Wednesday, January 15, 2025
1/15/2025
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Data analytic tools, such as natural language processing and machine learning, are a subset of artificial intelligence that hold promise for advancing health services research (HSR) in a world of growing complexity. Though many health services researchers have some familiarity with these methodologies, the adoption and application of emerging data analytics in HSR is still in its infancy. Emerging data analytics may also provide added value to understanding and mitigating the health care inequities experienced by a number of AHRQ Priority Populations, especially women, racial and ethnic minorities, and persons in low-income, rural, and urban settings in the U.S. Deep South. The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is situated in the heart of the Deep South in Birmingham, AL and is home to several federally funded research centers who formally partner with 10 academic medical centers, universities, and historically black college and universities in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana to address the chronic inequities plaguing our region. UAB and its regional partners are especially well-positioned to benefit from modern data analytics that can improve the quality, accessibility, and equity of health care in these populations. However, because many data analytic tools ‘learn’ by being ‘trained’ on real-world data that often contain inherent biases, these approaches are susceptible to perpetuating health care inequities. We therefore propose the 2025 Annual UAB Methods Symposium on April 9-10, 2025 in Birmingham, AL to disseminate timely information on modern data analytic applications in HSR and the potential biases associated with each. The Symposium will build capacity for a broad audience of HSR trainees and investigators to integrate advanced data analytics into their research portfolios and understand their limitations. The Symposium is an annual 1.5-day event and is intended for an interdisciplinary and interprofessional HSR audience across the career arc. In recent years, the Symposium has organically garnered national interest and reach. An AHRQ R13 conference grant is requested to add Travel Awards for trainees and early-stage investigators to attend in-person and increase capacity to host a national meeting and disseminate its products. Specific aims are to plan and execute a national symposium in hybrid format; disseminate information on the HSR application of geospatial analyses, natural language processing, machine learning, and microsimulation and the potential biases associated with each; and conduct program evaluation and dissemination of symposium products. The Symposium will provide a local, regional, and national outlet to highlight and disseminate emerging analytic methods and their HSR application for AHRQ Priority Populations, including women, racial and ethnic minorities, and persons in low-income, rural, and urban settings. As these groups comprise a large proportion of the populations that UAB and our regional partners serve, we are uniquely positioned to host this Symposium and translate the information disseminated into improved care for our region and beyond.
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).