Primary care practice-based research networks (PBRNs) are groups of primary care clinicians and practices working together to answer community-based health care questions and translate research findings into practice. In 2006, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) awarded small research grants totaling more than $1 million to 11 PBRNs.
Program Summary | Small Grant Recipients
In 2004, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), solicited research proposals from primary care Practice-Based Research Networks (PBRNs) for pilot projects or feasibility studies. In addition to funding the exploratory projects, the RFA also sought to further the growth of new and emerging PBRNs. The awards provided up to $100,000 in direct and indirect funding over a one- to two-year period.
Budget reallocations in 2005 delayed the application review process until 2006, when AHRQ awarded more than $1 million to 11 new and emerging primary care PBRNs. The awards advance the continuum of PBRN development and complement PAR-04-041, which targeted more mature networks capable of larger and more involved studies.
Network: New York City Research and Improvement Network (NYC Ring)
Title: Management of Vaginal Complaints: A Pilot Study within a PBRN
Principal Investigator: Matthew Anderson
Project Number: R03 HS016050-01
Summary: New York City Research and Improvement Network (NYC RING) is an urban Practice Based Research Network comprising 21 clinical sites affiliated with the Albert Einstein College of Medicine's Department of Family and Social Medicine. This pilot study will test whether the current standard of care for evaluating vaginal symptoms (i.e., looking for specific pathogens) produces better clinical outcomes than a simpler approach, involving treatments based on patient symptoms.
Network: Oregon Rural Practice-Based Research Network (ORPRN)
Title: Enhancing Dementia Diagnosis and Care in Rural Primary Care: A Feasibility Study
Principal Investigator: Linda Boise
Project Number: R03 HS016007-01
Summary: The goal of this project is to improve care for older persons with dementia, and will specifically test a clinical practice model designed to improve dementia care (the dementia component of the Assessing Care of the Vulnerable Elders [ACOVE-2]) in rural primary care practices. The intervention uses a standardized multi-component practice-change effort that includes: (1) efficient collection of condition-specific clinical data; (2) medical record prompts; (3) patient/family education and activation; and (4) physician decision support and education. ORPRN is an independent unit of the Oregon Health Services University, based in Portland.
Network: Carolinas Healthcare System PBRN
Title: Creation of a PBRN to Study Health Care Delivery to a Transitioning Community
Principal Investigator: Michael Dulin
Project Number: R03 HS016023-01
Summary: The Carolinas Healthcare System (CHS) Department of Family Medicine has formed a new primary care PBRN in partnership with the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC-Charlotte) Department of Geography and Earth Sciences. Their initial project seeks to develop a detailed understanding of the origins and impact of barriers to health care access among the Hispanic population of Charlotte, North Carolina.
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) will be used to evaluate the distribution of health care services and health care access within the Hispanic community. The inclusion of community health organizations will add a vital dimension of community-participatory research to the network.
Network: The North Carolina Adolescent Research Consortium for Health (NC ARCH)
Title: Parents & Health Care Professionals Working Together to Improve Adolescent Health
Principal Investigator: Carol Ford
Project Number: R03 HS016021-01
Summary: The North Carolina Adolescent Research Consortium for Health, or NC ARCH, is an emerging network of adolescent health care professionals and adolescent health researchers. NC ARCH plans to conduct focus groups with parents of adolescents to better understand the parents' perceptions of adolescent health, the amount of discordance between perceptions of “ideal” and “actual” adolescent health during early, middle, and late adolescence, as well as perceived roles of parents and health care professionals in addressing areas of discordance. Health content areas will include general health, obesity prevention, detection of asymptomatic sexually transmitted infections, and prevention of alcohol-related injuries.
The Consortium will also explore methods for increasing collaboration between parents and health care professionals with the goal of improving adolescent health care and health. NC-ARCH's administrative structure is housed at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Network: Upstate New York Practice Based Research Network (UNYNET)
Title: Making CKD Guidelines Work in Underserved Practices
Principal Investigator: Chester Fox
Project Number: R03 HS016031-01
Summary: This pilot study will test CKD guidelines implementation with PCP-directed telephonic case management. This translational research into practice (TRIP) pilot study uses a randomized trial to evaluate the effect of a site-level intervention in a sample of practices in medically underserved communities (MUCs) within the Upstate New York Practice Based Research Network (UNYNET).
The specific aims of this study are to: (1) estimate the effect size on patient outcomes resulting from CKD guidelines implementation; and (2) assess the usefulness of PCP-directed telephonic case management for CKD guideline utilization in medically underserved primary care community settings. UNYNET is closely affiliated with the University of Buffalo's Department of Family Medicine.
Network: New England Clinicians Forum Practice-Based Research Network
Title: Investigating the Correlates and Outcomes of Depression
Principal Investigator: Jennifer Granger
Project Number: R03 HS015987-01
Summary: The goals of this research project are to: (1) investigate the prevalence and correlates of major depressive disorder (MOD) and depressive symptoms in adult type II diabetics who receive their care at 3 community health centers in the New England Clinicians Forum Practice-Based Research Network; (2) to assess the interaction of MOD with diabetes control indicators and self-reported diabetes self-management activities; and (3) initiate a pilot intervention-outcome study to provide guideline concordant depression treatment for Type II diabetics identified with MOD, and longitudinally assess at 3 and 6 months both depression and diabetes outcomes and self-reported adherence to diabetes control activities. NECF is a program of the Connecticut Primary Care Association located in Hartford, Connecticut.
Network: Crozer-Keystone PBRN
Title: Assessing Barriers to ADA Guideline Adherence
Principal Investigator: Mitchell Kaminski
Project Number: R03 HS016065-01
Summary: This project involves a comprehensive assessment of barriers to diabetes guidelines adherence across 25 practices in the Crozer-Keystone primary care PBRN. A Barrier Assessment Tool (BAT) will be validated to correlate with provider and practice adherence to diabetes care guidelines. The network is part of the Crozer-Keystone Health System located in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, in the southeast quadrant of the Philadelphia metropolitan region.
Network: Ambulatory Care Research Network (ACRN)
Title: An Intervention in Urban CHCs to Increase Tobacco Use Treatment
Principal Investigator: Donna Shelley
Project Number: R03 HS016000-01
Summary: The Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and the New York Presbyterian Ambulatory Care Research Network will partner with the New York State Quitline to test the hypothesis that implementing an “expanded vital sign” chart intervention in community health centers serving low-income, primarily African-American and Latino patients, combined with an office-based link to an external proactive telephone counseling service, is feasible and will be more effective in increasing the proportion of tobacco users who receive cessation assistance than the “expanded vital sign” intervention alone.
Network: Puget Sound Pediatric Research Network (PSPRN)
Title: The Feasibility of Assessing the Prevalence of Rickets
Principal Investigator: James Taylor
Project Number: R03 HS016029-01
Summary: The Puget Sound Pediatric Research Network (PSPRN) is a practice-based research network of pediatricians in the Seattle, Washington area and at the University of Washington. This preliminary study will determine the feasibility of a larger project to determine the prevalence of rickets in breastfed infants and toddlers who do not receive supplemental vitamin D. Systematic surveys will be conducted in PSPRN practices to determine current levels and trends in vitamin D supplementation.
Current practices of PSPRN pediatricians regarding supplementation, and their effect on parents, will also be assessed. The utility of a serum alkaline phosphatase level as a screening test for vitamin D deficient rickets will be determined in the proposed study by obtaining levels on approximately 300 PSPRN pediatric patients, ages 6-15 months, who have been breastfed.
Network: Wisconsin Research and Education Network (WREN)
Title: Problem Density, Mental Workload, and Medical Error in Primary Care Practice: a WREN Study
Principal Investigator: Jonathan Temte
Project Number: HS016026-01
Summary: This pilot study will define the relationships between encounter problem density (number of problems per unit of time), clinician mental workload (ascertained by the NASA Task Load Index), perceived medical errors, and quality indicators. The feasibility of using physician-medical assistant teams to collect this data within busy WREN practices will be explored. Results will be used to refine a systems model developed by industrial engineers to better define the process of primary health care delivery.
This pilot will serve as a basis for additional studies of the relationship between complexity and error in family practice and primary care. WREN is affiliated with the University of Wisconsin's Department of Family Medicine, in Madison.
Network: North Carolina Indian Network
Title: American Indian Network Study of Clinical Outcomes
Principal Investigator: Bonnie Yankaskas
Project Number: R03 HS015989-01
Summary: The primary goal of this proposal is the creation of a primary care providers' research network in Robeson County, North Carolina, with an emphasis on those physicians serving the Lumbee—the largest American Indian tribe east of the Mississippi River—the great majority of whom live in Robeson County.
The new network will estimate diabetes prevalence in adults and children and will pilot data collection around processes of diabetic care among adults and children in Robeson Counties' major racial/ethnic groups (American Indians [40 percent], African-Americans [25 percent] and Hispanics [5 percent]). The administrative home for the network is the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Current as of September 2006
Internet Citation:
2006 Practice-Based Research Network (PBRN) Small Research Grants. September 2006. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, M.D. http://www.ahrq.gov/research/pbrn/pbrnsmall06.htm
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