Transitioning to a value-based health care system has hospitals and health systems pursuing the Triple Aim: improving the patient experience of care, improving the health of populations, and reducing the per capita cost of health care. Navigating this transition, hospital leaders create new clinical care models, develop strategies that improve the health of the patient and community, and deploy new payment models that lower cost and reward value. The AHA’s research agenda for 2016– 2018 will focus on three key research questions around the Triple Aim, serving as a central component of research for the field.

1.How do hospitals and health systems further develop effective clinical care models that are centered on the patient and the community, while addressing the variety of care settings needed and reducing variation in care and use?

2. What are effective strategies to improve health that focus on socioeconomic determinants and health disparities, while meeting the emerging consumer mindset?

3. What strategies and best practices are most effective for hospitals and health systems to lower per capita cost while improving health outcomes for the patient and the population?