Lessons learned from the CRUSADE National Quality Improvement Initiative.

The CRUSADE National Quality Improvement Initiative was created to track national care patterns, facilitate process improvement, and improve patient outcomes among patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS). CRUSADE found that patients in community practice were sicker than those in randomized clinical trials and often failed to receive evidence-based therapies. Dosing regimens of antithrombotic therapy were also suboptimal, raising safety concerns. Over time, guideline adherence and dosing regimens of ACS patients have improved dramatically, leading to significantly improved outcomes. Ongoing quality improvement efforts will be needed to further improve evidence-based and personalized care of patients with ACS.