system affiliation, but by how patients
access healthcare for emergencies. Defining regional boundaries allows for benchmarking of outcomes, and
facilitates development of population-based incentives. This approach can be directly translated into practice
by using population-based payment strategies as described by the U.S. Secretary of Health & Human Services
and implemented by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Aim 1 will describe the existing patterns of
hospital utilization for patients with OHCA. Aim 2 will identify existing spatial clusters of hospitals that treat
members of a community with OHCA. Aim 3 will determine variability in risk-adjusted outcomes at the
population level. This work provides the scaffolding to enable the construction of new payment models that are
consistent with the IOM vision of total population health, the American Heart Association’s efforts to build
regional systems of care, and the CMS efforts to improve population health. Our research team, richly
experienced in health services research methods and application to cardiac arrest investigations, is uniquely
positioned to conduct these studies, which will build on our current work under an R56 mechanism.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10337342
- **Project number:** 5R01HL141841-05
- **Recipient organization:** ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI
- **Principal Investigator:** BRENDAN G CARR
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $733,392
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-08-15 → 2024-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10337342

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10337342, A POPULATION BASED APPROACH TO IMPROVE OUTCOMES AFTER OUT-OF-HOSPITAL CARDIAC ARREST (5R01HL141841-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10337342. Licensed CC0.

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