Results & Success Stories
Proof that networks work.
Fueling networks. Transforming outcomes.
We help people solve complex problems together—by building, strengthening, and connecting improvement networks that deliver measurable results at scale. Across healthcare public health, education, and social systems, Spark lowers the barriers to collaboration so communities can learn faster, act together, and improve outcomes that matter.
There are many examples of learning health networks, particularly in child health. Over the past fifteen years (prior to forming Spark), our team members worked in both leadership and contributor roles with more than a dozen Learning Improvement Networks in both healthcare and education. Below are just a few examples of networks that have demonstrated how collaboration at scale can drive meaningful improvements in outcomes.
A NETWORK AT WORKImproveCareNow
ImproveCareNow is a collaborative community of patients, parents, clinicians, and researchers working to improve care for children and youth with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. The network operates across more than 100 pediatric gastroenterology centers.
Over the past decade, remission rates at the best-performing sites have risen above 80 percent, up from roughly 55 percent. Ninety-three percent of children achieve satisfactory growth. Ninety-six percent are not taking side-effect-producing steroids. None of those gains trace to a single breakthrough drug. They trace to disciplined learning across sites, shared measurement, and the active participation of patients and families in designing the care model. (improvecarenow.org)
SHARED GOALS + RESULTSChildren’s Hospitals’ Solutions for Patient Safety
Solutions for Patient Safety (SPS) is a network of 150+ children’s hospitals across North America that work together to help hospitals on a journey toward zero serious harm. SPS is the only such effort that is specifically focused on improving pediatric and employee safety. We believe that by putting aside competition and sharing our safety successes and challenges, we can achieve our goals faster. By sharing our experiences and knowledge through an “All Teach, All Learn” mindset, we work to ensure every child and employee is safe every day. (solutionsforpatientsafety.org)
CROSS-SECTOR EXAMPLEAll Children Thrive Cincinnati
All Children Thrive (ACT) Cincinnati is a citywide partnership among families, schools, community organizations, public health agencies, healthcare providers, and government institutions. It extends the learning network model beyond the walls of a single sector. The shared aim is a community where all children can thrive physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially. The shared method is the same improvement science that has driven clinical networks for three decades.
ACT shows that the design principles of a learning network are not a healthcare phenomenon or an education phenomenon. They are a coordination technology for any field in which the problems are shared and the expertise is distributed. (actcincy.org)
