Improving Cancer Communication and Coordination

At many points in integrated healthcare systems, patients and healthcare providers engage in communication about cancer prevention and care.  Typically, coordination is also required to support and enable effective cancer communication.  The new Cancer Communication Research Center, a sister center to the CHDIR, has as objectives research about improvement of cancer communication and coordination as well as the sharing of effective interventions with other healthcare systems. 

Funded by the National Cancer Institute.

Contact Person: Sarah Madrid

Improving Depression Care in Minnesota

Project DIAMOND is an intervention test of evidence-based care processes for patients with depression, involving statewide reimbursement and institutional-level changes. 

The CHDIR team is involved in research design, evaluation, assessment of implementation, and dissemination potential. 

Funded by National Institute of Mental Health to Health Partners research organization.

Contact Person: Arne Beck

Testing a New Model for Improving Pediatric Care

The Well Child Care model is a comprehensive redesign for pediatric care developed jointly at Stanford University and Kaiser Permanente Colorado and being tested in Denver Health and Kaiser Permanente Colorado pediatric practices.  The Well Child Care model involves parents and their healthcare team through office visits and group visits, e-visits, pre-visit online surveys and needs identification, and care management for high risk infants. 

A CHDIR team is involved in implementing, assessing, and planning for potential dissemination of this model. 

Funded by the Commonwealth Fund.

Contact Person: Alanna Rahm.

Readiness and Capacity of Diffusion Systems for Public Health Innovations.

Many times, evidence-based innovations do not reach the people who most need them. This $1.7 million project is a new collaboration with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to improve decision making about the awarding of grants and contracts that have a goal of diffusing evidence-based practices, programs, and technologies. Our team, based at the CHDIR and including researchers at 10 universities such as SUNY Stony Brook, Northwestern, and UCLA, will develop and field test web-based decision support tools to improve funding agency decisions and strengthen the capacity of organizational and community partners. This intensive project will fill several analytic and applied gaps in the diffusion of innovations and public health literatures while producing freely available public domain decision support tools. Data-collection will occur in the United States, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and India.

Contact Person: James Dearing.