28 TURNING MODERNIZATION INTO IMPROVEMENT CARES modernization efforts extend beyond the platform itself. In parallel with its software transformation, CARES is advancing key areas of its work: quality improvement, data integration, and expansion of its national network. Together, these efforts reflect a broader commitment to strengthening how CARES supports communities through collaboration, insight, technology, and action. Modernization matters because it enables better measurement, clearer feedback, and more effective improvement. Central to CARES’ quality improvement efforts is CARES PRIME (Program for Resuscitation Improvement, Modernization, and Expansion). This collaborative initiative, uniting CARES, the American Heart Association, the American Red Cross, CPR LifeLinks, and the Resuscitation Academy, aims to improve cardiac arrest survival through data-driven insights, community training, and continuous quality improvement. Since its launch in 2024, CARES PRIME has made meaningful progress in advancing cardiac arrest data collection and research, while equipping communities nationwide with the tools to strengthen survival outcomes. CARES PRIME The American Heart Association is proud to serve on the CARES PRIME team, standing alongside dedicated partners in this multiorganization initiative. Through this collaboration, the Heart Association continues to lead advocacy efforts to support sustainable nationwide expansion, building on its pivotal role in securing federal funding for the program through the CAROL Act in 2023. These efforts reinforce the Heart Association’s long-standing belief that strong, evidence informed systems of care are essential to improving outcomes nationwide. Across the country, the Heart Association’s Community Impact teams are actively working to strengthen the first three links in the Chain of Survival through policy, system, and environmental change strategies. These interventions include but are not limited to expanding access to CPR training, particularly in lower socioeconomic and under resourced communities; reducing time to EMS activation; supporting universal implementation of Telephone-Assisted CPR; and increasing access to lay rescuer AEDs. This year, the Heart Association was also very proud to release the 2025 CPR and ECC Guidelines, providing the latest science and recommendations that further anchor our Nation of Lifesavers initiative and guide our efforts to turn bystanders into lifesavers. In several markets, CARES data has directly informed community readiness strategies, helping teams better target and refine their CPR and AED interventions. The American Heart Association Hear from our CARES PRIME Partners
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