Evaluation of AF4Q Super User Projects

Improving Management of Health Care Super-Utilizers, a special initiative within the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q) program, seeks to adapt and pilot test efforts to identify and manage healthcare “super-utilizers” in six diverse sites across the country. As the program evaluator, CSHP is generating new knowledge of value to communities interested in adopting super-utilizer care management strategies by focusing on practical aspects of initiating the pilot efforts, how those efforts address the needs of patients, and outcomes during the early years of project adoption. Evaluation findings will also be of value to policy audiences, including Medicaid leaders, as they seek ways to “bend the cost curve” while improving care for vulnerable populations. The evaluation has three specific objectives: 1. Document the experiences of program sites in adapting super-utilizer strategies; 2. Assess how patient needs are addressed through new care management strategies; and 3. Document changes in hospital resource use by enrolled patients.