2000 AHRQ Practice-Based Research Network (PBRN) Planning Grants


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 2000, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) awarded developmental planning grants totaling $1.7 million to 19 PBRNs.

Program Summary  |  AHRQ Planning Grant Recipients


Program Summary

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) awarded 19 planning grants totaling $1.7 million in September of 2000 to primary care practice-based research networks (PBRNs) across the United States. Each of the grants supported the development of a PBRN-specific plan to:

  1. Establish or advance procedures for the electronic collection and aggregation of clinical data derived from the individual practices within the network.
  2. Increase the capacity to study the health care of racial and ethnic minority patient populations and/or underserved populations within the network.
  3. Develop methods to assist network clinicians with the translation of research findings into practical treatment solutions.
  4. Identify potential sources of ongoing support for the network.

Together, the funded PBRNs include more than 5,000 primary care clinicians and serve 7 million patients across 49 States, in a variety of primary care practice settings. Representatives from each of the networks attended three AHRQ-supported organizational meetings during a year-long planning process.

Upon successful completion of the planning phase, each of the 19 PBRNs received continuation grants to:

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AHRQ Planning Grant Recipients

Organization: American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), Leawood, KS.
Principal Investigator: Herb Young, M.D., M.A.
Project Number: HS11182
Summary: The AAFP National Network for Family Practice and Primary Care Research (National Research Network) is an emerging PBRN that includes 110 clinicians from practices in 34 States and 4 Canadian provinces.

Organization: American Academy of Pediatrics; University of Vermont, Burlington, VT.
Principal Investigator: Richard C. Wasserman, M.D., M.P.H.
Project Number: HS11192
Summary: The Pediatric Research in Office Settings (PROS) is a national network that includes practitioners from 540 pediatric practices in 49 States, Puerto Rico, and Canada.

Organization: Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX.
Principal Investigator: Robert J. Volk, Ph.D.
Project Number: HS11187
Summary: The Baylor Practice-Based Research Network (Baylor PBRN) is an urban-based network created to evaluate the effectiveness of primary care services delivered to ethnically and socioeconomically diverse populations in Houston, TX.

Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH.
Principal Investigator: Kurt C. Stange, M.D., Ph.D.
Project Number: HS11176
Summary: The Research Association of Practicing Physicians (RAPP) is a network of 116 practices across northeast Ohio, focused in its research efforts on the structures, processes, and outcomes of primary care practice.

Organization: Children's Memorial Hospital, Chicago, IL.
Principal Investigator: Katherine Christoffel, M.D., M.P.H.
Project Number: HS11248
Summary: The Pediatric Practice Research Group (PBRN) is a 16-year-old Chicago-area network that conducts studies into the primary care of children.

Organization: Children's Hospital Center, Cincinnati, OH.
Principal Investigator: Michele Kiely, Ph.D.
Project Number: HS11206
Summary: The Cincinnati Pediatric Research Group (CPRG) was established in 1996 and studies a geographically and socioeconomically diverse pediatric population served by an array of health care facilities.

Organization: Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, NH.
Principal Investigator: John H. Wasson, M.D.
Project Number: HS11172
Summary: The Dartmouth/Northern New England Primary Care Cooperative Research Network (COOP) is the oldest primary care practice-based research network in the country, composed chiefly of independent primary care clinicians residing in New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont.

Organization: Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN.
Principal Investigator: William M. Tierney, M.D.
Project Number: HS11226
Summary: Wishard Health Services and the Indianapolis University School of Medicine's primary care practices have collaborated on ResNet, a research network that conducts studies relating to medical informatics and the translation of research into clinical practice.

Organization: Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI.
Principal Investigator: Henry C. Barry, M.D.
Project Number: HS11215
Summary: The Great Lakes Research Into Practice Network (GRIN) is a new and large network created through the merger of three established primary care PBRNs in the State of Michigan.

Organization: Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA.
Principal Investigator: George S. Rust, M.D., M.P.H.
Project Number: HS11217
Summary: The Southeast Regional Clinicians' Network (SERCN) is composed of health care professionals working in 142 federally funded community health centers across eight Southern States.

Organization: Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY.
Principal Investigator: Albert L. Siu, M.D., M.P.H.
Project Number: HS11198
Summary: The Mount Sinai Primary Care Practice-Based Research Network (MSPBRN) will combine the resources of academic department practices with community health centers serving the East Harlem and Central Harlem areas of New York City.

Organization: University of California, San Diego, CA.
Principal Investigator: Theodore G. Ganiats, M.D.
Project Number: HS11223
Summary: The San Diego Unified Family Medicine Research Network (SURF*NET) is an emerging network that focuses its research efforts on the primary care of underserved populations in southern California.

Organization: University of California, San Francisco, CA.
Principal Investigator: Mary S. Croughan-Minihane, Ph.D.
Project Number: HS11204
Summary: The Collaborative Research Network (CRN), established in 1984 by the UCSF Department of Family and Community Medicine, will merge with the Community Health Network and Community Clinic Consortium of San Francisco to improve its access to a large underserved urban patient population.

Organization: University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, CO.
Principal Investigator: Wilson D. Pace, M.D.
Project Number: HS11228
Summary: The Colorado Research Network (CaReNet) is focusing on health issues affecting the underinsured and Hispanic populations.

Organization: University of Kansas, Wichita, KS.
Principal Investigator: Ken Kallail, Ph.D.
Project Number: HS11201
Summary: The Kansas Rural Practice Research Network (KRPRN) is a new collaboration of the University of Kansas School of Medicine, the Great Plains Health Alliance, the Kansas Academy of Family Physicians, and the Kansas chapter of the American College of Physicians. The network will include practices located in medically underserved, rural communities of fewer than 3,000 people throughout Kansas.

Organization: University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, OK.
Principal Investigator: James W. Mold, M.D., M.P.H.
Project Number: HS11197
Summary: The Oklahoma Physicians Resource/Research Network (OKPRN) is a 6-year-old network of family physicians affiliated with the Oklahoma Academy of Family Physicians. The network is focused on establishing a collaborative relationship with the Oklahoma Native American Prevention Research Center.

Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM.
Principal Investigator: Robert L. Williams, M.D., M.P.H.
Project Number: HS11229
Summary: The New Mexico Practice Based Resource and Research Network (NMPBRRN) is an emerging collaborative comprised of clinicians from community health centers, U.S. Indian Health Service (IHS) sites, tribal health care facilities, and academic primary care sites. It was established for the purpose of studying the problems of racial and ethnic health disparities. The planning grant for this project is funded in part by the U.S. Indian Health Service.

Organization: Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA.
Principal Investigator: Steven H. Woolf, M.D., M.P.H.
Project Number: HS11213
Summary: The Virginia Ambulatory Care Outcomes Research Network (ACORN) is a developing organization of primary care practices in Virginia that collects longitudinal data on the health status of primary care patients.

Organization: Yale University School of Nursing, New Haven, CT.
Principal Investigator: Margaret Grey, Ph.D., M.S.N.
Project Number: HS11196
Summary: The Advanced Practice Registered Nurses' Research Network (APRNet) is composed of primary care Advanced Practice Nurses (APRNs) who provide care to underserved populations across Southern New England.

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Current as of May 2006


Internet Citation:

2000 AHRQ Practice-Based Research Network (PBRN) Planning Grants. May 2006. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/research/pbrn/pbrn2000.htm


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