By JULIE MINDA
Four large health systems with Catholic facilities are among the 42 organizations taking part in a new initiative aimed at more quickly using scientific research in health care practice.
The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute has launched an initiative to more quickly apply scientific research to clinical practice. This is the scope of the work.The initiative is from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, an independent nonprofit organization authorized by Congress in 2010 to fund research that enables
patients and clinicians to make better-informed health care decisions. The Health Systems Implementation Initiative the institute announced in March provides funding to speed uptake of comparative clinical effectiveness research findings at health
care facilities across the U.S. The institute initially is investing $50 million in the effort.
According to a press release on the initiative,
the institute aims through the work to "cut the estimated 17-year lag between the publication of (research) results and their uptake in practice."
The 42 participants in the Health Systems Implementation Initiative represent about 800 hospitals and 6,400 primary care locations across 41 states and the District of Columbia. Three CHA members — Ascension, CommonSpirit Health and Mercy —
are participating in the initiative. Intermountain Health, which has CHA-member facilities, also is taking part.
Participating health systems will collaborate, share information and establish best practices for implementing research learnings and for using metrics to gauge success.
The institute will provide funding ranging from $500,000 to $5 million per project to promote the providers' use of specific evidence from institute-funded research studies. The institute has funded a wide variety of research, including on organ transplantation, weight management, bariatric surgery, mental illness, child abuse, heart failure, diabetes, Parkinson's disease, cancer
and obstetrics.
According to an institute blog post on the Health Systems Implementation Initiative,
by conducting projects to implement evidence-based practices, "health systems will be leaders in refining, employing, and demonstrating workable strategies to improve care in real-world settings."
The institute plans to scale up the Health Systems Implementation Initiative nationwide based on learnings from the initial 42 participating systems.