GHRI hosts HMO Research Network’s 2012 conference
Group Health Research Institute, a founding member of the Network, is proud to host the HMORN’s 18th annual conference April 29 to May 2 in Seattle: “Learning health care systems: leading through research.”
Headlining the conference is Donald M. Berwick, MD, MPP, presenting Group Health’s annual Birnbaum Endowed Lecture on April 30. Now a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, Dr. Berwick was the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for more than a year, with confirmation of his appointment blocked by politics.
Dr. Berwick will discuss how health care professionals can lead the way in reform—without waiting for government. An HMORN panel discussion about learning health care systems as models for innovation will follow the lecture. Such systems, including Group Health and other Network member organizations, keep improving as research and practice influence each other—and lessons from pragmatic research are quickly “translated” into practice.
“Regardless of the twists and turns of health care reform, learning health care systems are modeling the way toward reform,” says John F. Steiner, MD, MPH, vice-chair of the HMORN’s governing board, “because we’ve been down this road for decades.” Dr. Steiner is the senior director of the Kaiser Permanente Colorado Institute for Health Research and a professor of general internal medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.
“We must deliver health care that is efficient, effective, and coordinated,” Dr. Steiner explains. “Systems that integrate care and coverage already have a head start on doing that, largely because we’re rewarded for keeping people healthy, not doing more to them as in fee-for-service settings.”
Likewise, the HMORN is known for the relative speed and efficiency of its research processes. In these real-world settings, patients aren’t specially selected, as they are in most randomized controlled trials. Other unique features of the HMORN include the close ties among researchers and operational and clinical leaders at Network sites, and access to vast quantities of high‑quality data from electronic health records.
“As the HMO Research Network evolves, we focus increasingly on building assets, and our researchers are our most important and unique asset,” says Walter “Buzz” Stewart, PhD, MPH, chair of the HMORN’s governing board and associate chief research officer of the Geisinger Health System Center for Health Research. “Our researchers are embedded in health care systems and have deep knowledge of how health care is delivered and managed.”
There is power in numbers, and that’s why the HMORN’s “team science” approach is on the rise. The Network helps researchers at 19 health systems, including Group Health and seven Kaiser Permanente sites, pool information about their more than 16 million total patients. (The information is stripped of details that might identify individuals.)
By teaming up, HMORN researchers can study rich clinical data on large populations with broad geographical and ethnic diversity and gain the statistical power to do rigorous comparative effectiveness research. They can determine which tests and treatments—and which ways of delivering them—really work, and which don’t, for the decisive outcome: people’s health. With the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and National Institutes of Health seeking more efficient ways to do comparative effectiveness research, “the Network will continue to leverage its knowledge and play a leading role” says Dr. Stewart.
“Network research matters more now than ever, because runaway health care costs—coupled with uneven and, at times, poor quality—are driving the nation’s economic problems,” adds Eric B. Larson, MD, MPH, the HMORN’s previous board chair, Group Health’s vice president for research, and GHRI’s executive director.
Unlike many conferences, the HMORN’s yearly gathering is a working meeting. The annual conference is crucial to the Network, as it gives geographically scattered collaborators a rare chance to interact in person—with different sites hosting each year. Sharing population-based health and health care research, investigators rub elbows with policymakers and providers who can put their work into action.
“The HMO Research Network’s annual conference is becoming increasingly popular as the Network formalizes how we work and extends our reach with academic centers and other partners,” Dr. Stewart says. Nearly 500 attendees are expected at this year’s conference.
The conference will be held at The Conference Center and the Sheraton, and the Birnbaum Lecture will be held at the Washington State Convention Center. In addition to conference attendees, a record-setting 500 members of the Group Health community have reserved their seats for the Birnbaum Lecture. Those on a waiting list will be notified in mid-April whether space will be available for them.
by Rebecca Hughes
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