Professor Janet Freburger from the the Department of Physical Therapy will serve as the principal investigator of the Research Data and Analysis Core (RDAC) of the LeaHD Center.
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute have partnered in awarding a five-year, $5 million grant to create the Learning Health systems training to improve Disability and chronic condition care (LeaHD) Center. The LeaHD Center is a collaborative effort of the Brown University School of Public Health, the University of Pittsburgh School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences and Boston University School of Public Health, together with nine health system and health organization partners including University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC).
LeaHD’s mission is to improve the health-related quality of life of persons with disability and chronic conditions by addressing inequities in access to and quality of rehabilitation and long-term services and supports (LTSS) for persons with disability and chronic conditions. The center will achieve its mission by training a new generation of scientists in learning health systems (LHS) research methods to address these issues.
Janet Freburger, professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at the University of Pittsburgh, will serve as the principal investigator of the Research Data and Analysis Core (RDAC) of the LeaHD Center. Other University of Pittsburgh faculty include Christine McDonough, assistant professor in the Department of Physical Therapy, who will serve as co-investigator of the RDAC, and Elizabeth Skidmore, professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy, who will serve as co-investigator of the Research and Education Core of LeaHD. LeaHD’s principal investigator is Linda Resnik, professor of health services, policy and practice at Brown’s School of Public Health. Other LeaHD faculty include Professors Theresa Shireman and Rosa Baier from Brown University and Professor Mary Slavin from Boston University.
“Addressing inequities in healthcare for individuals with disability and chronic conditions is extremely relevant and timely in the current environment,” says Freburger. “Approximately 25% of American adults live with a disability, 50% live with a chronic condition and almost one-third have multiple chronic conditions. Evidence also indicates that chronic conditions and disability disproportionately affect older individuals, individuals of lower socioeconomic status and some racial and ethnic minorities. In addition, individuals with disability and chronic conditions face barriers to receiving rehabilitation care with evidence of racial, socioeconomic and geographic disparities in the quantity and quality of care.”
Freburger notes that an LHS approach will provide opportunities for more timely, novel and innovative solutions by embedding research, evidence and best practices into care delivery. She says, “We are excited about LeaHD’s partnerships with nine health systems: American Health Care Association/National Association of Assisted Living, Boston Medical Center, Cleveland Clinic, InnovAge, Intermountain Healthcare, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Lifespan, Spaulding and University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). These institutions will provide ’real-world’ laboratories for LeaHD’s LHS scientists.”
Working closely with these institutions, LeaHD scientists will identify and develop important questions focused on rehabilitation and LTSS for persons with disability and chronic conditions and will conduct LHS research to address these questions. The research will be supported through mentorship and methodologic and operational support offered by the center. LeaHD will also provide scientists with mentored training in LHS research through didactic and experiential learning.