News from the CRN PI
Great to see so many of you in Dearborn at the HMO Research Network Conference.
The CRN session at this year's conference highlighted the challenges and benefits of
multi-site collaboration. Ann Geiger and Diana Buist anchored a lively panel describing
the trade-offs inherent in centralizing (or decentralizing) data collection and aggregation.
We have come to the conclusion that control and
collaboration are not incompatible. Thanks to all who
participated.
The Steering Committee discussed CRN's future. We
must increase our publication productivity. The existing
13 manuscripts are terrific contributions, but we will be
carefully scrutinized on this measure by reviewers, and
more is better. We also need to demonstrate that the
CRN is a national cancer resource beyond the research
programs of our 11 health systems. However, we need
to strike the appropriate balance between meeting the
needs of our investigators and health plans, and the desire to broaden the availability
of our data resources.
To guide us toward the next renewal, the Steering Committee agreed that a Strategic
Planning Subcommittee should be convened to develop a blueprint for action. We'll
report on this in greater detail in upcoming issues. As always, we welcome your
candid input. Thanks!