PBRNS DISCUSS UTILIZING BIG DATA FOR RESEARCH AND WITHIN A LEARNING HEALTH SYSTEM

Lyle J. Fagnan; Rowena J. Dolor

doi:10.1370/afm.1774

The 2014 NAPCRG Practice-based Research Network Conference had record-breaking attendance, with 218 attendees representing multiple disciplines, including physicians, researchers, pharmacists, dentists, chiropractors, social workers, registered nurses, dentists, and dieticians. Participants at the June 30–July 1, 2014, meeting in Bethesda, Maryland heard from both US and Canadian researchers. The theme of the meeting was “big data” with 3 plenary talks—“The Promise of Big Data,” “Pitfalls and Realities of Working with Big Data,” and “Advice for How PBRNs Can Use Big Data for Creating a Learning Health System.” These plenaries focused on the aggregation of various datasets (eg, clinical, pharmacy, claims, patient surveys) to address questions about clinical care, patient-centered research, and population health. Audio recordings of these 3 presentations are available on the NAPCRG website, http://www.napcrg.org.

New awards were given to the top oral presentations and posters from the 67 that were presented. The Best of Innovations in PBRN Methodology Oral Presentation went to Lyndee Knox and Vanessa Nguyen for their presentation, “Using a Tablet and Smart-Phone Based Survey and Health Education System to Collect Information from Low Literacy and Non-English Speaking Patients and Create the Wait Room of the Future: Research and Clinical Applications for PBRNs.” The winner for the Best of Research & Scientific Oral Presentation was awarded to the session, “Findings From the Demonstration of the Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit,” presented by Natabhona M. Mabachi and colleagues. The winning poster for Best of Innovations in PBRN Methodology went to Jonathan Tobin and colleagues for, “PBRN Networks Conduct the Full Spectrum of Translational Research Studies of CA-MRSA Treatment and Recurrence in Community Health Centers.” The Best of Research & Scientific poster award went to the Wisconsin Research and Education Network (WREN) for, “Back to the Future, With a Twist: Utilizing a PBRN for Real-Time Influenza Surveillance.”

Participants presented workshops, forums, and panel discussions that covered a variety of PBRN infrastructure and methodology topics, including:

The Ends are Determined by the Means: An International Perspective on PBRN Structure
Identifying Core Competencies for Primary Care Practice Facilitators
Community/Academic Research Partnerships: A Workplan Approach
PBRN Organization and Governance to Promote Practice, Clinician, Researcher, and Patient Engagement
Scoring Projects to Plan Resources and Recover Costs (SPPRC) for PBRN Research
Describing the Intersection Between Evaluation Research and Quality Improvement
Advancing Primary Care Research and Practice through Improved Measurement
Hybrids, Chimeras, or New Species? Emerging Models of PBRNs
Overview of the PBRN Research Good Practices Toolkit
Methods of Evaluating Practice Transformation
Powering Up: Lessons Learned from Project Collaborations Across Multiple PBRN Networks

Session summaries are available in the post-conference newsletter.

At the meeting, the PBRN community celebrated its 15-year anniversary of working with the Association for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), as it has grown from about a dozen PBRNs in 1999 to more than 123 registered US Primary Care PBRNs. A highlight of the meeting was presenting the Pioneer in PBRN Research Award to James Mold, MD, MPH. Dr Mold was acknowledged for his deep respect and admiration for primary care physicians and his recognition that without the dedication and scientific orientation of practicing clinicians, our PBRN world would not be possible. Notable accomplishments include the promotion of employing Practice Enhancement Assistants who assist clinics with best practices research to explore questions that are pertinent to real-world practices and learn from exemplars in clinical care.

The evaluations reflected the value of networking and hearing from other PBRNs. Join us for the 2015 NAPCRG PBRN Conference at the Hyatt Bethesda, (Maryland) on June 29–30, 2015. The theme of this year’s conference is Engagement. The call for submissions is now open.