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People
> Kolodner named interim national health IT coordinator. More
Projects
> $2.49 million grant supports partnership between nursing graduate program and Regenstrief Center. More
Partners
> Regenstrief Center researchers partner with IU center to implement findings. More
Progress
> Nursing and engineering collaboration highlighted at recent symposium. More
> Top executive of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts to speak as part of Regenstrief Center's Pioneer Speaker Series. More
> Save the Date: Regenstrief Center Annual Conference. More
Publicity
> Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation forms $1 million alliance with Regenstrief Center. More
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Kolodner named interim national health IT coordinator
The chief health informatics officer at the Department of Veterans Affairs has assumed the position of interim national coordinator of health information technology at the Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Robert Kolodner, a longtime employee of the Veterans Health Administration, led the development of the VA’s electronic medical records (EMRs) system. He moved to his new post on Sept. 18, replacing David Brailer, who resigned in May.
The Regenstrief Center was pleased to include Dr. Kolodner, a Harvard- and Yale-educated physician as a panelist on avian flu response at the Regenstrief Center’s 2006 Annual Conference. View presentation.
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$2.49 million grant supports partnership between nursing graduate program and Regenstrief Center
In September 2006, Julie Novak and the Purdue School of Nursing were awarded $2.49 million from the Helene Fuld Health Trust to support the school’s new Doctorate of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree program and related projects. The grant will be a multi-year strategic partnership with the Purdue University School of Nursing, Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering and other university and healthcare community partners.
The four-year post-baccalaureate DNP program is the first of its kind in the state of Indiana, and one of only 10 offered nationwide, says Novak, professor and head, School of Nursing and associate dean, College of Pharmacy, Nursing and Health Sciences. The post-baccalaureate degree, first offered in fall 2005, centers on knowledge and skill-building in the areas of:
> scholarly practice improvement.
> innovation and testing of care delivery models.
> evaluation of health outcomes.
> health policy.
> leadership in healthcare delivery and quality improvement.
> clinical expertise for advanced nursing education.
Students team with the Regenstrief Center and other academic disciplines on research projects that intersect advanced practice nursing, patient safety, rural healthcare delivery, health informatics, healthcare facilities of the future, the flow of resources in healthcare networks, the healthcare supply chain and chronic disease management.
| DNP students who also serve as Nursing faculty.
Back L-R: Kathy Rapala, Beth Lana, Mel Braswell, Cindy Modlin-Adams, Kit Shafer, Kay Webster, Mike Criswell.
Front L-R: Polly Royal, Ruth Ann Smolen, Jennifer Sundell |
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Twenty-six new DNP students joined the program in fall 2006, a four-fold increase from the first class in fall 2005. “Our goal is to equip a new generation of nursing leaders to enact truly transformational change in health policy, delivery systems and patient care,” says Novak. Current students have up to 30 years of nursing experience and represent a wide range of interest areas, including home health, administration, public health, pediatrics, risk management, homeland security, psychiatry, and veterans’ health.
“Programs like the Doctorate of Nursing Practice are important in preparing advanced practice nurses to address the complexities of clinical practice in our current healthcare environment,” says Deb Koester, current DNP student with more than 20 years of nursing experience in cardiology, women’s health/obstetrics and clinical research. “The leadership and mentoring of Purdue nursing faculty have been invaluable, as have the collaborative research opportunities through the Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering.”
To learn more about the Doctorate of Nursing Practice program at Purdue, visit http://www.nursing.purdue.edu/academics/graduate/dnp/.
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Regenstrief Center researchers partner with IU center to implement findings
Specializing in research implementation, the Indiana University Center for Health Services and Outcomes Research (CHSOR) in Indianapolis provides Regenstrief Center researchers a crucial venue for implementing and evaluating healthcare research findings in clinical settings. CHSOR was established in 2003 and is nested within the IU School of Medicine and the Regenstrief Institute. Its counterpart research hub is the Center for Implementing Evidence-Based Practice, a national Center of Excellence for the VA Health Services Research and Development Service.
The Regenstrief Center regularly collaborates with CHSOR on research projects and grant proposals, and are both part of the Indiana ACTION Center, one of 15 centers in the nation recognized by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (see July/August newsletter).
“The Regenstrief Center’s partnership with CHSOR is mutually beneficial. Purdue’s expertise in engineering and management complement Indiana University's considerable strengths in clinical research, and vice versa,” says Ken Musselman, strategic collaboration director for the Regenstrief Center. “Working together allows us to implement research findings more rapidly to benefit healthcare providers and patients.”
One recent project aimed to filter pop-up reminders within the electronic medical records used by the Veterans Health Administration. The reminders are intended to alert clinicians of upcoming or overdue medical exams, lifestyle issues that need to be addressed (such as tobacco use or depression), or drug interactions.
“We have developed some elegant ways to support clinicians’ decisions,” says Dr. Brad Doebbling, CHSOR director and investigator. “But there are too many alerts and reminders, and they are not prioritized for the individual patient.”
Regenstrief Center researchers, including Yuehwern Yih and Mark Lehto, are working with CHSOR investigators to create a filter model that cull reminders that do not apply to a certain patient. This model will not only decrease undesired, useless and irrelevant reminders, but it also will decrease the workload for healthcare providers while improving overall information quality, eventually improving quality of care.
Source: Clinical reminders become more helpful: New information filter model for decision support, www.indyhealthservicesresearch.org.
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Nursing and engineering collaboration highlighted at recent symposium
Nursing and engineering collaboration highlighted at recent symposium
Ken Musselman, strategic collaboration director for the Regenstrief Center, was a featured speaker at the Purdue University Center for Nursing History, Ethics, Human Rights and Innovation’s fourth annual fall symposium on Sept. 8. Musselman discussed the importance of collaboration among nurses and engineers to address the complex challenges in the current healthcare delivery system.
“System engineers have the ability to mathematically describe the functionality of the system, but they also must remember that the individual patient is the highest priority,” said Musselman. “Nurses bring a vital perspective to understand how the system should work for the best treatment of patients. Through such collaboration, nurses impact the system by caring for individuals, and engineers impact the individual by addressing the system.”
The symposium focused on the historical, ethical and legal dilemmas in the face of disaster. Musselman highlighted a number of recent Regenstrief Center projects related to pandemic flu planning, including a gap analysis of local health departments for the Indiana State Department of Health. Regenstrief Center researcher Mark Lawley also is working on a project with St. Vincent Health in Indianapolis to identify triggers for hospital preparedness states, define hospital strategies and plan staffing levels in the event of a pandemic.
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Top executive at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts to speak as part of Regenstrief Center's Pioneer Speaker Series
Vinod Sahney, BCBSM senior vice president, has been selected as a Regenstrief Center Pioneer Speaker for Fall 2006. Sahney's one-hour talk, titled "Transforming Healthcare: Collaboration between Payers, Providers and Community Leaders" will take place on Wednesday, Nov. 29 at 10:30 a.m. in Burton D. Morgan Center, Room 121. The talk is free and open to the public.
According to Sahney, the U.S. healthcare system is a fragmented set of initiatives with little coordination between payers and providers. A recent Commonwealth Fund report card shows that the performance of U.S. healthcare is near the bottom when compared to other developed countries. Sahney will present three large community initiatives that are based on collaboration between payers, providers and community leaders with measured success and promise for the future.
Sahney spent 25 years at Henry Ford Health Systems in Detroit, Michigan as senior vice president. For the past 28 years, he has been a visiting professor at the Harvard University School of Public Health. He is an elected member of both the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Engineering, and a founding member and chairman of the board of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. Sahney earned his master's degree in mechanical engineering at Purdue University, and his doctorate in industrial engineering and operations research at University of Wisconsin, Madison.
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Save the Date: Regenstrief Center Annual Conference
Advancing the Future of Healthcare Delivery: Access, Quality and Responsibility
April 23-24, 2007
Day One: Discovery Lecture Series featuring Stephen Shortell, Dean of the School of Public Health at University of California, Berkeley.
Shortell is an expert on organized health delivery systems in the United States. He has done extensive research on institutional incentives for improving quality of care and health outcomes, particularly when related to the management of patients with chronic illness.
Day Two: Panels and presentations exploring the future of healthcare delivery, including:
> Advancing solutions for equitable access.
> Expanding models for health consumer education.
> Evaluating new provider models.
Registration will be available in January at www.purdue.edu/rche.
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Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation forms $1 million alliance with Regenstrief Center
The Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation is forming a $1 million partnership with Purdue University's Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering to study how engineering principles can improve the delivery of healthcare.
Purdue President Martin C. Jischke and Dennis Casey, president of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Indiana, announced the partnership between Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation and the Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering at the President's Executive Roundtable Luncheon in indianapolis on Sept. 27.
"Through the Regenstrief Center, Purdue's Discovery Park is bringing the university's core strengths to bear on the public policy issue of health care that ultimately affects every citizen in the nation," Jischke said. "This partnership with the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation will give our researchers at Regenstrief and Discovery Park a window to a global player in the health-benefits industry. We're confident we will be able to provide answers to the grand challenge of minimizing costs, improving service and re-engineering health-care delivery in America."
Casey said this alliance with the Discovery Park center combines the industry strengths of Anthem with the interdisciplinary research strengths of one of the world's leading institutions. "In less than two years, Purdue's Regenstrief Center has established a national reputation for applying engineering principles to give us tangible, workable ideas to improve the nation's complex and comprehensive health-care system."
"We believe this partnership can play a very important role in the development of new strategies that can take existing medical data and organize it in ways that consumers will be able to make more informed decisions about their health care," said Larry C. Glasscock, chairman, president and chief executive officer of WellPoint, which is the parent company of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield.
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