Evidence-based Practice Center
Profile
The Southern California Evidence-based Practice Center will conduct systematic reviews and technology assessments of all
aspects of health care, perform research on improving the methods of
synthesizing the scientific evidence and developing evidence reports
and technology assessments, and provide technical assistance to other
organizations in their efforts to translate evidence reports and
technology assessments into guidelines, performance measures, and
other quality-improvement tools.
Capabilities
The Center brings together a breadth and depth of methodological and clinical expertise and can staff multiple simultaneous task orders. The Center is also the natural progression of more than 20 years of work (dating back to 1972 and the beginning of the RAND Health Insurance Experiment) by its affiliated institutions in:
- Reviewing the biomedical literature for evidence of benefits, harms, and costs.
- Using meta-analysis, decision analysis, and cost-effectiveness analysis to synthesize the literature. Developing measures of clinical appropriateness and practice guidelines.
- Developing and assessing medical review criteria.
- Developing and assessing performance measures and other tools for translating evidence-based knowledge into clinical practice.
The hallmark of this work has been:
- Its multi-disciplinary nature: its affiliated institutions combine the talents of clinicians, health services researchers, epidemiologists, statisticians, economists, and advanced methods experts in meta-analysis and decision analysis.
- The advancement of knowledge about the methods for performing literature reviews, synthesizing evidence, and developing practice guidelines or review criteria.
- The emphasis on developing and evaluating products for use in the real world of health care delivery.
Collaboration
The Southern California Evidence-based Practice Center combines the talents its five affiliated regional health care institutions: the University of California, Los Angeles; the
University of California, San Diego; Cedars-Sinai Medical Center; the
University of Southern California; and Value Health Sciences. In
addition, through the VA/RAND/UC Field Program, "Center for the
Study of Health Care Provider Behavior," there will be four collaborating Department of Veterans
Affairs (DVA) facilities: the West Los Angeles
VA Medical Center, Sepulveda VA Medical Center, San Diego VA
Medical Center, and the Technology Assessment Center of the
Management Decision and Research Center. The EPC will also be affiliated with a minority Medical Treatment and Effectiveness Program (MEDTEP) center, five health services research
training programs, and, through the participation of the Director, the
International Cochrane Collaboration.
Additional Information
Access information about the Southern California EPC at:
http://www.rand.org/health/centers/epc/
Or contact:
Paul Shekelle, M.D., Ph.D.
Director, Southern California Evidence-based Practice Center
1700 Main Street
Santa Monica, CA 90407
Phone: (310) 393-0411, ext. 6669
Fax: (310) 451-6917
E-mail: paul_shekelle@rand.org
Internet Citation:
Southern California Evidence-based Practice Center. Profile, October 2007.
Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/epc/socalepc.htm