Tuesday, April 1, 2025
4/1/2025
Primary Care HEART-NET (Health Equity through Access and Research in Transformative Networks) in the Deep South - Abstract Deep South states Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi see some of the poorest health outcomes in the nation. Further, health disparities associated with rurality, lower household income, and people of color are seen in higher chronic disease prevalence and poorer lifestyle behaviors. Limited resources in primary care clinics exacerbate these disparities, challenging research efforts. Primary Care HEART-NET (Health Equity through Access and Research in Transformative Networks) aims to establish primary care research infrastructure in the Deep South to improve access to research for underserved populations. HEART-NET unites four institutions (University of Alabama at Birmingham, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, University of Mississippi Medical Center, and University of Alabama) that include two CTSA awardees, two practice-based research networks, an IDeA-CTR awardee, and PCORNet involvement, along with 45+ primary care clinics serving a population that is 57.8% rural and 28.9% Black/African-American, to accelerate research in primary care settings and strengthen research infrastructure in primary care. HEART-NET aims to 1) work with primary care providers to seamlessly integrate research into clinics workflows; 2) apply a stakeholder and community-engaged research framework to develop research processes with community input; 3) use innovative technologies to increase patient access to primary care research and reduce research burden; and 4) collaborate with NIH infrastructure to amplify nationwide research impacts. The significant health disparities in the Deep South, HEART-NET’s strong primary care research experience, and the potential to engage communities to improve access to studies in underrepresented populations make HEART-NET ideally situated to promote health equity and reduce disparities.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).