Working together to share best practices, analyze data and implement care improvements, 333 hospitals participating in a quality collaborative have cut their risk-adjusted mortality rate by 36% since 2007, said a report issued in March by the project’s organizers.

The Quality, Efficiency, Safety, Transparency initiative — dubbed QUEST for short — was launched in 2007 with 157 hospitals by Premier Inc., a Charlotte, N.C.-based purchasing and quality improvement alliance of more than 2,800 U.S. hospitals.

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