Project Summary:
Therapeutic and preventive care for chronic diseases and conditions such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease have rapidly advanced. Unfortunately, translation of those advances into real-life practice continues to lag substantially behind, particularly for non-White and lower-income patients. Treatments are provided inadequately and unevenly, so that nationally, only 68% of white and 51% of Black patients with myocardial infarction have their cholesterol effectively treated. The impact of this translational gap upon outcomes in Wisconsin is enormous. For example, despite randomized trial evidence that many cases of diabetes can be prevented with diet and exercise, the number of patients with diabetes in Wisconsin more than doubled in the past fifteen years. Patient-centered research addressing the specific aims of this project is critical to narrow the translational gap between what is known to improve outcomes and behavioral health actions of patients.
Using novel approaches to assess and measure patient-centered dimensions, researchers affiliated with the Patient –Centered Outcomes Research Program (PCORP) will examine how the best practices in prevention and chronic care should be delivered to promote behavioral health and ameliorate disparities in adoption, particularly for the populations in southeast Wisconsin. This program will provide support to investigators committed to research on patient-centered outcomes, especially faculty from PCOR, Veteran’s Administration Medical Center (VAMC), the Institute for Health and Society (IHS), the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) affiliates, and the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin’s Center for Clinical Effectiveness Research. Faculty that will be affiliated with the PCORP will also commit to attending and presenting their work at the seminars, as well as be expected to mentor junior faculty, as appropriate. Two recruits, one Froedtert Hospital (FH)-based and one VAMC-based, will also share in the resources made available by this innovative program.