Grants Awarded 2013

December 2013

GHRI recently received word of eight new awards.

Evaluating Education and Training on Multiple Chronic Conditions (MCC) for the Health Care Workforce Services

A three-year, $56,659 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Major goals: To (1) Assess the health care field to identify and evaluate education and training materials for key health professions on improving the care of persons with MCC; (2) Use the evaluation findings to develop an MCC training and education framework that can be used within specific health care professions and across health care professions that reflects an interprofessional (i.e., cross-disciplinary) approach that includes health professionals learning about, from, and with each other to enable effective collaboration and improved MCC patient health outcomes; and (3) Use the evaluation findings and the framework for collaborating with relevant stakeholders to develop a model MCC curricula and competencies. MacColl will provide input on all aspects of the project and will lead the framework development. The GHRI lead investigator is Judith Schaefer.

Home Blood Pressure Telemonitoring and Case Management to Control Hypertension

A three-year, $30,137 grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Major goals: Competitive continuation of a telemonitoring grant to improve hypertension control in a primary care setting and team models of care. The GHRI lead investigator is Beverly B. Green.

Maintenance and Operation of Medication Exposure in Pregnancy Risk Evaluation (MEPREP)

A one-year, $8,462 grant from the Food and Drug Administration. Major goals: To maintain the data, linkages, and organizational structure developed in the MEPREP pilot. The GHRI lead investigator is Sascha Dublin.

Pharmacogenomics in Rural and Underserved Populations II

A one-year, $12,160 grant from the National Institutes of Health. Major goals: To conduct two small case-control studies of the association between certain genetic variants and the risk of bleeding and clotting from warfarin therapy. It will involve identifying cases with bleeds and clots who started warfarin therapy within a defined time period, matching controls, contacting subjects via mailings, and collecting cheek swabs to obtain genetic information. The GHRI lead investigator is Denise M. Boudreau.

Samueli Military Medicine Project

A one-year, $59,491 grant from the Samueli Institute. Major goals: To provide senior scientific expertise in CAM therapies to the Samueli Institute for their program on military medicine. The principal investigator is Karen J. Sherman.

Social & Scientific Systems Inc.—Group Health Providers Survey

A four-month, $4,637 grant from the Urban Institute. Major goals: 1) Obtain and maintain relevant regulatory approvals and agreements, such as IRB approval. 2) Identify and compile a list of Group Health providers to receive Social & Scientific Systems’ survey. 3) Draft an e-mail, in collaboration with Group Health leadership, to Group Health providers about the Social & Scientific Systems’ survey, informing providers about the survey and asking them to complete it. 4) Distribute Social & Scientific Systems’ SurveyMonkey link to Group Health providers via email. The principal investigator is Robert J. Reid.

UW Staff Assignment CDC-HAN Health, Aging, and Technology Workgroup

A one-year, $7,648 grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Major goals: To co-lead monthly conference calls on healthy aging and technology, develop new research priorities on aging and technology, and participate in relevant manuscript writing. The GHRI lead investigator is Dori E. Rosenberg.

Vaccine Safety Datalink White Paper: Studying the Safety of the Vaccination Schedule

A one-year, $25,107 grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Major Goals: We will work with Kaiser Permanente Colorado to write a white paper on approaches for studying the safety of the childhood immunization schedule. The GHRI lead investigator is Michael L. Jackson.     

November 2013

GHRI recently received word of sixteen new awards.

Advance Care Planning with Patients Newly Diagnosed with Dementia/Neurodegenerative Disease

A two-year, $280,745 grant from Group Health Foundation. Major Goals: To develop an innovative, evidence-based program to deliver early, outpatient disease education and palliative care for newly diagnosed dementia patients at a time when their dementia is mild to moderate, thereby allowing their active participation in activities such as advance care planning. The principal investigator is Elizabeth Loggers.

Alternative Payment Model (APM) Initiative

A one-year, $33,984 grant from the Oregon Primary Care Association. Major Goals: To work with the Oregon Primary Care Association, their member community health centers, partners, and stakeholders to develop and implement an effective care delivery model that capitalizes on recent changes to the Community Health Center alternative payment model. The principal investigator is Katie Coleman.

California Academy for the Public's Health

A two-year, $20,000 grant from The California Endowment. Major Goals: To train public health leaders throughout California for organizational and systems change that imbeds equity, community, and cross-sector collaboration into practice. The principal investigator is Maggie Jones.

Commonly Used Medication and Risk of Colorectal Cancer Recurrence

A four-year, $2,158,534 grant from the National Cancer Institute. Major Goals: Determine if any commonly used medications are associated with increased or reduced risk of colorectal cancer recurrence. The principal investigator is Jessica Chubak.

Continued Assessment of Tdap Vaccine Effectiveness Using Data from Managed Healthcare Organizations

A five-month, $18,260 grant from Group Health Cooperative. Major Goals: Interpretation of results from study titled "Assessment of Tdap Vaccine Effectiveness Using Data from Managed Healthcare Organizations." The principal investigator is Michael L. Jackson.

Cancer Research Network 4 Pilot—Natural Language Processing for Identifying Clinical Risk Factors Associated with Pulmonary Nodule Surveillance

A one-year, $72,990 grant from the National Cancer Institute. Major Goals: Natural language processing for identifying clinical risk factors associated with pulmonary nodule surveillance. The GHRI lead investigator is David Carrell.

Disparities in Chronic Illness Care for Patients with Language Barriers

A four-month, $92,650 grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. Major Goals: The purpose of this supplement request is to complete programming and analysis of the adherence and treatment adjustment outcomes for the project titled, “Disparities in Chronic Illness Care for Patients with Language Barriers.” The principal investigator is Leo S. Morales.

Efforts to Develop the Sentinel Initiative: Prospective Observational Monitoring Program Tools (PROMPT), Rivaroxaban Surveillance

A one-year, $21,542 grant from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Major Goals: To respond to an FDA request to conduct prospective routine observational monitoring of rivaroxaban and ischemic stroke, intracranial hemorrhage, and other major bleeding among patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Rivaroxaban users will be compared to users of warfarin (and possibly dabigatran). The GHRI lead investigator is Jennifer C. Nelson.

Evaluation of the Home Visiting Services Account (HVSA) Programs Administered by Thrive by Five Washington

A three-year, $556,055 grant from Thrive by Five Washington. Major Goals: Provide data for quality improvement applicable to: improving implementation among home visiting agencies; how families perceive and benefit from home visiting services; and how the home visiting system in Washington is aligned and relevant to the needs of diverse communities. And advance the research-based knowledge in the field of home visiting, particularly the models and approaches funded by the HVSA. The principal investigator is Allen Cheadle.

Implementation of Medical Assistant (MA) Delivered Health Coaching for Adult Obesity—Phase 2

A two-year, $110,538 grant from the Group Health Foundation. Major Goals: The goal of this project is to develop an innovative approach to provide support for weight loss that is integrated with primary care and aligns with Group Health’s vision for the Medical Home 2.0. The program has two overarching design elements: brief health coaching provided by MAs in primary care; and a group-based behavioral treatment intervention modeled after the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP). In phase 1 of the project we developed the MA health coaching curriculum and trained two Group Health MAs at the Northgate Clinic to implement brief one-on-one discussions with patients interested in weight loss. We also shadowed MAs and other members of the health care team to understand how to best integrate MA health coaching into work flow. In phase 2 we will continue to train and mentor MAs to deliver health coaching and refine relevant processes, such as documentation. We will expand MA delivered health coaching capabilities by expanding to additional medical centers in the Group Health Integrated Group Practice. The principal investigator is Paula Lozano.

Improving Transparency of Patient Cost of Care for Chemotherapy

A one-year, $88,765 grant from the Group Health Foundation. Major Goals: Will convene a multidisciplinary team that will calculate per-cycle treatment charges for the most commonly prescribed chemotherapy regimens at Group Health and add them to the existing Beacon protocols on the oncology service intranet. We will assess the initial impact and potential usefulness of this addition with the physicians and staff. The GHRI lead investigator is Nora Henrikson.

Ongoing Technical Support to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF)

A four-year, $267,811 grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Major Goals: The purpose of this Task Order is to provide ongoing technical assistance to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) in the following areas: 1) work groups, 2) methods, 3) translation research. The GHRI lead investigator is David C. Grossman.

PHI—SFDPH LAPH

A one-year, $7,500 grant from the San Francisco Department of Public Health. Major Goals: Conduct an evaluation of the SFDPH cohort participating in the Leadership Academy for the Public's Health. The GHRI lead investigator is Maggie Jones.

Puget Sound Blood Center Focus Group Project

A one-year, $10,000 grant from Puget Sound Blood Center. Major Goals: Conduct two focus groups for the Puget Sound Blood Center. The principal investigator is Allen Cheadle.

SUPREME-DM—Sustaining a Learning Research Network

A two-year, $96,926 grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Major Goals: For each of 12 participating systems to build a standardized, longitudinal diabetes registry and a parallel registry of non-diabetic patients enriched with those at high risk for developing type 2 diabetes. The registry will be used for surveillance of obesity and diabetes and to conduct comparative effectiveness research. Natural language process will be deployed to enrich the registry. The GHRI lead investigator is Katherine M. Newton.

Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit

A ten-year, $2,628,135 grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Major Goals: To design and conduct phase 1, phase 2, phase 3, and phase 4 clinical trials and clinical studies of candidate vaccines and therapeutics, as well as conduct other evaluations and analyses for vaccines against infectious diseases. The principal investigator is Lisa A. Jackson.

October 2013

GHRI recently received word of seventeen new awards.

Cardiovascular Safety of Combination Therapies for Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

A five-year, $111,287 grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Major Goals: To evaluate the cardiovascular risks associated with various combinations of diabetes therapies in primary and secondary prevention populations; and to develop the career of Dr. James Floyd as an independent investigator studying cardiovascular drug safety. The GHRI lead investigator is Sascha Dublin.

Comparative Effectiveness Of Surveillance Modalities in Breast Cancer Survivors

A three-year, $1,878,133 grant from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. Major Goals: Our main objective is comparing the effectiveness of the two most common breast imaging modalities, mammography and breast MRI, for the detection of second breast cancer events. To accomplish our main objective we will: 1) compare effectives of surveillance breast MRI to mammography among women with a personal history of breast cancer by evaluating test performance and detection of second breast cancer events; 2) identify characteristics of women with a personal history of breast cancer, their tumors and treatments that influence performance of surveillance breast imaging; and 3) estimate the cumulative probability of benefits and harms associated with patterns of surveillance with different imaging modalities. The principal investigator is Karen Wernli.

Efforts to Develop the Sentinel Initiative: Protocol-Based Assessment of Thromboembolic Events after Immunoglobulin Administration

A one-year, $5,338 grant from the Food and Drug Administration. Major Goals: As part of the Blood-SCAN activities, we will conduct a one-time, retrospective protocol-based assessment of thromboembolic events after immunoglobulin administration and validate the algorithms used to identify the exposure and the outcome. The GHRI lead investigator is Denise M. Boudreau.

Efforts to Develop the Sentinel Initiative: Core Lead (Methods)

A one-year, $80,250 grant from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Major Goals: Methods Core Co-Lead will oversee the activities of the Methods Core, provide support to M-S partners, and ensure the year-five tasks and are met. The GHRI lead investigator is Denise M. Boudreau.

Efforts to Develop the Sentinel Initiative: Establish Capacity for Timely Response to Mini-Sentinel Coordinating Center Activities

A one-year, $113,385 grant from the Food and Drug Administration. Major Goals: Data partners will establish capacity to respond to; 1) up to 250 Mini-Sentinel Distributed Query Tool queries by the end of the second working day following submission of the query; and 2) up to 21 modular program queries per quarter (84 total) within five business days. Data partners should also establish capacity to participate in up to five PROMPT projects during the year, with a ten business-day response time for each PROMPT program execution. The GHRI lead investigator is Denise M. Boudreau.

Efforts to Develop the Sentinel Initiative: Safety Signaling Methods for Survival Outcomes to Control for Confounding in the Mini-Sentinel Distributed Dataset

A one-year, $348,442 grant from the Food and Drug Administration. Major Goals: 1) Reviewing causal survival approaches used in statistics and epidemiology; 2) developing new approaches, both one time and sequential, tailored to the Mini-Sentinel setting; 3) evaluating via simulation study the most promising existing and new approaches tailored to the Mini-Sentinel setting; 4) applying the best approaches based on simulation study to existing Mini-Sentinel data, and providing and documenting analytic code developed for the best approaches. The GHRI lead investigator is Andrea J. Cook.

Efforts to Develop the Sentinel Initiative: Support Summary Tables, Query Tool, MP, and PROMPT Testing and Development

A one-year, $49,527 grant from the Food and Drug Administration. Major Goals: In Year 5, Data Partners will establish capacity to be active in all Data Core activities and are responsible for establishing and maintaining the administrative and technical capability to respond to Mini-Sentinel Operations Center requests. Capacity requirements include having more than one staff member capable of responding to the modular program, query tool, PROMPT module, or ad-hoc queries at any given time. The GHRI lead investigator is Denise M. Boudreau.

Efforts to Develop the Sentinel Initiative: Update Mini-Sentinel Distributed Data Quarterly, including Clinical Data Elements

A one-year, $107,195 grant from the Food and Drug Administration. Major Goals: In Year 5, the Mini-Sentinel Distributed Database (MSDD) will continue to be updated on a regular basis. The Mini-Sentinel Operations Center will work closely with all Data Partners to update the MSDD, including administrative and claims data, as well as laboratory results and vital signs data elements that were finalized in Year 4. The GHRI lead investigator is Denise M. Boudreau.

Estimating the Cost of a Medical Home Transformation

A one-year, $100,000 grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Major Goals: Estimate the costs of the medical home by assessing what a health system might expect to incur when implementing a medical home but also to estimate the expected changes in direct costs that would result from the implementation. The principal investigator is Paul A. Fishman.

Internet-Based Medication Adherence Program for Nicotine Dependence Treatment

A three-year, $730,437 grant from National Institute on Drug Abuse. Major Goals: To develop and evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of an Internet-based tool to enhance medication adherence among smokers using varenicline. The principal investigator is Jennifer B. McClure.

Latino Health Research, Practice and Policy

A one-year, $49,860 grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. Major Goals: Plan and execute a small conference to connect researchers to Hispanic community-based organizations and clinicians in WWAMI region and beyond. The principal investigator is Leo S. Morales.

Measuring and Improving Colonoscopy Quality Using Natural Language Processing

A four-year, $284,389 grant from the National Cancer Institute. Major Goals: Further refinement and large-scale testing of natural language process methods to extract quality information from colonoscopy procedure reports. Use the extracted data to assess variation in quality. Use the extracted data to explore useful ways to communicate information on quality of procedures back to practitioners performing the procedures. The GHRI lead investigator is David Carrell.

Patient Perspectives on Broad Consent in Biobank Research in the eMERGE Network

A two-year, $392,694 grant from the National Human Genome Research Institute. Major Goals: To develop and implement a survey to gather eMERGE participant views on sharing their samples and data for future research, and how they expect those data to be protected. The principal investigator is Eric B. Larson.

PCORI National Clinical Research Network Coordinating Center (NCRN CC)

A two-year, $434,264 grant from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. Major Goals: The NCRN CC will be responsible for ensuring PCORI’s Patient-Powered Research Networks (PPRN) and Clinical Data Research Networks (CDRN) develop policies, procedures, and infrastructure to support clinical trials involving multiple CDRNs and PPRNs. The Health Systems Involvement Sustainability Subcommittee will develop innovative strategies for meaningful engagement of health system operational and clinical leadership with the NCRN. It will also explore and develop models for long-term sustainability. The GHRI lead investigator is Eric B. Larson.

Primary Care Emerging Leaders

A two-year, $317,146 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Major Goals: To provide leadership development, mentoring, and support for selected primary care staff members from PCT-LEAP sites so they can become effective leaders and drivers of change; to provide resources for other primary care sites involved in phase 2 of the LEAP project; and to develop local and national role models who can help others in their job category expand their capabilities and roles; and to envision a more interesting and rewarding heath care career. The principal investigator is Edward H. Wagner.

Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) Project: Prevention and Public Health Fund (PPHF)

A one-year, $81,360 grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Major Goals: We will be exploring and incorporating additional variables into the HMOBIRTH file. Depending on data structure for these additional data elements, a new file called the pregnancy file may be created to store this information. The principal investigator is Lisa A. Jackson.

Washington State Health Care Innovation Plan Design Development

A three-month, $20,000 grant from the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services. Major Goals: In partnership with the Washington State Health Care Authority and the University of Washington, MacColl Center will conduct an environmental scan of service delivery and payment models, innovations around chronic illness care, and the MacColl Center Framework for Regional Improvement. MacColl will provide consultation and feedback to the Washington State Health Care Innovation Plan design team regarding proposed innovation designs along with supporting evidence, references, and documents. The GHRI lead investigator is Michael L. Parchman

September 2013

GHRI recently received word of ten awards.

A Survey of Adult Awareness and Reasons for Lack of Post-Fracture Osteoporotic Care

A two-year, $248,555 grant from Amgen. Major Goals: 1) To survey GHRI women enrollees, aged 55-79 years, for their perspectives on treatment or non-treatment after a clinically diagnosed fracture. 2) To identify self-reported factors that may predict post-fracture non-treatment. 3) To compare available automated data and survey data. The principal investigator is Denise M. Boudreau.

Case Studies to Inform the Partnership for Innovation (PFI) Re-Design

A one-month, $8,000 grant from the Group Health Foundation. Major Goals: Conduct a comparative case study analysis to better understand the reasons why PFI project innovations have or have not been translated into widespread practice. The principal investigator is Allen Cheadle.

Evidence-based Practice Center IV Task Order #2: The Systematic Review of Screening for Child Lipid Disorders

A three-year, $332,588 grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Major Goals: Support the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force by conducting and completing systematic evidence review on Screening for Child Lipid Disorders. The GHRI lead investigator is David C. Grossman.

Evaluating Community Engagement in Health Impact Assessments (HIAs)

A two-year, $46,586 grant from W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Major Goals: 1) To more deeply examine the process and impact of engaging the “impacted community” in HIAs. 2) To assess what difference engaging "impacted communities" has made for communities and the decisions that are the topic of the HIAs. The principal investigator is Emily Bourcier.

Evaluation of Group Health Opioid Risk Reduction Initiative

A one-year, $193,373 grant from Pfizer. Major Goals: Our research goal is to assess patient health and safety outcomes of this initiative. We will assess whether the group practice risk-reduction initiative influenced pain outcomes and rates of opioid-related adverse events. The principal investigator is Michael R. Von Korff.

National Cross-site Evaluation of Kaiser Permanente’s Thriving Schools Initiative

A five-year, $533,345 grant from Kaiser Foundation Health Plan. Major Goals: 1) promoting program improvement, 2) assessing impact on students and school staff, and 3) sharing lessons learned internally within Kaiser Permanente and externally with the field of practitioners and evaluators working in this area. The GHRI lead investigator is Allen Cheadle.

Open Notes Implementation

A two-year, $194,751 grant from Robert Wood Johnson. Major Goals: To study the spread Open Notes at Group Health Cooperative and three other institutions. The Open Notes intervention is sharing physician visit notes with patients over patient websites and other online services. The GHRI lead investigator is James D. Ralston.

Peer Support for Newly Diagnosed Breast Cancer Patients

A one-year, $30,000 grant from the Group Health Foundation. Major Goals: To partner with patients to develop a peer support and education program for women newly diagnosed with breast cancer at Group Health. The principal investigator is Evette J. Ludman.

Puget Sound Christian Clinic’s Mobile Medical Clinic

A three-year, $1,500 grant from United Way of Snohomish County. Major Goals: Provide consultation on evaluation design, data quality, and data analysis for the Puget Sound Christian Clinic’s Mobile Medical Clinic program. The GHRI lead investigator is Allen Cheadle.

August 2013

GHRI recently received word of eleven new awards.

Characterizing Clinical Bone Mineral Density Measurement Data in a Managed Care Health Plan

An eight-month, $44,878 grant from AMGEN. Major Goals: The overall goal of this work is to more fully characterize the available Group Health DXA data. The principal investigator is Delia Scholes.

Elective Induction of Labor and Pregnancy Outcomes

A four-year, $3,033,968 grant from National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Major Goals: To compare the risk of various birth outcomes including cesarean delivery, postpartum hemorrhage, neonatal intensive care unit stay, and others after elective induction versus expectant management at 38, 39, and 40 weeks’ gestation; to examine how risks vary by the mother’s race/ethnicity, parity, and pre-pregnancy obesity status; and to develop an algorithm to more accurately identify elective inductions from electronic data. The principal investigator is Sascha Dublin.

Evaluation Support for Kaiser Permanente’s Program Office

A five-month, $49,964 grant from Kaiser Foundation Health Plan. Major Goals: To support Kaiser Permanente (KP) program evaluation efforts by providing responsive and targeted technical assistance to KP regions around evaluation and program planning. The principal investigator is Allen Cheadle.

Focus Groups and Tool Development Guide and Roadmap for Dissemination of PCOR

A three-year, $176,988 grant from Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Major Goals: Conduct focus groups with 5 groups of clinical decision support stakeholders (Task 3 in the Task Order). Provide consultation on tool development guide and a roadmap, based on evaluation results (Task 4 in the Task Order), that suggests no fewer than 3 tools that AHRQ could use to disseminate PCOR findings to clinical decision support stakeholders. The GHRI lead investigator is Clarissa Hsu.

Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making Editor Grant

A one-year, $22,203 grant from Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making, Inc. Major Goals: 1) To develop and maintain an evidence-based decision support tool for morbidly obese patients considering bariatric surgery as a method of promoting weight loss. 2) To serve as a reviewer for HealthNewsReview.org. The principal investigator is David E. Arterburn.

National Model for Care for Back Pain

A one-year, $10,000 grant from Group Health Foundation. Major Goals: To improve care for back pain that addresses the needs and responsibilities of patients, clinicians, and health care systems. To develop and maintain an external website for this project that will disseminate information about the project and serve as a valuable resource for organizations wishing to improve care for back pain and patients suffering from back pain. The principal investigator is Daniel C. Cherkin.

Patient Reminders and Notifications

A three-year, $1,459,623 grant from Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Major Goals: The goal of this project is to establish the needs and preferences of patients for notifications and reminders, and to build and test a prototype of a patient-controlled health reminder and notification system. Group Health care providers, and individuals from two populations with chronic and preventative care issues (mothers with children under 12 who have asthma, and individuals with diabetes and other chronic care conditions) will be interviewed and participate in focus groups and prototype testing sessions. The principal investigator is James D. Ralston.

Precursors of First-Episode Psychosis in a Population-Based Sample

A three-year, $2,208,680 grant from National Institute of Mental Health. Major Goals: To validate use of medical records to identify first-episode psychosis, describe patterns of health care utilization before and after first-episode psychosis, explore use of natural language processing to identify prodromal symptoms of psychosis, and explore patient and family views regarding participation in research on first-episode psychosis. The principal investigator is Gregory E. Simon.

Searching for Interactions between Long-term Medication Use and Chronic Neurodegenerative Diseases

A one-year, $20,000 grant from University of Washington. Major Goals: Searching for interactions between long-term medication use and chronic neurodegenerative diseases. The GHRI lead investigator is Denise M. Boudreau.

Shared Decision Making Demonstration Project

A one-year, $104,632 grant from Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making, Inc. Major Goals: 1) to assess the impact of 12 patient decision aids on the use of related surgical procedures. 2) To assess the impact of 12 patient decision aids on total health care use and costs. 3) To estimate the return-on-investment of implementing a suite of 12 patient decision aids from the perspectives of the health plan and purchaser. 4) To assess the process, barriers, and facilitators for implementing decision aids with physicians in various practice settings in Group Health. The principal investigator is David E. Arterburn.

Systems of Support (SOS) to Increase Colon Cancer Screening and Follow-up

A five-year, $3,367,417 grant from National Cancer Institute. Major Goals: To determine whether continued mailed FOBT kits and reminders are required to keep people up to date for CRC screening; to determine the impact of the SOS interventions on CRC screening and diagnostic outcomes, utilization, and costs; and to use mixed methods to determine patient and clinic factors related to patients remaining unscreened. The principal investigator is Beverly B. Green.

July 2013

GHRI recently received word of three new awards.

Improving “Teamness” in the Group Health Cooperative Medical Home Version 2.0—A GHRI/Group Health Cooperative Collaborative Proposal to Implement Relational Coordination Theory 

A six-month, $20,493 grant from the Group Health Research Institute Development Fund. The leadership of primary care at Group Health is committed to improving team-based care using a “Relational Coordination” (RC) approach. Study Aims are to: examine the variation in RC survey results across teams and within roles across teams; pilot-test feedback reports and effective approaches to provide feedback to teams about RC survey results; conduct focus groups and interviews to develop two or more strategies to improve RC. The principal investigator is Michael L. Parchman.

Learning to Integrate Patient Co-Investigators into the Research Team—A Formative Evaluation and Documentation of Lessons Learned

A seven-month, $8,000 grant from the Group Health Research Institute Development Fund. Major goals: Conduct a formative evaluation of team member expectations of the patient co-investigator role to: 1) leverage/improve our emerging leadership in the field of patient-centered outcomes research; 2) position ourselves to make valuable contributions to PCORI by providing lessons learned and recommendations; and 3) improve GHRI’s competitiveness when developing proposals that involve patients on research teams. The principal investigator is Clarissa Hsu.

Population Incidence of Narcolepsy in the U.S.

A one-year, $55,590 grant from the CDC. Major Goals: To describe the background incidence of narcolepsy in the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) population; to enable adequate monitoring of vaccine-associated adverse events in the coming influenza season; and to describe the background incidence of narcolepsy, allowing the CDC Immunization Safety Office to assess whether reported events exceed baseline levels. The principal investigator is Lisa A. Jackson.    

June 2013

GHRI recently received word of nine new awards.

A Cohort Study of Sessile Serrated Polyps and Subsequent Colorectal Neoplasia

A four-year, $1,235,518 grant from the National Institutes of Health. Major Goals: To determine the risk of polyp recurrence and colorectal cancer development in patients with sessile serrated polyps (SSPs) at baseline and compare this to risk in a) patients with other types of polyps, such as large tubular adenomas, and b) patients without baseline colorectal pathology; to evaluate if the location of SSPs modifies the risk of subsequent neoplasia associated with SSPs; to determine the association between molecular characteristics of baseline HPs and SSPs, such as BRAF-mutation and CIMP-status, and subsequent colorectal neoplasia. The GHRI lead investigator is Jessica Chubak.

Effect of Dietary Glycemic Index on Beta-Cell Function

A two-year, $62,867 grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Major Goals: to determine if a high glycemic load (HGL) diet worsens and a low glycemic load (LGL) diet improves beta-cell function compared to a baseline control diet in subjects with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT); to determine if increased glycemic variability produced by a HGL diet is associated with decreased beta-cell function, and conversely if decreased glycemic variability on a LGL diet is associated with improved beta-cell function in subjects with IGT; to determine if oxidative stress induced by a HGL diet mediates reductions in beta-cell function by examining if 1) systemic markers of oxidative stress are associated with beta-cell function; 2) the relationship between glycemic variability and beta-cell function is at least partially explained by oxidative stress; and 3) the antioxidant N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC), which prevents the reduction in beta-cell function on a HGL diet. The GHRI lead investigator is Katherine M. Newton.

EPCs IV—Ongoing Technical Support to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force

A one-year, $84,922 grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Major Goals: The purpose of this Task Order is for the Evidence-Based Practice Center to provide ongoing technical assistance to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) in the following areas: Workgroups, methods, recommendation statements, and translation of research. It also covers the management of the USPSTF portfolio of topics. This task order does not cover activities associated with conducting systematic evidence reviews on specific topics. The GHRI lead investigator is David C. Grossman.

Home Visiting Program Evaluation Request for Qualifications (RFQ) Development

A four-month, $10,000 grant from Thrive by Five Washington. Major Goals: Developing an RFQ for an evaluator the program’s private/state-funded home visiting program. The GHRI lead investigator is Allen Cheadle.

Integrated Diabetes Self-Management Support in Primary Care

A three-year, $1,451,275 grant from Washington Attorney General. Major Goals: To expand the capacity of health clinics and community organizations to offer resources for patients to assist in self-management of Diabetes and train health care teams to support patients in self-management efforts. The principal investigator is Katherine M. Newton.

Randomized Trial of In-Home Cervical Cancer Screening in Under-screened Women

A five-year, $2,930,811 grant from National Cancer Institute. Major Goals: Integrated RCT within Group Health Cooperative women who are overdue for cervical cancer screening. The GHRI lead investigator is Diana S. Buist.

Safety Net Medical Home Initiative Dissemination Grant

A two-year, $98,548 grant from Commonwealth Fund. Major Goals: to disseminate lessons and develop and deliver content that will allow safety net practices to successfully implement and sustain the PCMH model of care. The GHRI lead investigator is Edward H. Wagner.

The Association between Sedative Hypnotic Insomnia Treatments and Motor Vehicle Crashes

A six-month, $14,985 grant from Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Major Goals: To study the association between medication exposures and motor vehicle crashes in the GHC population. We successfully completed the linkage of GH data with WA State DOT Crash data and produced several analyses providing preliminary data that support our hypotheses. We seek to extend this work by linking in driver’s license data and taking a deeper dive into the association between opioid use and crashes in WA State. The GHRI lead investigator is Denise M. Boudreau.

The Genetics of Drug Induced Serious Adverse Events (Extreme Weight Gain Subproject, Extension: 2)

An eight-month, $15,000 grant from Serious Adverse Events Consortium. Major Goals: To conduct final analyses of the Extreme Weight Gain Phase II electronic databases and yield a complete manuscript that is ready for submission to a peer-reviewed journal. The principal investigator is David E. Arterburn.

May 2013

GHRI recently received word of two new awards.

Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky (FHK)—Evaluating Foundation Initiatives

A one-year, $112,498 grant from FHK. Major Goals: To conduct an external evaluation of the Foundation’s two new initiatives—Advancing Health Policy and Investing in Kentucky’s Future—and provide evaluation technical assistance to its grantees. The principal investigator is Maggie Jones.

Nationwide Needs-Assessment Framework and Support for the National Hemophilia Coordinating Center and Eight Regional Centers

A ten-month, $49,541 grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration. Major Goals: Develop a framework for a nationwide needs assessment for the National Hemophilia Coordinating Center. Support implementing the needs assessment through eight regional centers; compile, analyze, and report on the data. The GHRI lead investigator is Allen Cheadle.

April 2013

GHRI recently received word of six new awards.

CRN4 Scholars—Cancer Research Resources and Collaboration in Integrated Health Care Systems

A three-year, $56,342 grant from the National Cancer Institute. Major goals: The Cancer Research Network (CRN) Scholars Program is a 26-month training activity that aims to help junior investigators develop research independence using CRN resources to conduct population-based multi-site and multi-disciplinary studies that leverage the network’s strengths. The GHRI lead investigator is Dori E. Rosenberg.

Identification of Opioid Misuse and Abuse using Electronic Medical Records and Natural Language Processing (NLP) Algorithms

A two-year, $249,839 grant from Pfizer. Major goals: To develop methods for identifying chronic opioid-therapy patients with possible or probable prescription-opioid abuse from electronic health care data, including use of natural language processing methods. The principal investigator is Michael R. Von Korff.

Phase 1b, Partial-Blind, Parallel Group, Randomized Study to Investigate the Safety and Immunogenicity of a Tetravalent Chimeric Dengue Vaccine (DENVax) Administered Intradermally Using Needle or a Needle-Free PharmaJet® Injector in Healthy Adults

A two-year, $824,446 grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The principal investigator is Lisa A. Jackson.

Post-Fracture Care in Women Experiencing Osteoporotic Fractures

A one-year, $200,382 purchase order from Amgen. Major goals: To characterize patterns of post-fracture care among women aged 55 and older, particularly receipt of therapy for osteoporosis or bone-mineral density measurement, and to identify predictors of post-fracture care within about 90 days of fracture. The principal investigator is Delia Scholes.

Prevalence of Binge-Eating Disorder

A three-year, $325,709 grant from Shire Pharmaceuticals. Major goals: This study seeks to understand binge-eating disorder more fully in at least four key areas: patient profile, disease course and outcome, treatment, and economic cost. The GHRI lead investigator is Robert Penfold.

Self-Management of Pediatric Chronic Illness

A two-year, $176,717 grant from Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health. Major Goals: Prepare a conceptual framework and set of best practices for the provision of self-management support in pediatric chronic illness. This conceptual framework will be developed by 1) a literature review to identify evidence-based approaches and relevant theoretical models; 2) interviews with experts in pediatric chronic illness management; 3) focus groups with patients; 4) describing best practices in pediatric chronic illness self-management at leading institutions. The findings and conceptual framework will be disseminated to child health care leaders; patient advocacy and health care organizations, and funding agencies. The principal investigator is Paula Lozano.

March 2013

GHRI recently received word of nine new awards.

Assessment of policy, systems, environment, infrastructure, systems changes (PSEI)

A two-month, $7,000 grant from King County Health Department. Major Goals: To provide evaluation services as requested. The principal investigator is Allen Cheadle.

Developing Trials of Animal-Assisted Activities for Youth with Cancer

A two-year, $146,456 grant from the National Institutes of Health. Major Goals: A two-year grant that will evaluate the feasibility of conducting a randomized controlled trial of animal-assisted activities in pediatric and adolescent oncology. A subcontract with Seattle Children’s Hospital and Oregon Health & Science University is included. The principal investigator is Jessica Chubak.

Efforts to Develop the Sentinel Initiative: Adverse Metabolic Effects Second-Generation Antipsychotics in Youth: Data Partner Funding

A four-month, $2,077 grant from the Food and Drug Administration. Major Goals: Subproject 1 aims to replicate (with opportunity for revisions and adjustments) an AHRQ- and FDA-funded study conducted with Medicaid Analytic Extract (MAX) data by the Rutgers and Vanderbilt CERTs. The MAX study compares the risk of incident type 2 diabetes among new users of individual second-generation antipsychotic medications (APMs) using near-national MAX data from 2001 to 2005. For subproject two, we will explore the availability, completeness, and timing of these variables in the study cohort, including comparisons of occurrence and timing of tests and availability of test results between the individual comparator APMs with those data partners that can provide access to BMI and/or laboratory results. The GHRI lead investigator is Robert Penfold.

Evaluation of National Applied Public Health Leadership Training Program

A nine-month, $19,132 grant from the CDC. Major Goals: Provide monitoring and evaluation services to the National Leadership Academy for the Public’s Health (NLAPH) program. The GHRI lead investigator is William L. Beery.

Evaluation of Survive and Thrive Program

A two-year, $399,664 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Major Goals: To evaluate the Survive and Thrive program implementation processes, fidelity, outcomes, and potential impact. The principal investigator is Emily Bourcier.

Formative Evaluation of Group Health Cooperative’s New Model of Care

A ten-month, $150,000 grant from the Group Health Research Institute Development Fund. Major Goals: To accelerate the development of GHRI as a leading center for research on the Primary Care Team, and to provide information that would help Group Health Cooperative improve its redesign of primary care, especially as it relates to high risk, multi-problem patients, and lower socio-economic and minority group patients. The principal investigator is Edward H. Wagner.

Kentucky Oral Health Training 2013

A one-month, $14,590 grant from Kentucky River Health Department. Major Goals: To provide a two-day training to local oral health coalitions on coalition basics and evaluation. The principal investigator is Maggie Jones.

Livestrong 2012 Cancer Survivorship Survey: Collaboration with the HMO Cancer Research Network

A one-year, $49,597 grant from Livestrong. Major Goals: To understand the experiences and concerns of cancer survivors about the lasting effects of cancer and its treatment, and how these effects relate to health care utilization. The GHRI lead investigator is Jessica Chubak.

Randomized Trial of Web-Delivered Acceptance Therapy (ACT) for Smoking Cessation

A five-year, $272,099 grant from the National Cancer Institute. Major Goals: To compare the effectiveness of an ACT-based, online intervention for smoking cessation to a usual-care control website (Smokefree.gov) and explore relevant mediators of the interventions’ effects. The GHRI lead investigator is Jennifer B. McClure.

February 2013

GHRI recently received word of three new awards.

EPCs IV: Systematic Review Topic TBA

A two-year, $350,278 grant from Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Major Goals: To support the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) by conducting and completing a systematic evidence review. The USPSTF will use the systematic evidence to develop their recommendation statement of the specified topic. The GHRI lead investigator is David C. Grossman.

Evaluation of the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences’ California Health Interview (CHIS) Survey

A six-month, $19,697 grant from National Institutes of Health. Major Goals: To conduct an evaluation of the CHIS to examine what was accomplished with cancer-control supplement data collected between 2000-2011, to ensure that CHIS continues to address critical knowledge gaps related to the effective delivery of cancer control practices, and to discuss what might be priority topics for CHIS in the future. The principal investigator is Clarissa Hsu.

Pfizer-Geisinger Back-Pain Study

An eight-month, $37,274 grant from Pfizer. Major Goals: Provide Expertise and consultation services to the staff of the back pain study. The GHRI lead investigator is Michael R. Von Korff.

January 2013

GHRI recently received word of twenty new awards.

Bariatric Surgery and Shared Decision-Making—Patient Research Panels

A one-year, $19,857 grant from the Group Health Research Institute Development Fund. Major Goals: To recruit 10 patients for two research advisory panels for a future PCORI application: one panel for patients who have undergone bariatric surgery and one for patients who have participated in shared decision-making at Group Health. We would like to engage these patients for assistance with designing future PCORI applications and to provide general feedback on Dr. Arterburn’s research program. The principal investigator is David E. Arterburn.

Complication Rates From Complex Spine Surgery

A one-year, $98,925 grant from the Group Health Research Institute Development Fund. Major goals: To identify a cohort of patients who underwent complex spine surgery and calculate rates of adverse events within the population. The principal investigator is Karen Wernli.

Cost-Tools Planning and Pilot Project

A six-month, $12,000 grant from the Group Health Research Institute Development Fund. Major goals: A pilot project to explore how improved price transparency affects clinical decision-making, patient satisfaction, health care worker satisfaction, and costs. The principal investigator is Nora Henrikson.

CT Dose Benchmarks Y2

A one-year, $84,455 grant from the Group Health Research Institute Development Fund. Major goals: To develop CT radiation-dose benchmarks for Group Health radiologists and technologists that take into account patient size, to provide feedback to both radiologists and technologists on how their doses compare to these benchmarks, and to educate radiologists and technologists on how to lower dose while maintaining image quality. The principal investigator is Diana L. Miglioretti.

Developing Effective Leadership for Community Health Improvement

A two-year, $457,277 grant from the Kresge Foundation. Major goals: Plan and conduct an expanded evaluation of the CDC-funded National Leadership Academy for the Public’s Health. GHRI lead investigator is William L. Beery.

Efforts to Develop the Sentinel Initiative—Statistical Method for Improving Confounder Adjustment for Emergent Treatment Comparison

A one-year, $27,232 grant from the Food and Drug Administration. Major goals: This project will develop a sequential framework for monitoring newly marketed treatments while balancing measured confounders and will use this framework to guide decisions on selecting optimal confounder adjustment methods. It will also apply this framework to monitor the safety of newly marketed molecular entities using the Mini-Sentinel Distributed Database and will develop at least one manuscript based on these results. It will also provide codes for measuring the strength of the association between treatment and confounders, calculating time-varying disease risk scores and propensity scores, score matching, stratification, and sequential analyses. The GHRI lead investigator is Andrea J. Cook.

Evaluation of the California Community Transformation Initiative (CACTI)

A four-year, $185,000 grant from CDC. Major Goals: To design and evaluate the "High Impact Evidence-Based Clinical and Preventive Services" strategy. This strategy is primarily implemented through community health workers and linking individuals to community services that will help them improve their health. The GHRI lead investigator is Allen Cheadle.

Evaluation Proposal: Advance Care Planning (ACP)

A seven-month, $5,000 grant from the Group Health Foundation. Major Goals: To determine: 1) To what degree have the recommendations and supporting processes been integrated into system-wide implementation plans for ACP decision-making videos? 2) What has been the impact on key patient and caregiver outcomes from the IT-based approach to communication and documentation (e.g., patient and caregiver beliefs that their “doctors are all on the same page;” and increased trust and greater satisfaction with coordination of care among patients and families)? 3) What has been the impact on Group Health staff from the IT-based approach to communication and documentation (e.g., clinician-level stress; improved physician communication with patients; job satisfaction of other staff)? The principal investigator is Allen Cheadle.

Evaluation Proposal—Reducing Low-Value Care

A one-year, $7,500 grant from the Group Health Foundation. Major Goals: To answer these evaluation questions: 1) To what degree have the resource-stewardship measures/dashboards been integrated into ongoing clinical practice? 2) What factors contribute to more successful implementation? 3) What has been the impact of the initiative on the trends in resource stewardship/Choosing Wisely measures? 3)What has been the impact on long-term health care-cost trajectory (if feasible)? The principal investigator is Allen Cheadle.

Implementation of Medical Assistant-Delivered Health Coaching for Adult Obesity

A six-month, $31,835 grant from the Partnership for Innovation. Major Goals: This pilot proposes to train two medical assistants to provide health coaching to low-complexity obese patients and implement the Diabetes Prevention Program into Primary Care starting at one medical center. The principal investigator is Paula Lozano.

Kaiser Permanente Colorado Youth Survey

A six-year, $436,537 grant from Kaiser Foundation Hospitals. Major goals: To implement the Kaiser Permanente Community Health Initiative cross-site youth population measure to determine the impact of the LiveWell Colorado community strategies on youth eating and physical activity behaviors, and attitudinal and preference shifts as a result of the interventional changes made in the LiveWell community neighborhoods. The principal investigator is Allen Cheadle.

Kaiser Permanente Specialty Care Initiative Evaluation (Year 5)

A one-year, $100,000 grant from Kaiser Foundation Hospitals’ Northern California Region. Major goals: To answer three questions: 1) How successful is the overall initiative in improving access to specialty services in California? 2) Which strategies appear to be the most successful? 3) Has the initiative created stronger, sustainable coalitions? The principal investigator is Allen Cheadle.

Measuring Patient Outcomes from High-Tech Diagnostic Imaging (HTDI) Studies

A two-year, $68,665 grant from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. Major Goals: To survey patients who had an MRI or CT of the abdomen or lower back for pain one year earlier in order to test our ability to learn about their current functional status and their perspective about the care process and its outcomes subsequent to that procedure. To test our ability to track their subsequent care and patient outcomes from health plan claims data. To test our ability to use natural language processing (NLP) software to document from radiology reports and progress notes the content of care subsequent to the HTDI procedure, the reasons for care decisions, and the patient outcomes. The GHRI lead investigator is David Carrell.

Metformin and Breast Cancer Risk

A two-year, $163,742 grant from National Cancer Institute. Major goals: To study the association between use of metformin and risk of incident breast cancer among women with diagnosed diabetes. The principal investigator is Denise M. Boudreau.

Oral Health Pre-Pilot

A six-month, $45,380 grant from the Group Health Research Institute Development Fund. Major goal: To evaluate and refine an oral health promotion intervention for smokers. The principal investigator is Jennifer B. McClure.

Planning Phase for the Survive and Thrive Evaluation

A three-month, $25,000 grant from de Beaumont Foundation. Major goals: Plan and design the evaluation for the Survive and Thrive Program, which is co-funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the de Beaumont Foundation. The principal investigator is Emily Bourcier.

PRIME+ Development Project

A one-year, $49,564 grant from the Group Health Research Institute Development Fund. Major Goals: To conduct an open pilot study with 30 older patients living with HIV recruited from the Madison Clinic and Group Health to evaluate the preliminary feasibility and acceptability of PRIME+ (an enhanced telephone-delivered chronic disease self-management intervention targeting older adults living with HIV). The PRIME+ pilot will include a series of 10 brief weekly telephone counseling calls over a 3-month intervention period, mailed self-management materials related to living well with HIV, and the use of accelerometers to monitor activity levels. We will then evaluate preliminary outcomes including health-related quality of life, treatment adherence, depression symptoms, social support, physical activity, and behavioral activation and avoidance. The principal investigator is Sheryl L. Catz.

Surveillance Trial to Increase Longevity in Lung Cancer (STILL)—Qualitative Development

A three-month, $27,766 grant from the National Cancer Institute. Major goals: To design and conduct a randomized trial of different surveillance imaging techniques in stage II-IIIA non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) for monitoring cancer recurrence to determine the modality associated with the best overall survival outcomes as well as secondary outcomes of costs, quality of life, and imaging-related distress. Secondly, this trial will establish a biorepository and test predictive biomarkers of NSCLC recurrence. The GHRI lead investigator is Elizabeth Loggers.

Take A Break From Sitting Pilot

A one-year, $77,000 grant from the Group Health Research Institute Development Fund. Major goals: Adapt and test the effectiveness of a 10-week sedentary-time reduction program in an iterative sample of 10 to 15 obese older adults. In doing so, we will also obtain pilot data on which measurement techniques best capture changes in sedentary time (self-report, Actigraph, or activPAL accelerometers). The principal investigator is Dori E. Rosenberg.

The Impact of and Potential Cures for the "Cost Disease" in U.S. Health Care

A one-year, $77,000 grant from the Group Health Research Institute Development Fund. Major goals: To examine the impact of and potential cures for the “Cost Disease” hypothesized to the be a key driver of growing health care costs in the United States. The principal investigator is Paul A. Fishman.