Recognition December 2017

• Henrikson presented 'Costs of Care Conversations'
• Lewis gave plenary at AcademyHealth conference
• Boudreau serving as member of FDA’s DSaRM committee
• Larson presented at Salzburg Global Seminar

Nora Henrikson presented 'Costs of Care Conversations' at UW Medical Anthropology and Global Health seminar 

KPWHRI research associate Nora Henrikson, PhD, MPH, presented her lecture, "Costs of Care Conversations" at the University of Washington's Kane Hall in Seattle on Nov. 15 2017, part of the University of Washington’s Medical Anthropology and Global Health seminar series. 

Dr. Henrikson’s lecture noted that as medical care costs have increasingly shifted to patients, they face unanticipated out-of-pocket costs that place them at risk for financial hardship and poor health outcomes. Timely access to information about costs of care can help patients with treatment and expense planning, facilitate connections to financial assistance resources, and is an important part of patient-centered care.

Cara Lewis gave plenary at AcademyHealth conference

MacColl Center for Health Care Innovation’s Cara Lewis, PhD, presented a plenary at the 10th Annual Conference on the Science of Dissemination and Implementation in Health on Dec. 5, 2017 in Arlington, Va.

AcademyHealth’s annual conference on the Science of Dissemination and Implementation in Health was co-hosted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The conference’s aim is to bridge the gap between research, practice, and policy in health and health care.

Dr. Lewis’ topic was “The Next Generation of D&I (Dissemination & implementation) Research,” moderated by Lisa Simpson, MB, BCh, president and CEO of AcademyHealth. Her fellow speakers included David Atkins, PhD, University of Washington; Deborah Cohen, PhD, Oregon Health & Science University; and Ross Hammond, PhD, Brookings Institution.

The event’s keynote speaker was Sandro Galea, MD, Robert A. Knox Professor and Dean at Boston University School of Public Health.

Denise Boudreau serving 4-year term as member of FDA’s DSaRM committee

KPWHRI Senior Investigator Denise Boudreau, PhD, has been appointed to  the FDA’s Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee,  where she recently participated in the recommended approval of two new formulations of buprenorphine to treat opioid use disorder.

The group voted 17–3 to recommend approval of CAM2038, an investigational buprenorphine weekly and monthly depot injection for the treatment of adults with opioid use disorder.

As many as 11.8 million Americans engaged in misuse of opioids in the last year. Approximately 2 million American adults (age 12+ years old) met criteria for opioid use disorder in the past year. 

Eric Larson presented at Salzburg Global Seminar

At the “Changing Minds: Innovations in Dementia Care and Dementia-Friendly Communities” session of the Salzburg Global Seminar, held on Nov. 28 through Dec. 3 in Salzburg, Austria, KPWHRI vice president of research and health care innovation at Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Washington and executive director and senior investigator Eric Larson, MD, MPH, spoke about dementia-friendly communities as a model for prevention.

Dr. Larson shared his experience and views not only on prevention, but also on the continuum of care. Participants tweeted a few key takeaways from the session:

Prevention and care for age-related conditions are a continuum. Our brain, as it develops, is constantly developing a reserve (there is controversy on when we stop building that reserve)—because at some point it will deteriorate. James Vaupel wrote that in advanced countries, 50 percent of the children alive in 2010 are likely to reach their 100th birthday, so this topic is important.

After reviewing reports, we saw that in advanced countries the number of people with dementia was going down. The rates are going down enough that in the UK, the NHS had to revise their predictions.

Willingness to form new groups, often self-help-groups, is one of the characteristics of a more dementia-friendly community. Maintenance of activity in safe ways is important. Dancing is shown to activate the part of your brain related to memory. There are life-enhancing models for people who want to give back. There’s a pretty good chance that we’re going to live to be far older than what we thought when we were 30. This movement is all about people growing old together.