VUMC Joins Group to Accelerate Implementation of Research Findings to Improve Patient Outcomes

The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) is naming Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) to a select group of health systems nationwide brought together to accelerate the implementation of medical research results that will improve patient outcomes.

It often takes years between publication of research results and the actual widespread and effective use of those results in clinical practice.

As a participant in PCORI’s Health Systems Implementation Initiative (HSII), VUMC will use its expertise in health care delivery to develop and implement strategies to adopt new evidence beneficial to patient care. The team will evaluate practice change efforts, including what strategies work best in different contexts and their impact on patient care.

“As a national leader in clinical research, Vanderbilt University Medical Center is pleased to join this elite group of health systems. The time between important research discoveries that advance the delivery of care and their broad adoption into clinical settings can mean life and death. This work will be of great value to patients here and across the nation,” said C. Wright Pinson, MBA, MD, Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Health System Officer for VUMC. 

VUMC’s application is co-led by Sunil Kripalani, MD, MSc, professor of Medicine and director of the Center for Health Services Research and the Center for Clinical Quality and Implementation Research within the Vanderbilt Institute for Medicine and Public Health, and Jenny Slayton, DNP, RN, Senior Vice President for Quality, Safety, and Risk Prevention.

“We are honored to be selected for this exciting national initiative, which will enhance our organizationwide activities as a Learning Health System,” Kripalani said.

The initiative brings together research and operational leadership across VUMC’s adult and pediatric enterprise, including all seven Vanderbilt hospitals, ambulatory care clinics, and Vanderbilt Health Services, as well as additional sites through the Vanderbilt Health Affiliated Network and Veterans Affairs Tennessee Valley Healthcare System.

“We would like to thank the Vanderbilt Health System leaders for their support and engagement throughout the application process,” Slayton said. “We are excited to embark on this national initiative to drive quality and improve outcomes for our patients and families.”

HSII participating health systems can receive up to $500,000 for capacity building in the first stage, to prepare for future implementation projects. Additional HSII funding opportunities will support practical and innovative projects that promote uptake of evidence from PCORI-funded research studies within the health systems, with funds ranging from $500,000 to $5 million per implementation project.

VUMC and 41 other health systems will use the HSII Learning Network to share best practices for implementation, evaluation metrics and other topics integral to successful implementation of care-informing strategies. Through the network, participants will provide input to PCORI on topics and specific PCORI-funded findings of interest for future implementation projects.

“Participation in the HSII represents an exciting opportunity for VUMC to demonstrate its leadership in developing novel approaches to enhance how we translate research into clinical practice,” said Russell Rothman, MD, MPP, director of the Institute for Medicine and Public Health at VUMC. “Above all, participation in HSII will allow us to further improve clinical care and health outcomes for our patients and families.”

HSII is part of a portfolio of PCORI-funded efforts that aim to improve the awareness, uptake and use of results from patient-centered comparative effectiveness research. PCORI is an independent, nonprofit organization that funds comparative clinical effectiveness research, which provides patients, their caregivers and clinicians with the evidence to make better-informed health and health care decisions.

“We welcome the opportunity to work with VUMC and the other health systems participating in this groundbreaking initiative that will leverage their knowledge and experience to facilitate practice change and improve care based on results of PCORI-funded research,” said PCORI Executive Director Nakela Cook, MD, MPH. “The HSII participants’ efforts will lay the groundwork for future expansion and broader implementation by demonstrating pathways to uptake and sharing lessons learned across health systems.”