Congratulations to Dr. Menggang Yu, who will lead 1 of 46 research projects approved for Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) funding to help patients and those who care for them make better informed healthcare decisions. For more information about Dr. Yu's research and PCORI, visit this link.
A new toolkit developed by Dr. Elizabeth Magnan is available on HIPxChange. The Algorithm for Identifying Patients with Multiple Chronic Conditions (Multimorbidity) contains over 4,000 ICD-9 codes that are mapped to AHRQ Clinical Classification Software (CCS) codes, which are then bundled into 69 clinically relevant chronic condition categories. Researchers can use these categories to examine the effect of multiple chronic conditions or specific comorbidities on health and outcomes, or in quality improvement or public reporting work.
Dr. Maureen Smith recently received an AAMC Learning Health System Research Champion Award to recognize connections that were built between the UW Health, the UW Office of Continuing Professional Development, and the Health Innovation Program to link clinical quality improvement, maintenance of certification, and research. Together, these groups created a web-based resource to support clinicians in the writing and preparation of manuscripts based on their quality improvement activities, facilitating the evolution from quality improvement to generalizable knowledge.
Dr. Christine Everett recently received the 2014 Article of the Year Award from the Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA) for the article titled, "Physician assistants and nurse practitioners perform effective roles on teams caring for patients with Medicare patients with diabetes," which was published in Health Affairs in November 2013. A $1.1 million grant was recently funded by the Veteran's Administration to further evaluate roles based on her methodology.
Several HIP investigators were recently awarded pilot grants from the UW Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (UW-ICTR). Drs. Christie Bartels, Michelle Chui, Korey Kennelty, Nancy Pandhi, and Gretchen Schwarze will be conducting projects on a variety of topics in inpatient, outpatient, and pharmacy settings that engage patients and community health care organizations as collaborators.
Dr. Christie Bartels was recently awarded a 2.5 year Pfizer Independent Grant for Learning and Change for her project, "Systems-based CVD prevention protocols for rheumatology teams: A low-cost multidisciplinary approach." The goal of the project is to improve management of modifiable cardiovascular disease risk factors as a path to improve the cardiovascular health and survival of patients with rheumatic diseases. The project will apply evidence-based staff-driven protocols in RA clinic visits to improve management of hypertension and tobacco use. This QI project responds to the aim of the Pfizer program to support "screening for and modification of modifiable CVD risk factors in RA patients."
The Health Innovation Program and the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality (WCHQ) recently partnered to launch a statewide learning event on diabetes care improvement. More than 125 representatives attended from 48 healthcare organizations across Wisconsin. The event was focused on diabetes care in the context of the Triple Aim: improving care, improving population health, and reducing cost.
Brock Polnaszek was selected as one of the national recipients of the Medical Student Training in Aging Research (MSTAR) awards sponsored by the American Federation for Aging Research and the National Institutes on Aging.
His study, under the mentorship of Dr. Amy Kind and Dr. Sanjay Asthana, will aim to deternine the accuracy of written physical activity discharge order communication for hip fracture and stroke patients discharged to nursing homes from the hospital. Specifically, he will examine the accuracy of written activity orders for: (1) medical assistive devices for ambulating or transferring (i.e., cane), (2) level of assistance with sitting to standing, and (3) patient safety restrictions (i.e., fall risk).
A recent study by Dr. Heather Johnson et al. found that only 34% of 18-39 year old adults with hypertension started antihypertensive medications or achieved blood pressure control within a mean follow-up period of 20 months.
In research recently presented by Dr. Christie Bartels et al. at the American College of Rheumatology 2013 Annual Meeting, uncontrolled blood pressure was addressed in less than 1 of 3 rheumatology visits even when blood pressure exceeded 160/100 mmHg, despite the fact that patients with rheumatoid arthritis have increased cardiovascular risk.
Read more on Medscape and Yahoo News.