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MacColl Institute Study Examples

Study Examples | Key Publications | Intro

The Institute's projects include the following:

• Improving Chronic Illness Care (ICIC)
• The Cancer Research Network
• Delivering Effective Primary Care to Older Adults

Improving Chronic Illness Care (ICIC)

• Principal Investigator: Edward H. Wagner, MD, MPH

This nationwide project helps improve the health and lives of the more than 100 million Americans who have diabetes, depression, and other chronic conditions. With the Chronic Care Model at its core, Improving Chronic Illness Care (ICIC) helps large numbers of health systems provide better care, which can lower overall health care costs. ICIC aims to transform what is now a reactive health care system into one that keeps its patients as healthy as possible through planning, proven strategies, and management. ICIC is funded by a $25 million grant from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

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The Cancer Research Network

• Principal Investigator: Edward H. Wagner, MD, MPH

Group Health Cooperative is the lead site for the Cancer Research Network (CRN), a consortium of 12 health care provider organizations that are oriented to community care and have access to large, stable, and diverse patient populations. The CRN makes good use of existing integrated databases that can provide patient-level information relevant to research studies on the effectiveness of cancer control interventions. It is also studying patient-, provider-, and organization-level factors that affect the quality and delivery of cancer care among the nine million people enrolled in the member organizations. The CRN is designed to facilitate research in cancer epidemiology, prevention, early detection, and control in the context of health care delivery systems. Group Health Center for Health Studies (CHS) investigators provide administrative and scientific leadership for a variety of investigations supported by $42 million from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) over eight years.

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Delivering Effective Primary Care to Older Adults

• Principal Investigator: Edward H. Wagner, MD, MPH
• Co-Principal Investigator: Elizabeth A. Phelan, MD, MS, Harborview Medical Center; University of Washington Department of Medicine, Division of Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine

MacColl Institute researchers are developing and testing a new model for improving care for older adults in primary-care settings. The model calls for a Senior Resource Team—a geriatrician, nurse practitioner, and pharmacist specializing in geriatric issues. The team works with several primary-care practices, ensuring that Group Health patients aged 75 and older get the treatments they need. Together, they are assessing senior patients for disability risk factors, geriatric syndromes, and chronic disease, ensuring that identified problems are properly managed. The investigators will then compare health outcomes of patients who receive care in this model with a control group receiving usual primary care. They will test whether the new model results in a higher quality of life and less health care use. The John A. Hartford Foundation is funding this project for $1.5 million over four years.

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Study Examples | Key Publications | Intro