Projects
Current Projects
Primary Care-Practice Based Research Network (PBRN) – This is a master task order contract that brings together five North Carolina-based PBRNs, three based at UNC-CH, one based at Duke University, and one based at Carolinas HealthCare System. Although no core funds are allocated, it places UNC on a “short list” for contract work from AHRQ over the next 3-5 years, and multiple research projects will result.
Principal Investigator: Philip D. Sloane, M.D., M.P.H.
Funding Source: Agency for HealthCare Policy and Research (AHRQ)
Total Project Period: 01/29/07 – 9/1/10
Documentation of the Activities and Contributions of the NC Medical Society’s Community Practitioner Program (CPP): The First 17 Years (1989-2006) – The primary focus of the CPP is to help medical practices in physician shortage areas of North Carolina recruit and retain physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners, using loan repayment incentives to attract practitioners. This project will link administrative data from the program with data from secondary sources (e.g., medical licensure files, U.S. Census) to provide in-depth descriptions of the practitioners who have participated in the program, including their backgrounds, disciplines, and careers prior to and after participating. The report will also describe the practices, towns and counties where participants have served, and the patient populations for whom they provided care.
Co-Principal Investigators: Donald E. Pathman, M.D., M.P.H.
Funding Source: North Carolina Medical Society Foundation
Total Project Period: 04/07 – 2/10
Initiative to Identify and Eliminate Racial Ethnic Disparities within UNC Health Care – Disparities in the health and health care of racial and ethnic minorities in the U.S. are well recognized and their causes are known to be many, but there are few tested models for reducing disparities, particularly for patients within a particular practice organization. This project aims to 1) use analyses of a wide variety of available health care system data to identify differences in access to care, use of health care services and care experiences for African American, Hispanic and non-Hispanic white patients of UNC Health Care; 2) use analysis of health system data and the methods of continuous quality improvement (CQI) to help clinical departments identify the causes for identified racial-ethnic disparities in care and design, implement and monitor interventions to reduce the disparities; and 3) to formally evaluate the usefulness of these approaches in identifying and reducing racial-ethnic disparities in care within UNC Health Care and to broadly disseminate the findings.
Co-Principal Investigators: Donald E. Pathman, M.D., M.P.H.
Funding Source: UNC School of Medicine, Investments in the Future
Total Project Period: 07/07 – 06/10
American College of Surgeons (ACS) Institute for Health Policy Research – The Institute is a consortium of the American College of Surgeons and the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research. It will provide expert advice, data analysis, and original research to the ACS. The goal of this project is to create a data driven, knowledge based, scholarly assessment of the role of surgery and surgical services in the evolving health care environment. A data system will be developed that regularly collects, analyzes and reports on the state of the surgical profession and the surgical workforce in the United States and, where appropriate, other nations. Annually, the Institute will summarize and report on trends in the profession and practice of surgery and the surgical workforce at the international, national, state, and regional levels.
Director: George Sheldon, M.D., F.A.C.S.
Administrative Director: Thomas C. Ricketts, III, M.P.H., Ph.D.
Funding Source: American College of Surgeons
Total Project Period: 03/08– 12/10
Southern Tick Associated Rash Illness (STARI) – Lyme disease is a chronic infectious disease caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi and transmitted to humans by the bite of the infected Ixodes sp. tick. Typical symptoms include fever, headache, fatigue, and, in its preliminary phase, a characteristic skin rash called erythema migrans (EM). During the past decade or so, a series of research reports have uncovered the fact that a second syndrome exists, consisting of a rash that mimics EM and that is readily confused with early Lyme disease. This syndrome, STARI, occurs in the southern United States, is associated with negative cultures and serologies for Borrelia burgdorferi, and is generally seen after the bite of a different tick, Amblyomma americanum, or the “lone star” tick. Little is known about the distribution or clinical course of STARI, and its cause remains unknown. The purpose of this project is to obtain biological specimens (skin biopsies and serological samples) from patients meeting the diagnostic criteria for STARI, so that scientists at CDC can conduct studies to help determine the etiology of the syndrome . [This is the second North Carolina Network (NCN) Consortium project.]
Principal Investigator: Philip D. Sloane, M.D., M.P.H.
Funding Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Total Project Period: 03/11/08 – 09/30/09
NC Medical Society CPP Evaluation – This project is an extension of a collaboration between leaders of the NC Medical Society Foundation’s Community Practitioner Program (CPP) and investigators at the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research which is gathering, analyzing and reporting program and outcome data on the CPP. The principle initiative of the CPP is to help medical practices in physician shortage areas of North Carolina recruit and retain physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners. The CPP has principally used loan repayment incentives to attract practitioners. New types of program assistance are now being developed. In this collaboration, investigators at the Sheps Center will continue (a) analyzing data from the CPP’s past, (b) assisting program leaders in updating the data elements and data collection approaches used to monitor and assess program activities, (c) assisting program leaders in designing the content and analytic approaches needed for regular reports to document program progress for the program’s leaders, advisory boards and funding agencies, (d) providing periodic special reports addressing specific aspects of the program’s operations, (e) providing maps to highlight the program’s activities, and (f) assisting program leaders as they choose a new data management system.
Principal Investigator: Donald Pathman, MD, MPH
Funding Source: NC Medical Society
Total Project Period: 4/1/08 -12/31/10
North Carolina Health Professions Data System more info... – One of the most comprehensive and few continuously maintained state-level data systems available to track the supply and distribution of health professionals in the nation, this up-to-date inventory of all licensed health professionals in the State has been used continuously for the past 29 years for planning and evaluation of health professions distribution. Each year, the Sheps Center has produced an annual publication entitled A Special Report on Health Care Resources in North Carolina: North Carolina Health Professions Data Book. In recent years a companion publication, Health Professions Supply by County Pocket Guide, has been released in tandem with the annual databook. These publications are widely used by state policymakers, researchers, media, and professionals in the health care industry as the official source of health professions statistics in North Carolina.
Project Director: Erin P. Fraher, M.P.P.
Funding Source: NC Area Health Education Centers Program and UNC-CH Office of the Provost (Health Affairs)
Total Program Period: 10/74 – on-going
Recently Completed Project
Improving the Integration of Evidenced-Based Clinical and Community Services to Support Healthy Behaviors – This is a randomized trial within a primary care practice-based research network (PBRN) evaluating two different interventions compared to usual practice to improve linkages with community resources addressing tobacco use, unhealthy diets, and physical inactivity. The first intervention uses an evidence-based quality improvement learning collaborative and the second uses a more informal practice strategy in which practices will receive written material (brochures, fax referral forms, and “information” prescription pads) to facilitate referral to community resources that address the selected unhealthy behaviors. Quantitative and qualitative analyses will be used to understand the impact of the interventions at the practice, provider, patient, and community resource level. The main outcome measure is the probability that a patient with an unhealthy behavior is referred to a community resource. [This is the first Primary Care-Practice Based Research Network (PBRN) project.]
Principal Investigator: Philip D. Sloane, M.D., M.P.H.
Funding Source: Agency for HealthCare Policy and Research (AHRQ)
Total Project Period: 08/07 – 2/09
Supplemental Proposal to the North Carolina Community College System to Analyze Measures of Associate Degree Nursing Program Success for Wake Technical and Wayne Community Colleges –
Additional analyses for the Study of Associate Degree Nursing Program Success are necessary because the sample of students analyzed in the original project excluded Wake Tech and Wayne Community Colleges. We will incorporate data which have recently become available for Wake Tech and Wayne Community Colleges and re-run select analyses from the original report. These data will be used to calculate graduation rates and calculate risk adjusted graduation rates for the two programs. Data from the North Carolina Board of Nursing will also be used to determine NCLEX pass rates and workforce retention rates for these two programs. The final product will be an addendum to the original report.
Principal Investigator: Erin P. Fraher, MPP, PhD
Primary Funding Source: North Carolina Community College System
Total Project Period: 9/22/08-11/22/08
Understanding the Direct and Indirect Costs of Quality Measurement Data Collection and Reporting in Primary Care Practice –. The purpose of this study is to estimate both direct and indirect costs incurred by primary care practices related to being required to collect and report quality performance measurement data. A diverse sample of eight practices will participate in the study. Direct and indirect costs of the following scenarios will be estimated: 1) total costs absorbed by practices who are reporting 1-2 measures; 2) costs involved with reporting a small group of measures (2-8 measures); and 3) costs of reporting 2-8 (or more) measures to several different stakeholders. Cost estimates will be generated for practices that use Health Information Technologies (HIT, e.g. electronic health records, registries) and for those that do not. In addition, the project seeks to determine: 1) what factors influence primary care practices to collect and report quality measures; 2) the actual strategies used by practices to implement and maintain reporting, and to improve the cost-efficiency of this reporting; and 3) the justification of these costs. [This is the second Primary Care-Practice Based Research Network (PBRN) project.]
Principal Investigator: Philip D. Sloane, M.D., M.P.H.
Funding Source: Agency for HealthCare Policy and Research (AHRQ)
Total Project Period: 09/07 – 10/08
Analysis of Confidential Data Describing Licensees of the North Carolina Medical Board – This project provides assistance to the NC Medical Board in examining their physician licensee records to improve their ability to monitor quality of care.
Principal Investigator: Thomas C. Ricketts, III, M.P.H., Ph.D.
Funding Source: North Carolina Medical Board
Total Project Period: 09/06 – 07/08
AStudy of Associate Degree Nursing Program Success – This project investigates the factors that are associated with "successful" Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) programs in the North Carolina Community College System (NCCCS). Program success will be evaluated along three dimensions: 1) What factors are associated with the probability that a student will complete the program on-time? 2) What factors are associated with the probability that a student who has graduated from an ADN nursing program passes NCLEX as a first-time test taker? and 3) What factors are associated with the probability that after a student completes an ADN program and passes the NCLEX that s/he remains in NC to practice nursing or goes on to enroll in an RN to BSN within the UNC system?
Project Director: Erin P. Fraher, M.P.P.
Funding Source: North Carolina Community College System
Total Program Period: 01/08 – 06/08
North Carolina Center for Health Workforce Studies – The Sheps Center has had a continuous research focus on the supply and distribution of health care professionals in North Carolina from the time of its founding in 1968. In 2007, a separately identified Center for Health Workforce Studies was created to bring together many of the distributed elements of health workforce research in the Sheps Center and across the University. The Center includes the work of the North Carolina Health Professions Data System (described above). The goals of the Center are to 1) monitor trends in health professional supply and distribution; 2) provide policy makers with timely, objective and data-driven analyses to inform policy debates; and 3) identify emerging issues in the supply of unlicensed health professionals that are important to health care delivery as well as the health of the state's economy. The Center produces peer-reviewed papers, policy briefs, white papers and presentations that are disseminated to state and national policy makers. It also provides technical assistance to states wanting to conduct their own health workforce analyses.
Center Director: Erin P. Fraher, M.P.P.
Funding Source: Permanent funding being sought, start-up funds are an internal use of UNC State appropriation
Total Project Period: 07/06 – 06/08
Analysis of Workforce Needs of North Carolina Hospitals – This is an in-depth analysis of workforce data collected through the Advocacy Needs Data Initiative (ANDI) survey. Annual health workforce data collected through the ANDI data system represent a unique and valuable resource on hospital staffing issues and will provide the North Carolina Hospital Association, member hospitals, and state policy makers with much needed information on the challenges facing the hospital sector in recruiting and retaining health professionals.
Project Director: Erin P. Fraher, M.P.P.
Funding Source: North Carolina Hospital Association
Total Program Period: 10/07 – 03/08
