Grants Awarded 2018

December 2018

Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute recently received word of 3 new awards.

Cost of Care Toolkit for Clinical Teams: Building on Project Orca

A seven-month, $32,115 grant from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Major goals: To develop dissemination products based on the work conducted for the previous RWJF funded and completed “Project Orca.” Dissemination products will target clinical audiences wishing to design workflows to support the increasing need to identify and address patient financial concerns in the clinical setting. We will develop a cost of care toolkit, consisting of several elements designed to be both actionable and educational for clinical teams. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Nora Henrikson.

STAR Caregivers – Virtual Training and Follow-up

A four-year, $2,164,236 grant from National Institute on Aging. Major goals: To assess the feasibility and acceptability of conducting caregiver outreach, education, and support via social workers. To assess the feasibility and acceptability of the program from the payer perspective. To test the hypotheses that (H1) caregiver participants in STAR-SD will have lower levels of caregiver burden at 8 weeks and 6 months compared to an attention control group; and (H2) participants in STAR-SD will have lower rates of daily antipsychotic medication use at 6 months compared to attention control. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Robert Penfold.

Using an Implementation Science Framework to Enhance Participation in Mindfulness Programs for Patients with Chronic Low Back Pain

A two-year, $480,773 grant from National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Major goals: To conduct a web-based experiment to (a) identify the subpopulation of patients with chronic low back pain for whom mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is a good fit and (b) determine which intervention characteristics drive adoption decisions by randomizing patients to view video vignettes of different versions of MBSR. Results will inform targeted distribution and packaging of MBSR to optimize patient engagement. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Karen J. Sherman.

November 2018

Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute recently received word of 2 new awards.

Evaluating the Impact of Changes in Opioid Prescribing Across Health Systems Implementing Zero Suicide

A one-year, $33,702 grant from National Institute of Mental Health. Major goals: To expand the evaluation of suicide prevention strategies to consider effects of opioid reduction initiatives in participating health systems. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Gregory E. Simon.

Using a Mixed Methods Approach to Understand Shared Decision-Making in Lung Cancer Screening

A five-year, $1,356,368 grant from National Cancer Institute. Major goals: To identify the components of patient-clinician discussions that contribute to high quality decisions and subsequent important behavioral outcomes (screening completion among patients who decide to screen; to forward stage of readiness for smoking cessation among current smokers). The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Diana S. Buist.

October 2018

Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute recently received word of 24 new awards.

Advancing Mechanisms of Implementation to Accelerate Sustainable Evidence-Based Practice Integration

A three-year, $149,784 grant from Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Major goals: To develop and disseminate a research agenda for the study of implementation mechanisms via a three-year “Deep Dive” conference series. The principal investigator is Cara C. Lewis.

CATALyST: Consortium for Applied Training to Advance the Learning Health System with Scholars/Trainees

A five-year, $3,795,826 grant from Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Major goals: CATALyST (Consortium for Applied Training to Advance the Learning health system with Scholars/Trainees) Center of Excellence will support a new generation of learning health system (LHS) researchers. This K12 training grant is a partnership based on decades of successful regional training and research collaborations among Kaiser Permanente Washington, University of Washington (Schools of Nursing, Medicine, Pharmacy and Public Health), and the Veterans Affairs (VA) Puget Sound Health Care System, and a newer collaboration with the recently founded Washington State University College of Medicine. The principal investigator is Diana S. Buist.

Effects of Medical Products on Suicidal Ideation and Behavior - Real World Evidence

A three-year, $5,733,684 grant from Food and Drug Administration. Major goals: Establish a national infrastructure to evaluate effects of medical products on suicidal ideation and behavior, including: observational studies of suicidal ideation and behavior as adverse effects, observational studies of therapeutic effects of existing and expected psychiatric medications, and pragmatic trials of emerging treatments. The principal investigator is Gregory E. Simon.

EPC (Evidence-Based Practice Centers) V Request for Task Order (RFTO) 49: Colorectal Cancer Screening Update

A three-year, $184,504 grant from Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Major goals: To conduct an updated systematic evidence review for the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) for Colorectal Cancer Screening. The USPSTF will use the results of this review to update their recommendations for Colorectal Cancer Screening. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Nora Henrikson.

September 2018

Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute recently received word of 11 new awards.

Advancing Geriatrics Infrastructure & Network Growth (AGING) Initiative

A five-year, $51,453 grant from National Institute on Aging. Major goals: To build infrastructure in multiple site to support an aging research network in based in delivery systems. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Eric B. Larson.

Evidence-based Practice Center (EPC) Request for Task Order (RFTO) 51: Direct to Consumer (DTC) Genetic Test Tech Brief

A two-year, $210,000 grant from Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Major goals: To conduct a systematic evidence review for the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) on genetic testing in primary care. The USPSTF will use the results of this review to make recommendations for genetic testing in primary care. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Nora Henrikson.

Health Outcome of Interest (HOI) Validation of Serious Infections Among an Immunocompromised Population

A one-year, $15,013 grant from Food and Drug Administration. Major goals: To develop and validate a diagnostic coding-based algorithm to identify hospitalizations for serious infection among patients prescribed biologic therapy for the management of a chronic inflammatory disorder (e.g., inflammatory bowel disease, psoriasis, or rheumatological condition) within the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Sentinel Distributed Database for use in the Siliq and Stelara inferential analyses. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Gaia Pocobelli.

Impact of Free-Drug Patient Assistance Program (PAP) on High Cost Intravenous (IV) Drugs in Cancer Treatment

A one-year, $6,128 grant from Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Major goals: To determine the clinical perspective of drug-assistance programs for high cost cancer drugs. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Karen Wernli.

Kitsap-Snohomish 2018/19 Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) Supplement

A two-month, $4,000 grant from Virginia Mason Medical Center. Major goals: To supplement King County information in Virginia Mason’s most recent community health needs assessment with health-related secondary data for Kitsap and Snohomish counties. The principal investigator is Carol L. Cahill.

National Collaborative for Innovation in Quality Measurement: Implementing and Improving (NCINQ II)

A one-month, $27,347 grant from Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Major goals: To describe the performance on 4 measures of quality of care for depression in Kaiser Permanente Washington (KPWA) – stratified by patient sub-populations of interest. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Robert Penfold.

North Central Accountable Community of Health (NCACH) - Evaluation Design

A three-month, $5,000 grant from North Central Accountable Community of Health. Major goals: To build an effective evaluation strategy for the six Medicaid Transformation projects that the North Central Accountable Community of Health (NCACH) is in the process of implementing. The principal investigator is Allen Cheadle.

Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior, and Venous Thromboembolism Risk

A five-year, $1,011,223 grant from National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Major goals: To further our understanding of the associations of physical activity and sedentary behavior in relation to incident venous thromboembolism risk, while contributing to the career development of a PhD-level cardiovascular epidemiologist in the areas of lifestyle epidemiology, aging epidemiology, primary data collection, and advanced epidemiologic study design and analysis. The principal investigator is Laura B. Harrington.

Safety Net Value Champions Fellowship Program

A two-year, $949,628 grant from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Major goals: This is a 9-month fellowship training program for a cohort of 8 clinical value champions from safety net settings to develop competencies needed to engage providers in addressing overuse. The curriculum will be based on the "Taking Action on Overuse" learning and experience and taught by nationally recognized faculty. The principal investigator is Michael L. Parchman.

Screening Practices and Breast Cancer Diagnosis among Women with a Family History of Breast Cancer

A two-year, $15,000 grant from National Cancer Institute. Major goals: To investigate age at diagnosis among women with a family history of breast cancer. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Ellen O'Meara.

Sentinel Operations Center Core Leader (Year 5)

A one-year, $52,977 grant from Food and Drug Administration. Major goals: To participate as a Sentinel Data Partner under the operational year (OY) 2019 Infrastructure statement of work. Most of the requirements involve DP staff to run data requests or return data and documents of various types to the Sentinel Coordinating Center via the PopMedNet Query Tool System. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Denise M. Boudreau.

August 2018

Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute recently received word of 13 new awards.

A Study of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS):  Case-Finding, Incidence, Patterns of Care, and Selected Comorbidity Risks in a U.S. Population-Based Cohort

A two-year, $593,510 grant from Bayer AG. Major goals: To characterize a population-based cohort of US women aged 12-60 years who receive a diagnosis of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) over a 12-year interval (2006-2017) by: tracking the annual rates and trends of incident PCOS; estimating the prevalence of PCOS; developing and validating an automated case-finding algorithm for incident PCOS, access post-PCOS diagnosis treatment, and utilization patterns; and identifying whether PCOS diagnosis is associated with risk of selected comorbidities (e.g. Type 2 Diabetes). The principal investigator is Onchee Yu.

Annual Estimates of Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness and Burden of Disease (Pandemic Supplement)

A one-year, $100,000 grant from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Major goals: To evaluate current US Flu Vaccine Effectiveness (VE) Network processes and identify changes/additions that would be needed in the event of an influenza pandemic. The principal investigator is Michael L. Jackson.

Assisted Identification and Navigation of Early Mental Health Symptoms in Youth

A five-year, $3,696,153 grant from National Institute of Mental Health. Major goals: Develop Natural Language Processing (NLP) algorithm for the early detection of children and adolescent with emergent mental health needs. Test a navigator-based intervention to engage children and families in initiating mental health services early, assist them in accessing appropriate care, encourage them to stay engaged in mental health care over time, and coordinate needed mental health services. The principal investigator is Robert Penfold.

Building Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI) Capacity in User-Centered (UX) Design & Digital Health Development

A one-year, $57,991 grant from Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute Endowment Fund. Major goals: To support KPWHRI’s research by providing effort for a User Design (UX) Researcher to collaborate with faculty on new research proposals. The principal investigator is Jennifer B. McClure.

Design and Feasibility of Digital Lifestyle Support for Prostate Cancer Survivors

A one-year, $22,608 grant from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Major goals: Develop a Facebook and Fitbit-based physical activity intervention for men with prostate cancer. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Dori E. Rosenberg.

Furthering Scientific Understanding of Mechanisms Underlying Resilience to the Effects of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) Pathology by Incorporating State of the Art Quantification of Gliosis, Inflammation, and Synaptic Toxicity

A two-year, $752,928 grant from National Institute on Aging. Major goals: To apply state of the art, novel biochemical measures of gliosis, inflammation, and synaptic integrity to the over 700 brains collected over the 25 plus years of the ACT study. The bulk of the support is for the UW Neuropathology work. The principal investigator is Eric B. Larson.

Health Care Aide Strategic Metrics Survey (HCAMET)

A three-month, $42,886 grant from SEIU Healthcare NW Benefits Trust. Major goals: To collect data for SEIU 775 Health Benefits Trust (HBT).  The KPWHRI Survey Research Program will administer a survey to SEIU 775 members about their experience of SEIU 775 training and development programs. SEIU 775 HBT will perform the data analysis to evaluate their current programs and inform decisions on future offerings. The principal investigator is Emily Westbrook.

Meaningful Outcomes and Missed Opportunities in Patients with Complex Needs

A two-year, $150,183 grant from Garfield Memorial Foundation. Major goals: To identify a typology of patients with complex needs, to identify meaningful care outcomes for patients within key subgroups of patients with complex needs, and to identify potential missed opportunities for care within key subgroups of patients with complex needs. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is James D. Ralston.

Pragmatic Trial of Population-Based Programs to Prevent Suicide Attempt, Extension

A two-year, $1,486,468 grant from National Institute of Mental Health. Major goals: To conduct a large, pragmatic trial to examine two population-based programs to prevent suicide attempt. Participants will be randomly assigned to continue usual care or usual care supplemented by one of the two prevention programs: an outreach and care management program (via secure messaging and telephone) including structured assessment linked to specific care pathways, or an online psycho-educational program focused on development of emotion regulation skills and prevention of suicidal behaviors, supported by coaching to promote engagement and adherence. The primary outcome will be suicide attempt (fatal or non-fatal) during 18 months following enrollment – ascertained automatically from computerized records. The trial will be conducted in 3 health systems: Kaiser Permanente Washington, Kaiser Permanente Colorado, and HealthPartners. The principal investigator is Gregory E. Simon.

Predictive Modeling: The Role of Opioid Use in Suicide Risk

A three-year, $189,615 grant from National Institute of Mental Health. Major goals: Investigators at several Health Care Systems Research Network (HCSRN) sites (including KPNW) have developed a suicide risk prediction model. We will write code to harvest data and create new opioid-related variables to supplement the risk prediction dataset with the following aims: 1) Determine whether opioid use, opioid use disorder (OUD), and non-intentional opioid-related overdoses contribute to prediction of suicide attempt and suicide death (by any means), 2) determine whether predictors of self-harm by opioid-related overdose are the same as predictors of self-harm by other types of suicide (overdose/poisoning, by violent means), 3) determine if variability in opioid prescribing rates across healthcare facilities are related to opioid-related suicides. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Denise M. Boudreau.

Reclaiming and Revitalizing Adult Changes in Thought (ACT) Neuroimaging Records

A five-year, $958,120 grant from National Institute on Aging. Major goals: To leverage extensive existing clinical imaging data from a well characterized cohort of older adults to improve scientific understanding of potential mechanisms by which anticholinergic medications and glucose metabolism lead to dementia and Alzheimer’s disease risk, and to provide a valuable resource that characterizes longitudinal changes in brain structure over time for this cohort of older adults. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Eric B. Larson.

University of Washington (UW) Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Career Development Program K12 2018-2019

A one-year, $5,000 grant from Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Major goals: To provide mentorship to junior investigators in K12 Career Development program in patient-centered outcomes research. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Karen Wernli.

Variation, Function, and Disease Supplement Program

A ten-month, $276,315 grant from National Human Genome Research Institute. Major goals: To incorporate existing functional predictions from a cutting-edge, multiplexed approach into reclassification of Variant of Unknown Significance (VUS) in the BRCA1 gene. We will determine the concordance of functional assay score of BRCA1 variants generated by saturation genome editing with sequencing lab pathogenicity classification in the Electronic Medical Records and Genomics (eMERGE) network, and to publicly share resulting evidence for the pathogenicity of each variant on ClinVar. The principal investigator is Eric B. Larson.

July 2018

Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute recently received word of 7 new awards.

Adult Changes in Thought (ACT) Aim 2 - Longitudinal Inclinometer Collection

A two-year, $538,507 grant from National Institute on Aging. Major goals: To extend measurement of physical activity and sedentary time to follow-up visits with Adult Changes in Thought (ACT) participants. This extra measurement will allow us to observe change over time which is not possible with a single cross-sectional measure. The principal investigator is Eric B. Larson.

Efforts to Develop the Sentinel Initiative: Blood Safety Continuous Active Surveillance Network (Blood-SCAN) Program

A three-month, $9,973 grant from Food and Drug Administration. Major goals: To explore the feasibility of adapting the mobile application developed during a previous activity to collect and assess patient-reported information among patients with a clinical condition of interest to Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Denise M. Boudreau.

Health Care Provider Responses to Receiving Unsolicited Genomic Results

A three-year, $177,136 grant from National Human Genome Research Institute. Major goals: To better understand how physicians respond to receiving genetic test results for their patients, and to inform both the educational needs of health care providers, as well as best practices for returning unsolicited results. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Kathleen Leppig.

Improved Tailoring of Depression Care Using Customized Clinical Decision Support

A four-year, $1,511,994 grant from National Institute of Mental Health. Major goals: To develop new statistical approaches for discovering customized treatment protocols from data collected from electronic health care records. We will extend machine learning tools to select which pieces of information are important to include in analyses estimating and comparing customized treatment protocols. We will build methods that use available knowledge about the size of unobserved differences between groups of people who received different treatments to assess how those differences change study results. We will develop new formulas for determining how many people with a particular condition, who took a particular drug are needed in a health system to provide enough accurate information to discover customized treatment protocols. The principal investigator is Susan M. Shortreed.

Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) Assessment Project

A one-year, $7,895 grant from Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute Endowment Fund. Major goals: To support the implementation of REDCap within KPWHRI. The principal investigator is Jennifer B. McClure.

Seattle Cancer Care Alliance Local Community Needs Data Analysis

A four-month, $11,985 grant from Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. Major goals: To gather, analyze, and interpret data to identify local communities with unmet and actionable cancer-related health needs. The principal investigator is Emily Bourcier.

Sentinel Operations Center Learning Phenotype Laboratory

A two-year, $377,933 grant from Food and Drug Administration. Major goals: To develop a draft framework to use machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) techniques to improve health outcome of interest (HOI) detection algorithms that may later be used in the larger Sentinel Distributed Database for comparative safety assessments. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Jennifer C. Nelson.

April–June 2018

KPWHRI received word of 19 new awards

Analysis of Health Outcomes Utilizing a Simplified Home Phototherapy Protocol

A one-year, $45,000 grant from Group Health Cooperative. Major goals: To document the effectiveness and safety of a simplified home phototherapy program that is being employed in some of the Kaiser Permanente Washington clinics in Western Washington. The principal investigator is Karen J. Sherman.

Big Health Care Data and the Built Environment: How Do We Inform Local and National Policy Change?

A ten-month, $35,000 grant from Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute. Major goals: To support a one-day summit bringing together obesity and built environment researchers, urban planners, and policy makers to discuss how healthcare data can be used to inform planning policy and practice. The principal investigator is David Arterburn.

Breastfeeding Status at the Time of Intrauterine Device (IUD) Insertion and Postpartum Timing of IUD Insertion in Electronic Medical Record Databases

A two-year, $640,477 grant from Bayer AG. Major goals: This is a United States post-marketing requirement study assessing outcomes of uterine perforation and intrauterine device (IUD) expulsion in association with breastfeeding, postpartum exposures, and type of IUD. The principal investigator is Denise M. Boudreau.

Causal Analyses of Nested Case-Control Studies for Comparative Effectiveness Research

A two-year, $225,852 grant from Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. Major goals: To develop causal inference methods for nested case-control studies by emulating the design and analysis of a hypothetical randomized trial. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Jessica Chubak.

Center for Care Innovations (CCI) Legacy Evaluation

An eight-month, $50,147 grant from Center for Care Innovations. Major goals: To conduct a legacy evaluation of Center for Care Innovations' programs in order to understand the impact that their programs have had on the safety net and to inform their organization's strategy. The principal investigator is Maggie Jones.

Center for Youth Wellness (CYW)-National Pediatric Practice Community on Adverse Childhood Experiences (NPPC) Evaluation

A nine-month, $50,000 grant from JPB Foundation. Major goals: To assess the impact of the program on changing pediatric providers’ practice so that they routinely screen children for ACEs. The evaluation is embedded into the project team so that it can document lessons learned and feed information back to CYW in real-time to inform program design and improvement. The principal investigator is Lisa Schafer.

Harms of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Screening in Patients with Cirrhosis

A five-year, $84,853 grant from National Cancer Institute. Major goals: To: 1) Quantify rates and identify correlates of physical harms, financial harms, and inappropriate use of screening for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in persons with cirrhosis; 2) Characterize rates and identify correlates of screening-related psychological harms; and 3) Create and disseminate a balance sheet of benefits and harms to inform patients, providers, healthcare organizations, payers, and policymakers about the role of HCC screening in patients with cirrhosis. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Jessica Chubak.

Multilevel Optimization of the Cervical Cancer Screening Process in Diverse Settings & Populations (METRICS)

A five-year, $5,575,223 grant from National Cancer Institute. Major goals: To advance understanding of and improve cervical cancer screening as practiced in U.S. community settings. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Aruna Kamineni.

National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Alcohol Learning Collaborative Consultant

A six-month, $16,000 grant from National Committee for Quality Assurance. Major goals: To provide expert support for NCQA, which is leading a collaborative regarding their alcohol screening Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) measure. The principal investigator is Katharine A. Bradley.

National Leadership Academy for Public’s Health (NLAPH) Multisector 2 (06462-01-01)

A two-year, $10,000 grant from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Major goals: To evaluate the results of the National Leadership Academy for the Public Health's cohort in Mississippi. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Maggie Jones.

Population-based Research Optimizing Screening through Personalized Regimens (PROSPR) 2: Optimizing Colorectal Cancer Screening PREcision and Effectiveness in Community-baSEd Populations (PRECISE)

A five-year, $4,850,848 grant from National Cancer Institute. Major goals: To: 1) establish a Population-based Research Optimizing Screening through Personalized Regimens (PROSPR) II colorectal cancer research center with over 10 years of comprehensive longitudinal screening process and outcome data for over 8.9 million persons across diverse, community-based settings; 2) conduct well-powered observational studies to close evidence gaps regarding in whom and when colorectal cancer (CRC) screening and surveillance should be performed, why failures occur, and how to improve test effectiveness; 3) Design and pilot test potential interventions; 4) collaborate with the trans-PROSPR Coordinating Center and cervical cancer and lung cancer organ research centers to develop common measures of screening quality and system-level factors across organs, and address trans-organ questions to improve cancer screening processes in the U.S. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Jessica Chubak.

Randomized Trial of Pain Self-Management Training to Support Prescription Opioid Taper

A four-year, $2,018,389 grant from National Institute on Drug Abuse. Major goals: To test a pain management intervention for patients currently prescribed opioid for chronic pain. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Denise M. Boudreau.

Randomized Trial to Reduce Sitting Time and Improve Cardiometabolic Health in Obese Older Adults

A five-year, $3,355,099 grant from National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Major goals: To test the efficacy of a sitting reduction program for older adults with obesity. The principal investigator is Dori E. Rosenberg.

Resilient Beginnings Collaborative

A three-year, $119,989 grant from Genentech. Major goals: TBD. The principal investigator is Lisa Schafer.

Seattle Children's Consultation

A one-year, $5,000 grant from Children's Hospital & Regional Medical Center. Major goals: This project is working to build the capacity of Seattle Children’s to evaluate their community-based programs. The principal investigator is Allen Cheadle.

Seattle Children's Evaluation Training

A one-year, $5,000 grant from Children's Hospital & Regional Medical Center. Major goals: To build the capacity of staff at Seattle Children's to create logic models and evaluation plans to measure the impact of their community-based programs. The principal investigator is Allen Cheadle.

Systematic Review of Social Determinants of Health Screening Tools

A one-year, $120,008 grant from Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute Development Fund. Major goals: To synthesize the current pragmatic and psychometric evidence of screening tools for social determinants of health. The principal investigator is Cara C. Lewis.

The University of Washington (UW) Patient Centered Outcomes Research Partnership (PCORP)

A one-year, $12,000 grant from Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Major goals: To provide mentoring to a Patient Centered Outcomes Research Partnership (PCORP) scholar during training period. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Karen Wernli.

Wash State Department of Health Six Building Blocks Opioid Support

A ten-month, $26,213 grant from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Major goals: To provide technical assistance and support to the University of Washington and the Washington State Department of Health for implementation of the Six Building Blocks framework for safer opioid prescribing in clinics identified by the Department of Health. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Michael L. Parchman.

March 2018

KPWHRI recently received word of nine new awards.

Analysis of Health Outcomes Utilizing a Simplified Home Phototherapy Protocol

A one-year, $45,000 grant from Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Washington. Major goals: To document the effectiveness and safety of a simplified home phototherapy program that is being employed in some of the Kaiser Permanente Washington clinics in Western Washington. The principal investigator is Karen J. Sherman.

Analysis of the Risk of Motor Vehicle Accidents in Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea

A one-year, $436,555 grant from Jazz Pharmaceuticals. Major goals: To examine the risks associated with obstructive sleep apnea including impact on risk for motor vehicle crash, medically attended injury, cardiovascular events, and all-cause mortality. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Sascha Dublin.

Breastfeeding Status at the Time of Intrauterine Device (IUD) Insertion and Postpartum Timing of IUD Insertion in Electronic Medical Record Databases

A two-year, $640,477 grant from Bayer AG. Major goals: This is a United States post marketing requirement study assessing outcomes of uterine perforation and intrauterine device (IUD) expulsion in association with breastfeeding, postpartum exposures, and type of IUD. The principal investigator is Denise M. Boudreau.

Causal Analyses of Nested Case-Control Studies for Comparative Effectiveness Research

A two-year, $225,852 grant from Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. Major goals: TBD. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Jessica Chubak.

Harms of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Screening in Patients with Cirrhosis

A five-year, $84,853 grant from National Cancer Institute. Major goals: To: 1) Quantify rates and identify correlates of physical harms, financial harms, and inappropriate use of screening for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in persons with cirrhosis; 2) Characterize rates and identify correlates of screening-related psychological harms; and 3) Create and disseminate a balance sheet of benefits and harms to inform patients, providers, healthcare organizations, payers, and policymakers about the role of HCC screening in patients with cirrhosis. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Jessica Chubak.

National Leadership Academy for Public Health (NLAPH) Multisector 2 (06462-01-01)

A two-year, $10,000 grant from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Major goals: To evaluate the results of the National Leadership Academy for the Public Health's cohort in Mississippi. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Maggie Jones.

Systematic Review of Social Determinants of Health Screening Tools

A one-year, $120,008 grant from Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute Development Fund. Major goals: To synthesize the current pragmatic and psychometric evidence of screening tools for social determinants of health. The principal investigator is Cara C. Lewis.

The University of Washington (UW) Patient Centered Outcomes Research Partnership (PCORP)

A one-year, $12,000 grant from Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Major goals: To provide mentoring to Patient Centered Outcomes Research Partnership (PCORP) scholar during training period. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Karen Wernli.

Washington State Department of Health Six Building Blocks Opioid Support

A ten-month, $26,213 grant from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Major goals: To provide technical assistance and support to the University of Washington and the Washington state Department of Health for implementation of the Six Building Blocks framework for safer opioid prescribing in clinics identified by the Department of Health. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Michael L. Parchman.

February 2018

KPWHRI recently received word of eight new awards.

Air Pollution, the Aging Brain and Alzheimer's Disease – Supplement

A two-year, $25,953 grant from National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Major goals: This supplement will place air pollution monitoring devices in participants’ yards for more precise measurement and analysis. The study provides an extraordinary opportunity to develop comprehensive insights into the effects of local air pollution levels on the aging brain, including the effects of air pollution on cognition, the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, and various potential mechanisms of neurodegenerative disease and cerebrovascular disease. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Eric B. Larson.

Aligning Patient and Health Plan Incentives to Improve Value in Pharmaceutical Care:  a Patient Shared Savings Model

A three-year, $503,919 grant from Laura and John Arnold Foundation. Major goals: To assess the effect of a shared savings program on patient medication utilization and patient and plan expenditures. The principal investigator is Kai Yeung.

Changing Narratives in Phase 1 Clinical Trial Participation

A one-year, $68,155 grant from National Science Foundation. The principal investigator is Marlaine Gray.

Evaluating Control of Hypertension – Effect of Social Determinants

A four-year, $96,517 grant from National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Major goals: To use electronic health record data from the Accelerating Data Value Across a National Community Health Center Network (ADVANCE) clinical data research network (CDRN) of National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network (PCORnet) from 376 Community Health Centers (CHCs) in 14 states that expanded Medicaid (n=1,139,779 patients) and 224 CHCs in 8 states that did not expand Medicaid (n=658,306 patients) to study the impact of increased health insurance on hypertension incidence, screening, treatment, and management.  The ADVANCE CDRN dataset is linked to community-level social determinants of health (SDOH), allowing us to study the interaction between SDOH, Medicaid expansion, and hypertension outcomes The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Beverly B. Green.

Improving Access and Reducing Burden for Patients on Specialty Drugs

A one-year, $79,642 grant from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Major goals: To evaluate the effect of state policies that protect patients on high cost specialty medications. We will evaluate patient and plan expenditures. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Kai Yeung.

Kaiser Foundation Health Plans Mid-Atlantic States (KP MAS) - Community Ambassador Program Evaluation

A six-month, $60,000 grant from Kaiser Foundation Health Plans Mid-Atlantic States. Major goals: To evaluate the impact and sustainability of Kaiser Permanente Mid-Atlantic States’ Community Ambassador Program and to inform strategic decisions about the future of the program. The principal investigator is Maggie Jones.

National Leadership Academy for the Public’s Health (NLAPH) Multisector 1 (06370-01-01)

A ten-month, $10,000 grant from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Major goals: To evaluate cohort 7 of the National Leadership Academy for the Public's Health. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Maggie Jones.

Obesity, Chemotherapy Dosing, and Breast Cancer Outcomes

A five-year, $1,254,412 grant from National Cancer Institute. Major goals: To use data on nearly 34,000 breast cancer patients from two integrated healthcare delivery systems to i) examine factors associated with chemotherapy dose reductions among obese women, ii) evaluate the mediating effect of dose reductions on the association between obesity and poor breast cancer outcomes, and iii) address whether fully dosed obese women experience excess toxicity as compared to their fully dosed non-obese counterparts. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Erin J. Bowles. 

January 2018

KPWHRI recently received word of 18 new awards.

3rd Seattle Symposium on Health Care Data Analytics

A one-year, $14,000 grant from KPWHRI Development Fund. Major goals: To strengthen collaborative relationships between field-leading biostatisticians and other scientists in health care analytics, to possibly publish a supplement in a special issue of a statistical or analytics journal, and to strengthen our national reputation as a leader in methods for health care data analytics. The principal investigator is Jennifer C. Nelson.

A Reusable, Generalizable Method to Link Health Plan Claims Data with the National Death Index Plus to Examine the Association Between Medical Products and Death and Causes of Death

A one-year, $152,149 grant from Food and Drug Administration. Major goals: To develop a reusable, generalizable method of linking multiple health plan databases with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Death Index Plus (NDI+) data. This will be done using the distributed data network and infrastructure of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s Sentinel System. The project will focus on FDA’s need to conduct population-based, post-market assessments of death and specific causes of death as outcomes in both safety and effectiveness analyses. We will pilot the feasibility of the developed approach through a use case designed to examine the associations between select antidepressants and all-cause mortality and specific causes of death (e.g., cardiovascular death). The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Denise M. Boudreau.

Aspirin Dosing: A Patient-Centric Trial Assessing Benefits and Long-term Effectiveness (ADAPTABLE)

A three-year, $100,000 grant from Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. Major goals: ADAPTABLE is a large pragmatic trial comparing low- and moderate-dose aspirin for prevention of cardiovascular events. Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI) will collaborate in the independent evaluation of the ADAPTABLE trial, specifically focused on recruitment strategies, outcome ascertainment, stakeholder engagement, and governance. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Gregory E. Simon.

BP-CHECK Comparative Cost Effectiveness and Automated Office Blood Pressure (BP) Measurements Pilot

A one-year, $55,988 grant from KPWHRI Development Fund. Major goals: To determine the difference between automated office Blood Pressure (BP) measurements (average of 3 measurements) compared to 24-hour ambulatory BP monitoring and to determine whether being alone in a room or having the examiner in the room makes a difference on automated office BP measurements. The principal investigator is Beverly B. Green.

CCALAC (Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles County) -AFS (Advancing the Financial Strength of LA Clinics Project)

A one-year, $50,000 grant from Cedars-Sinai. Major goals: TBD. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Lisa Schafer.

Expanding the (My Mobile Advice Program) MyMAP Mobile Health (mHealth) Intervention for Smoking Cessation

A one-year, $65,068 grant from KPWHRI Development Fund. Major goals: To expand and update the MyMAP (My Mobile Advice Program) for use with additional pharmacotherapies and patient populations. The principal investigator is Jennifer B. McClure.

Honoring What Matters to Patients with Multiple Chronic Conditions - Feasibility Study

A one-year, $107,409 grant from KPWHRI Development Fund. Major goals: To engage patients, family caregivers and primary and palliative care providers to establish specifications for integrating the personal values into primary care via a values-elicitation tool and clinical workflows; and test the feasibility and acceptability of using the tool and workflows for eliciting and using personal values to guide care in a pilot study of patients with multiple chronic conditions in primary care. The principal investigator is James D. Ralston.

Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Boost Pilot (FHCRC)

A six-month, $10,036 grant from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Major goals: To assess the willingness of Kaiser Permanente Washington patients ages 9 to 19 years old who have received only a single dose of HPV vaccine to participate in a larger study of an HPV booster vaccine. The results of this pilot will inform study feasibility and recruitment strategies for a February 2018 grant application to National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) which will seek to provide data to inform future HPV vaccine dosing schedules, including whether a reduced, two-dose series is sufficient for individuals aged 15-26 years. The principal investigator is Aruna Kamineni.

Impact of Medicare Transitions in the Washington (WA)-All Payer Claims Dataset

A one-year, $99,993 grant from KPWHRI Development Fund. Major goals: To target the gaps in our understanding about the benefits and harms of Medicare transitions by implementing methods to characterize the direction and magnitude of changes in medical and pharmacy benefits and provider networks that occur as a result of Medicare eligibility. The principal investigator is Kai Yeung.

Implementation of a Pragmatic Trial of Whole Health Team vs. Primary Care Group Education to Promote Non-Pharmacological Strategies to Improve Pain, Functioning, and Quality of Life in Veterans

A two-year, $17,114 grant from National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Major goals: To implement a new Whole Health model for chronic pain care emphasizing nondrug pain self-management that reduces pain symptoms and improves overall functioning and quality of life in veterans. This pragmatic trial will enroll over 600 veterans with moderate to severe chronic pain across multiple Veteran Affairs (VA) health care centers. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Lynn DeBar.

Improving Identification of Suicide Risk via Routine Screening for Depression and Alcohol Use

A six-month, $40,048 grant from KPWHRI Development Fund. Major goals: To evaluate the association between alcohol use and suicide attempt (non-fatal and deaths); and to evaluate how different patterns of alcohol use influence the relationship between suicidal ideation and suicide attempt. This work will support development of the analytic methods to determine whether population-based alcohol and depression screening information, increasingly obtained in health systems across the U.S., can be used to better identify patients who will attempt and may die by suicide. The principal investigator is Julie E. Richards.

Learning Health Systems Mentored Career Development Program (K12)

A four-month, $21,723 grant from KPWHRI Development Fund. Major goals: To build a Learning Health Systems Mentored Career Development Program in collaboration with colleagues at University of Washington, Veteran’s Affairs Health Services Research and Development Service, and Washington State University. The principal investigator is Diana S. Buist.

Methods for Tracking Intervention Adaptation and Implementation Strategies - Part 2

A one-year, $120,008 grant from KPWHRI Development Fund. Major goals: To obtain pilot data to support an R01 application that would develop pragmatic measures and methods for tracking tailoring of implementation strategies and treatment adaptation in the context of a depression prevention implementation trial. The principal investigator is Cara C. Lewis. (R217176001)

(Mobile Health) mHealth in Interventions to Augment Medication Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder in Primary Care

A one-year, $83,755 grant from KPWHRI Development Fund. Major goals: To pilot the feasibility of using mHealth platforms to augment buprenorphine treatment in primary care. The principal investigator is Joseph E. Glass.

Project Connect

A one-year, $65,583 grant from KPWHRI Development Fund. Major goals: To understand KPWA member and clinician experiences with peer support and other systems as young patients (aged 25-45) with complex medical conditions and caregivers of young patients through survey and qualitative interviews. The principal investigator is Karen Wernli.

Tapering Off Opioids-Grant Proposal Development Funds

A six-month, $43,045 grant from KPWHRI Development Fund. Major goals: TBD. The principal investigator is Clarissa Hsu.

The California Endowment (TCE)- California Leadership Academy for the Public's Health (CaLAPH) Cohort 4

A one-year, $5,000 grant from The California Endowment. Major goals: To evaluate the 2018 cohort of the California Leadership Academy for the Public's Health (CaLAPH). The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Maggie Jones.

User-Centered Design of Tools for Explaining Chronic Back Pain to Patients

A six-month, $31,670 grant from KPWHRI Development Fund. Major goals: To develop a tool that can guide primary care clinicians in explaining chronic back pain and its self-management to patients. The principal investigator is Michael R. Von Korff.