PCHA-UHA Research and Learning Collaborative Awards

The Stanford Maternal and Child Health Research Institute (MCHRI) partners with the Packard Children’s Health Alliance (PCHA)-University HealthCare Alliance (UHA) Research & Learning Collaborative (RLC) and the Stanford Community Medical Groups Research Consortium to invite proposals for research related to maternal and child health focused on improving health outcomes through community-based research. 

Proposals must be practice-based in the areas of clinical trials, health services research, epidemiology, or quality improvement. Proposals that are population-based or that incorporate a life-course perspective are recommended but not required. 

2018 Awardees

Implementation and Feasibility of Project ECHO® for Type 1 Diabetes (ECHO T1D) for Stanford Community Providers
Topic: Diabetes Management
SoM Principal Investigators: Nicolas Cuttriss, MD, MPH, FAAP
UHA and PCHA Co-Collaborators: Suruchi Bhatia, MD and Anand Mehta, MD

Project Summary:  We will conduct a pilot and feasibility study for implementation of a provider-level intervention that builds off the Project ECHO® (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) model to improve care access for underserved adult and pediatric communities with Type 1 diabetes (T1D) within the Stanford Health Care catchment area. The end goal will be to implement a Project ECHO model by Stanford University where primary care physicians (PCPs) delivering care to patients with T1D in targeted catchment settings will receive: (1) hub-to-provider education through tele-education and virtual trainings, (2) real-time provider assistance with challenging medical decision making issues and healthcare navigation through the support of diabetes professionals, (3) a diabetes care liaison (T1D health coach) assigned to their clinic who provides on-site support and helps bridge providers to hubs, and (4) opportunities to enroll their patients in research projects and initiatives at Stanford University. The desired short and long-term outcomes of this initiative will be to (1) demonstrate feasibility of Project ECHO model for T1D, (2) increase the capacity of primary care providers and clinics to empower and safely and effectively manage underserved patients with T1D who do not receive routine specialty care, (3) identify and target underserved patients with T1D, (4) demonstrate feasibility of a Project ECHO model within Stanford that engages PCHA-UHA community physician networks, and (5) create an infrastructure to scale Project ECHO for T1D at Stanford and create opportunity for additional launches and adaptations of Project ECHO out of Stanford that will amplify best practice care, education and research.

Preparing to PrEP: An EHR Support System and Virtual Clinic Delivering Specialized Primary Care to Support HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) for Adolescents and Young Adults
Topic: HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP)
SoM Principal Investigators: Megen Vo, MD
PCHA Co-Collaborators: Geoffrey Hart-Cooper, MD

Project Summary: Nationally, about 20% of new HIV diagnoses are among youth. Vulnerable populations such as young men who have sex with men, and racial and ethnic minorities are disproportionately affected. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a daily pill taken to reduce the risk of HIV acquisition by over 90%, and was recently FDA approved for youth. Given its recent approval, many providers caring for adolescents and young adults (AYA) are not aware of PrEP’s role in HIV prevention – or how to initiate and monitor PrEP. Providing a map to prescribing and managing PrEP, as well as specialty support as needed, are integral to incorporating PrEP into primary care providers’ practices. 

Preparing to PrEP is a quality improvement project to support provider provision of PrEP through a three part intervention: 1) Epic support system with decision support tools, standardized order sets and workflows, 2) Provider education and 3) PrEP Virtual Clinic available for patients of providers who do not feel comfortable providing PrEP. The PrEP Virtual Clinic can serve as a model to inform provision of other specialized primary care services within Stanford Children’s Health and similar networks.