Current Studies

Shared Decision Making in Primary Care

PI: Lyle Fagnan, MD
Funding Agency: Informed Medical Decisions Foundation
Setting: Enterprise, Heppner, Lincoln City, Pacific City, Cottage Grove, and Baker City
Topic: This study seeks to identify best practice approaches to implementing DVD Decision Aids in rural primary care practices with the objective of improving shared medical decision making. In 2009, we surveyed clinicians affiliated with ORPRN Member Clinics about their perceptions and use of shared decision making and decision aids in rural primary care.

2009 survey key findings

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Enhancing Child Health in Oregon (ECHO) Primary Care Learning Community

PI: Robert Gillespie, MD
Funding Agency: Oregon Health Authority
Setting: Grants Pass, Baker City, and Enterprise
Topic: ECHO will provide training for targeted clinic teams on the implementation of patient-centered primary care home (PCPCH) standards for pediatric patients.
 

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Linking Primary Care & Resources in the Community to Improve Health: Development of Measures

Project Team: Westat, Oregon Rural Practice-based Research Network (ORPRN), Oklahoma Physicians Resource/Research Network (OKPRN), and Group Health Research Institute
ORPRN: Paul McGinnis, MPA; David Buckley, MD, MPH; Lyle Fagnan, MD
Funding Agency: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Topic: This project aims to develop a conceptual framework for measuring the effectiveness of linkages between primary care practices, local health departments, and community organizations to deliver evidence-based preventive health services. The framework will inform the development of an evaluation roadmap to identify research gaps and provide a methodologic basis for studying clinical-community linkages.

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Evaluation of the Utility of a Workflow Assessment of a Health Information Technology (Hit) Toolkit – "The Toolkit"

PIs: Lyle Fagnan, MD, and Paul Gorman, MD
Funding Agency: Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality
Setting: Eighteen small- and medium-sized primary care practices in Oregon and Wisconsin and two Regional Extension Centers
Topic: This project aims to study and describe the utility of "The Toolkit" on clinic workflow processes while implementing health IT. A highly effective Toolkit will provide practices with the effective means to evaluate workflow during many types of HIT implementation such as creating disease registries, collecting quality measures, using patient portals, and implementing a new EHR.
 

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Integrating Primary Care Practices and Community-based Programs to Manage Obesity

PI: Lyle Fagnan, MD
Funding Agency: Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality
Setting: Hood River, Crook, Jefferson, and Lincoln Counties
Topic: This project focuses on implementing and evaluating a partnership model between rural primary care clinics and community-based programs to manage obesity.

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Internet Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) for Depression (Moodhelper)

PI: Greg Clarke, PhD
Funding Agency: National Institute of Mental Health
Setting: Statewide
Topic: The Moodhelper study is a randomized trial of the effectiveness of internet delivery of self-help and guided cognitive behavioral therapy for depression in adults. The project will also explore the cost effectiveness of the program.
 

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Cancer Research to Optimize Screening Success for Rural Oregon Adults with Disabilities (CROSSROAD)

PI: David Buckley, MD, MPH
Funding Agency: American Cancer Society
Setting: Astoria, Condon, Reedsport, and John Day
Topic: CROSSROAD seeks to develop, test and administer a survey on cancer screening and prevention for adults with physical disabilities. The survey will determine if these patients receive services at the same rate as the general population.
 

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QUALIS Safety Net Medical Home Initiative (SNMHI)

PI: Jonathan Sugarman, MD, MPH
Funding Agency: Commonwealth Fund, Qualis Health, and the MacColl Institute for Healthcare Innovation
Setting: Enterprise and Baker City
Topic: This is a demonstration project to help safety-net primary care clinics become high-performing patient-centered medical homes and achieve benchmark levels of quality, efficiency, and patient experience. ORPRN, in partnership with CareOregon and the Oregon Primary Care Association, is one of five regional coordinating centers that provide medical home facilitation and training on practice redesign.
 
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Care Transitions Innovations (C-TraIn)

PI: Honora Englander, MD
Funding Agency: OHSU Hospital
Setting: OHSU Hospital
Topic: C-TraIn is a hospital intervention providing primary care, medication and transitions support for uninsured and Medicaid-insured patients. The study involves surveying the patient experience of care through activation measures, social support, co-morbidities, and lifestyle behaviors for control vs. intervention groups.  Focus groups will assess experiences from care providers in multiple settings.
 

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Clinician Perceptions Of Aging Services Technology (CPAST)

PI: Melinda Davis, PhD
Funding Agency: National Institutes of Health
Setting: Statewide
Topic: CPAST is a study to determine the components of in-home monitoring of older adult patients for improved health outcomes desirable to rural primary care clinicians. Focus groups will explore communication formats and required infrastructure to receive monitoring data.
 

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Screening, Evaluating and Assessing Rate Changes of Diagnosing Respiratory Conditions in Primary Care (SEARCH)

PI: Barbara Yawn, MD, and Lyle Fagnan, MD
Funding Agency: Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Setting: 21 practices across the state
Topic: SEARCH is a study on the feasibility of diagnosing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in primary care practices at earlier stages in the disease.
 

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Lipoic Acid and Omega-3 Fatty Acids in Alzheimer’s Disease

PI: Lynne Shinto, ND, MPH
Funding Agency: National Institute on Aging
Setting: Klamath Falls
Topic: This study seeks to determine if lipoic acid plus omega-3 fatty acids (omega-3) can delay cognitive and functional decline in Alzheimer’s disease using MRI total brain volume change as a biomarker for treatment effects, as well as plasma and serum biologic markers.
 

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Community Research Enhancement and Education Development (CREED)

PI: Eric Orwoll, MD
Funding Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Services
Setting: Linn, Lincoln, Jefferson, Crook, Deshutes and Benton Counties
Topic: CREED seeks to expand established Community Health Improvement Partnerships (CHIPs) to Community Health Improvement & Research Partnerships (CHIRP) through training in research and the establishment of academic-community partnerships. The CHIRP groups will create and execute pilot research on childhood obesity, and the project team will evaluate a toolbox to facilitate academic-community research partnerships in rural communities.
 

Learn more about the Community Health Improvement & Research Partnerships.

Download the Community Health Improvement Partnership (CHIP) Manual
 

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ORPRN Member Survey

PI: Lyle Fagnan, MD
Setting: Statewide
Topic: ORPRN conducts a bi-annual survey of all of the network’s practices and clinicians. The survey includes clinician and patient demographics, practice scope, service availability, practice technology and clinician satisfaction.
 

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