Friday, January 24, 2025
1/24/2025
ABSTRACT: OVERALL Rehabilitation and long-term services and supports (LTSS) are high-value, effective interventions for improving the lives of persons with disability and chronic conditions. As with most health care, inequities in access to and quality of rehabilitation and LTSS exist. Efforts to address these inequities have never been more important, given that chronic conditions affect more than half of U.S. adults, with 27% having multiple chronic conditions (MCC), and one in four US adults living with a disability. MCCs are associated with preventable and high healthcare costs, hospitalizations, emergency department utilization, and disability. Chronic conditions are costly, accounting for 75% of US healthcare dollars. Furthermore, the proportion of persons living with MCC and/or disability is steadily increasing, disproportionately affecting persons 65 years and older, those living in poverty, and those from some racial or ethnic minority groups. A learning health systems (LHS) approach offers potential solutions to minimizing disparities in rehabilitation and LTSS, by embedding knowledge and best practices into care delivery, thereby supporting improvement, innovation, and equity. This application seeks to create the Learning Health systems training to improve Disability and chronic condition care (LeaHD) center which will build upon an established, NIH-funded P2C resource center, the Learning Health Systems Rehabilitation Research network (LeaRRn). LeaHD’s long term goal is to improve the health-related quality of life of persons with disability and chronic conditions by improving access to and quality of rehabilitation and LTSS. Our overarching objective is to train embedded scientists to conduct PCOR/CER and dissemination and implementation (D&I) research that will inform improvements in health system operations, quality of care, and, thus, health outcomes for persons with disability and chronic conditions. LeaHD will build upon a well- established infrastructure and collaborative relationships at Brown University, University of Pittsburgh, and Boston University, faculty expertise and nine health system partners. Our specific aims are to: 1) establish meaningful and inclusive health system partnerships to identify and develop important questions focused on rehabilitation and LTSS for persons with disability and chronic conditions; 2) recruit and develop a diverse cadre of highly-skilled scientists poised to conduct embedded research; 3) leverage existing resources to provide mentored training for embedded scientists through core LHS research training, individualized training plans, and experiential learning; 4) facilitate embedded PCOR, CER, and D&I research through mentorship and methodological and operational expertise and support; and 5) utilize a comprehensive evaluation framework to assess LeaHD’s impact on embedded scientist professional development, health systems operations, and individual, family, and community-level outcomes.
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).