Over the past six months, CHOIR has made important progress on our two national collaborative research partnerships; one involving the National Centers of Excellence in Healthcare Transformation funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the other involving evaluation of the State Innovation Model (SIM) awards funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK).
Working with our partners The Dartmouth Institute (TDI) and the High Value Health Care Collaborative (HCVC), we are currently piloting a National Survey of Healthcare Organizations and Systems (NSHOS), which will be fielded in early 2017. This survey will collect important information on the factors associated with the adoption of biomedical, care delivery, and patient engagement innovations. The role of external payment reforms and internal management and organizational processes will also be highlighted. Working with colleagues at the other two centers, the National Bureau of Economic Research, Harvard University and the American Hospital Association consortium and the RAND Health and Penn State center, we will develop an updated taxonomy of healthcare organizations and systems which can be drawn on by the field.
Our CDC/NIDKK-funded natural experiment is focused on the examining the impact of the SIM Initiative on diabetes prevention and management where we are joined by other research teams examining large-scale policy interventions focused on diabetes including Harvard University, Mount Sinai (New York), Northwestern, Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU), Penn State, Tulane, and UCLA. The SIM Initiative natural experiment uses a stepped wedge design to examine the effect of SIM funding on diabetes care in six states that received the award in 2013, six states that received it in 2015, and compare these effects to six control states that did not receive SIM funding. Outcomes examined include hospitalization rates, readmission rates, and measures of health behavior from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSSS).
We are pleased to have launched our companion Center for Lean Engagement and Research (CLEAR) this month, which focuses on developing actionable knowledge regarding the whole system lean approach to health care delivery. We look forward to taking advantage of the many synergies between CHOIR and CLEAR to expand the impact of our research on helping health care organizations achieve the triple aim of better quality, improved population health and reduced rate of growth in health care costs.
We are also pleased to welcome two new CHOIR team members: Diane Rittenhouse MD, MPH and Janet Blodgett, MSc. Dr. Rittenhouse is a nationally distinguished investigator in primary care, holds joint appointments in the UCSF Department of Family & Community Medicine and the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. She is working with CHOIR on a number of research projects and is currently the PI on a California State Department of Public Health contract to assess the implementation of data sharing requirements and approaches for California’s Accountable Communities for Health initiative. Janet is joining us as a Research Project Analyst for CLEAR.
We welcome your feedback on any of our work and your suggestions for how we might improve our communication with you.
Best wishes,
Stephen M. Shortell, Ph.D., MPH, MBA
Blue Cross of California Distinguished Professor of Health Policy and Management
Co-Director, Center for Healthcare Organizational and Innovation Research
Dean Emeritus, School of Public Health
Professor of Organization Behavior, Haas School of Business
Henry J. Kaiser Endowed Chair in Organized Health Systems
Chair, Faculty Group in Health Policy
Co-Director, Center for Healthcare Organizational and Innovation Research
Professor of Health Policy and Management, School of Public Health