Grants Awarded 2020

A 4-year, $2,330,129 grant from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. Major goals: To test 2 ways of preventing severe hypoglycemia in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is James Ralston.

Incidence and Predictors of Opioid Overdose and Death Among Extended-Release/Long-Acting (ER/LA) Opioid Analgesics Users as Measured by Diagnoses and Death Records—A Retrospective Database Study:

A 1-year, $30,380 grant from Syneos Health. Major goals: To quantify and characterize the determinants of risk for opioid overdose and death (OOD) in long-term users of Schedule II Extending-Release/Long-Acting (ER/LA) and Immediate Release/Short-Acting (IR/SA) prescription opioids using data from 4 large health care systems with established electronic databases. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Denise Boudreau.

Low-Cost Detection of Dementia Using Electronic Health Records Data: Validation and Testing of the Electronic Health Record Risk of Alzheimer’s and Dementia Assessment Rule (eRADAR) Algorithm in a Pragmatic, Patient-Centered Trial:

A 5-year, $4,136,047 grant from the National Institute on Aging. Major goals: To conduct a pragmatic clinical trial of a low-cost intervention to improve recognition and diagnosis of dementia. Within 6 primary care clinics serving about 30,000 patients, we will identify high-risk patients using a novel risk score, the electronic health record Risk of Alzheimer’s and Dementia Assessment Rule (eRADAR), which draws on information from the electronic health record. This study will randomize primary care providers and their panels to receive targeted outreach vs. usual care and will examine the impact on dementia diagnosis rates, patient and provider experience and satisfaction, and health care utilization. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Sascha Dublin.

Public Health Institute- National Leadership Academy for the Public’s Health (PHI-NLAPH) C10:

A 1-year, $60,000 grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Major goals: The major goal of the National Leadership Academy for the Public’s Health (NLAPH) is to assess the impact of the NLAPH on development of leadership skills and impact on the participating communities. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Maggie Jones.

Pragmatic Trial of Acupuncture for Chronic Low Back Pain in Older Adults:

A 3-year, $7,941,711 grant from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Major goals: To conduct a trial of acupuncture for older adults with chronic low back pain. This study will also collect ancillary information that would be critical for health plans and physicians to include acupuncture into care for older adults. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Karen Sherman.

Tailored Non-Pharmacotherapy Services for Chronic Pain: Testing Scalable and Pragmatic Approaches:

A 4-year, $11,806,872 grant from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. Major goals: This comparative effectiveness research (CER) trial will rigorously evaluate 2 low-cost, scalable modalities of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)-based treatment for chronic pain: 1) an established online intervention (PainTRAINER), and 2) a centralized, telephone- or videoconference-administered intervention with the same components. Both modalities will be compared to usual care services. Performance sites include 4 Healthcare Systems Research Network (HCSRN) sites. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Lynn DeBar.

A 4-month, $17,543 grant from Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute Innovation Fund. The goal of this grant is to conduct a virtual pilot intervention for our CAFÉ study, a clinic-based intervention to address financial hardships for people with cancer (originally planned in person) to test the feasibility and acceptability of methods and materials addressing the virtual nature of the intervention. During this pilot, we will also take the opportunity to implement the Kaiser Permanente Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity (EID) health equity framework. Additional funds would support time for our team to consult with the Equity and Inclusion Team to ensure our study design and instruments are appropriately addressing vulnerable and underserved population needs. The proposed work is innovative as it will allow us to build upon best practices around virtual interventions for people with cancer and to formally and intentionally review our study protocol for equity. The principal investigator is Nora Henrikson.

Multi-Modal Study of Validity and Reliability of Cancer Screening Questions for the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS):

A 4-year, $929,851 grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The purpose of this Special Interest Project (SIP) is to develop accurate survey measures for lung, cervical, breast, and colorectal screening, and to evaluate the validity and reliability of those measures. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Erin J. Bowles.

Organizing Nursing to Improve Care Quality and Safety: A Hybrid Implementation-Effectiveness Study:

A 3-year, $1,174,291 grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Major goals: To leverage a natural experiment in 66 clinical care units in 9 hospitals across 5 states (Georgia, Texas, Michigan, North Carolina, and Illinois) that integrated Clinical Nurse Leaders (CNLs) into their frontline nursing care delivery model to estimate the CNL care model’s effectiveness in impacting better care and better health. To generate knowledge that enables wide-spread implementation and sustained utilization of evidence-based frontline Registered Nurse (RN) care models that maximize the quality and safety of care. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Maricela Cruz.

Proteomic Discovery in an Inception Cohort of Acute Myocardial Infarction Survivors

A 4-year, $333,628 grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Major goals: The goals of this project are to use proteomics to improve our understanding of the etiology of recurrent coronary heart disease (CHD), and to identify proteins that are causal factors and potential therapeutic targets for the secondary prevention of CHD. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Laura Harrington.

Validating a DSM-5 Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Symptom Checklist in Electronic Health Record (EHR) Data from a Large Primary Care Sample to Support Future Pragmatic Trials and Chronic Care Management of SUDs in Primary Care:

A 6-month, $123,552 grant from National Institute on Drug Abuse. Major goals: The objective of this study is to conduct a rigorous psychometric evaluation of DSM-5 Substance Use (SU) Symptom Checklists from the Kaiser Permanente Washington electronic health record (EHR), completed by primary care patients who report daily cannabis use or any other drug use in the past year. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Katharine A. Bradley.

A 2-year, $973,078 grant from the National Institute of Mental Health. Major goals: A large observational study involving 4 Mental Health Research Network (MHRN) sites evaluating the effects of initiating buprenorphine treatment on suicidal behavior among people with opioid use disorder, including those with and without co-occurring mental health conditions or other known risk factors for suicidal behavior. The principal investigator is Gregory E. Simon.

Mental Health Research Network III Supplement: Impact and Implications of Rapid Transition to Virtual Mental Health Care during COVID-19

A 5-year, $414,092 grant from the National Institute of Mental Health. Major goals: To examine patient-level predictors of mental health care access and utilization with the rapid transition to telehealth visits, including variation by age, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status and to examine the association with mental health care access and utilization on depression and anxiety severity; suicidal ideation; medication and psychotherapy adherence; emergency department visits; psychiatric hospitalizations; and suicide attempts and deaths. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Gregory E. Simon.

Proteomic Discovery in an Inception Cohort of Acute Myocardial Infarction Survivors

A 4-year, $333,628 grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Major goals: To use proteomics to improve our understanding of the etiology of recurrent coronary heart disease and to identify proteins that are causal factors and potential therapeutic targets for the secondary prevention of congenital heart disease. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Laura Harrington.

A 1-year, $49,939 grant from the Food and Drug Administration. Major goals: The major goals of this project are to authorize the Sentinel Operations Center to develop real world data (RWD) feasibility counts to support COVID and other emerging public health activities by providing resources for Sentinel Data Partners to develop site-specific programs to query their site-specific data (defined as any data not included in the production version of the Sentinel Distributed Database). To address specific questions from the FDA, Data Partners will be given a shell table to implement.  Programming developed by Data Partners will not be required to follow all the Sentinel’s Programming Standard Operating Procedures. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Denise M. Boudreau.

Home Phototherapy – University of Washington Funding

A 7-month, $11,140 grant from the UW. 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.

Kaiser Permanente Washington Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit - Administrative Supplement

A 3-year, $9,516,425 grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Major goals: The major goal of this project is to conduct a Phase 3 trial of a COVID-19 vaccine. The principal investigator is Lisa A. Jackson.

Long-Term Costs and Return on Investment for Bariatric Surgery

A 4-year, $549,478 grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Major goals: To compare 5- and 10-year changes in total costs of health care among patients undergoing sleeve gastrectomy (SG) and Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) versus matched non-surgical patients with severe obesity; to examine heterogeneity in the effect of surgery on costs to understand whether there are clinical subgroups of patients with severe obesity who have more favorable post-surgical cost trajectories; and to estimate time to break-even for each subgroup to identify the return-on-investment in 1-year increments over a 10-year time frame after accounting for the initial costs of surgery. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is David E. Arterburn.

A 1-year, $155,211 grant from the California Health Care Foundation. Major goals: To assess the impact of the learning collaborative on participating clinic's ability to deliver telehealth services. To provide real time feedback to the funder & technical assistance provider to improve the initiative. To share promising practices such as telehealth with the field. The principal investigator is Maggie Jones.

Identifying and Supporting Patients with Undiagnosed Dementia Using the EHR Risk of Alzheimer’s and Dementia Assessment Rule (eRADAR): A Pilot Clinical Trial

A 4-year, $3,098,307 grant from the National Institute on Aging. Major goals: To conduct a pilot randomized clinical trial of targeted dementia screening in primary care, focusing on patients at high risk of having undiagnosed dementia. We will identify high-risk patients using a novel risk score, the electronic health record Risk of Alzheimer’s and Dementia Assessment Rule (eRADAR), which draws on information from the electronic health record. This study will randomize about 50 primary care providers and their panels to receive targeted outreach versus usual care and will examine outcomes including acceptability, feasibility, dementia diagnosis rates, and subsequent healthcare utilization, and to lay the groundwork for a future full-scale clinical trial. The principal investigator is Sascha Dublin.

Impact of COVID-19 on Patients with High Social and Medical Needs

A 2-year, $204,799 grant from the Garfield Memorial Foundation. Major goals: To examine the independent contributions of self-reported social needs and medical comorbidities on COVID testing, infection, and complication rates in patients with complex needs. To understand the impact and experience of the social distancing and the Kaiser Permanente care response to the COVID pandemic on the medical and mental health of patients with complex needs. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is James D. Ralston.

Integrating Behavioral and Social Sciences Concepts into Multidisciplinary Translational Research through Dissemination and Implementation Training

An 8-month, $14,673 grant from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. Major goals: To develop an educational program that involves both an interactive workshop and a varied set of hands-on experiences that TL1 trainees at the University of Washington can undertake to solidify their understanding of dissemination and implementation science. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Michael L. Parchman.

ReCAPSE: Recurrence using Claims And Patient Report Outcomes (PROs) for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER) Expansion

A 3-year, $191,066 grant from the National Cancer Institute. Major goals: To advance cancer surveillance science by developing, validating, and deploying a scalable approach for identifying cancer recurrence using medical claims data and patient reported outcomes. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Jessica Chubak.

A 3-year, $16,000 grant from the Garfield Memorial Foundation. Major goals: To calculate age and gender adjusted cancer incidence rates for Kaiser Permanente (KP) patients diagnosed with lung, colorectal, and breast cancers between 2012-2018 and determine the 5-year relative survival by year of diagnosis for patients diagnosed with the cancers of focus within and across KP regions. To calculate cancer-specific mortality (and potentially all-cause mortality) for KP patients diagnosed with the cancers of focus. This foundational work will have significant benefits, including enhancing understanding of our system’s cancer burden and outcomes, providing the groundwork for KP’s continued excellence in cancer care delivery. The principal investigator is Karen Wernli.

Molecular Clonality of Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (E. coli)

A 5-year, $788,469 grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Major goals: The proposed studies are focused on understanding the basis of gut carriage and urovirulence of multi-drug resistant E. coli by the comparative genetic analysis of strains that will be isolated from feces and urine of a large number of women over the age of 50. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is James D. Ralston.

Potential for Repurposing Currently Approved Medications to Fight COVID-19:  A Proof-of-Concept Study

A 7-month, $183,747 grant from the Garfield Memorial Foundation. Major goals: To examine the use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) as a risk factor for infection with SARS-CoV-2 among newly infected members. To examine the prognosis associated with the use of ACEIs and ARBs (versus non-use), including the outcomes of pneumonia, hospitalization, admission to the intensive care unit (ICU), and mortality. The principal investigator is Sascha Dublin.

Sentinel Innovation Center: Master Plan and Innovation Center (IC) Collaboration Activities II

A 1-year, $11,837 grant from the Food and Drug Administration. Major goals: The major goal of this project is to develop the Innovation Center’s (IC’s) master plan for the prioritization, development and incorporation of innovative technologies into the Sentinel System to help the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) achieve three key legislative mandates. The master plan will identify key strategic priorities of the IC; define the vision, mission, and goals of the IC; identify approaches, data, and technologies that could help achieve the goals; and propose a set of discrete, realistic, feasible, and executable projects to test and develop these technologies. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Jennifer C. Nelson.

Supplemental Funds for COVID-19 Surveillance in the United States Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness Network

A 3-month, $500,000 grant from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Major goals: The major goals of this project are to describe clinical characteristics and the spectrum of COVID-19 in ambulatory settings and to estimate the incidence of COVID-19 related respiratory illness in ambulatory settings. The principal investigator is Michael L. Jackson.

A 5-month, $52,222 grant from the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute Innovation Fund. Major goals: To establish and operate a registry of KP Washington members who have tested positive for SARS CoV-2/COVID-19 and who are willing to be contacted about research Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI) is doing about SARS CoV-2/COVID-19. Once the registry is established, KPWHRI investigators will apply for use of its member information to registry’s governing committee, led by Dr. Michael L. Jackson. This committee will regulate the frequency with which registry members can be contacted to prevent inundating them with research invitations. The principal investigator is Michael L. Jackson.

Leveraging Machine Learning to Improve Risk Prediction for Chemotherapy Induced Neuropathy

A 4-year, $850,510 grant from the National Cancer Institute. Major goals: To develop and validate a machine learning enabled predictive model to identify patients at high risk for acute (less than 14 days) and chronic (14 days or more) chemotherapy associated peripheral neuropathy (CAPN) following start of chemotherapy treatment in a large integrated care setting. To validate externally the risk prediction model in a second integrated health system. To estimate the effect of changing the initial chemotherapy-based treatment plan (e.g., mono compared to combination therapy, reduced compared to full dose) on the risk of CAPN and 5-year cancer survival rates and possible effect heterogeneity (race, ethnicity, and age) among patients at high risk for CAPN using causal inference methods. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Jessica Chubak.

Leveraging Tumor Registries and Pathology Specimens to Facilitate Genetic Testing and Traceback for Ovarian Cancer

A 4-year, $453,288 grant from the National Cancer Institute. Major goals: To design, implement, and ethically evaluate a health care system-led notification process for familial (genetic) disease risk. To do this we will conduct focus groups to determine culturally appropriate messages for sending to ovarian cancer patients and alerting them to availability of testing. We will then invite members with a new diagnosis of ovarian cancer to receive genetic counseling and testing per usual clinical processes. Finally, we will conduct follow up interviews with participants and providers to assess the utility of the process. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Nora Henrikson.

A 2-year, $249,997 grant from the National Cancer Institute. Major goals: This study is evaluating the late-effects breast cancer treatments in a large cohort of breast cancer survivors. The principal investigator is Diana S. Buist.

CityHealth Evaluation

A 2-month, $12,500 grant from the de Beaumont Foundation. Major goals: To understand the policy adoption process in CityHealth cities so that the program can improve moving forward. The principal investigator is Erin Hertel.

Sentinel Common Data Model (SCDM) 8.0.0 Implementation: Addition of a Prescribing table, Addition of Code Types for Dispensing, Diagnosis, and Procedure tables, and Enhancements for Provider and Facility Identification

A 13-month, $59,834 grant from the Food and Drug Administration. Major goals: To enhance the Sentinel Common Data Model (SCDM) by adding a prescribing table, international value sets, and modifications to several existing SCDM tables to better capture provider and facility information. To develop the necessary infrastructure to support routine updates to all revised SCDM tables, by all participating Data Partners. This includes modifications to existing infrastructure to ensure that both distributed programs and tools, as well as local support tools (such as tracking systems, workflows, Statistical Analysis System (SAS) programs), and relevant test environments are updated to reflect the new data and processes. Lastly, to modify the SCDM to achieve efficiency gains and to improve program execution time. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Denise M. Boudreau.

A 2-year, $250,000 grant from the Center for Care Innovations. Major goals: To access changes in organizations’ capabilities, staff experience, and clinic-level outcomes related to implementing Adverse Childhood Events (ACEs) screening. To understand the contribution of the learning collaborative to organizations’ progress. To provide real time information back to program stakeholders to improve the learning collaborative. The principal investigator is Maggie Jones.

Modeling to Minimize Detection Bias in Cancer Risk Prediction Studies

A 5-year, $258,895 grant from the National Cancer Institute. Major goals: To develop methods that will help people understand how common risk factors like family history and breast density affect their risk of getting cancer rather than their risk of getting a cancer diagnosis. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Ellen O'Meara.

The California Endowment (TCE) – California Leadership Academy for the Public’s Health (CaLAPH) Cohort 6

A 1-year, $5,000 grant from The California Endowment. Major goals: To assess competency changes in the California Leadership Academy for the Public’s Health (CaLAPH) participants over the course of the program. To assess the contribution of the program to individual participants and communities. To provide results back to the Center for Health Leadership and Practice (CHLP), and to improve this and subsequent programs. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Maggie Jones.

A 1-year, $40,000 grant from the North Sound Accountable Community of Health (ACH). Major goals: The Arcora Foundation is funding a local impact network (LIN) in the North Sound Accountable Communities of Health (NSACH) region to respond to oral health needs and disparities in Snohomish, Skagit, Whatcom, San Juan, and Island counties. The LINs are designed to build local capacity across organizations and community stakeholders. The major goals of this evaluation project are to understand the implementation progress and outcomes and to understand the level of collaboration and the strength of the Oral Health LIN. The principal investigator is Erin Hertel.

Planning Phase of Overuse and Trust in an Accountable Care Organization (ACO) Setting Evaluation

A 7-month, $54,394 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Major goals: The goals of this grant are to establish partnership with up to 10 accountable care organizations (ACO), to administer the high-value care survey to clinicians in each ACO, to work with stakeholders to develop agreed upon measures of low-value care for patients with dementia, and to develop a multi-level strategy to reduce low-value dementia care. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Michael L. Parchman.

The Bariatric Experience Long Term (BELONG) II for Racial and Ethnic Minority Patients

A 4-year, $443,370 grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Major goals: To understand the patient experience of bariatric surgery from the perspective of minority and ethnically diverse populations, namely African American and Hispanic patients.  Rich qualitative analysis will yield patient perspectives of the challenges and facilitators of weight loss success, and these insights can inform and improve patient care. The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute lead investigator is Marlaine Gray.