What We Do
ORPRN's mission is to improve health for all Oregonians through community engaged Research, Education and Health Systems Transformation.
We are a statewide network of primary care clinicians, community partners, and academicians dedicated to studying the delivery of health care, improving the health of Oregonians and reducing rural health disparities. Since our start in 2002, we have completed more than 80 funded projects and are nationally recognized for expertise in practice facilitation and implementing patient-centered primary care home (PCPCH) practice redesign initiatives.
Our Programs
- Community-based pragmatic clinical trials on lifespan topics (newborn skincare, kindergarten readiness, prevention, advance care planning)
- Blending Implementation Research and Quality Improvement to address primary care topics (substance use, chronic pain, immunizations, dementia, DMII, cancer screening)
- Home to Oregon ECHO Network (13 topics offered in FY23; Building capacity in eastern OR)
- Partners on Public Health Professional Workforce Development
- 10+ learner placements
- Technical assistance and education around Medicaid funding flexibilities that support whole-person care and social health integration
- Design and implementation of community health assessments and community benefit programs
- Consultation and implementation of social needs screening and closed loop referrals
- Public health research and implementation in fundamental services (i.e. tobacco cessation, suicide prevention, immunizations), and upstream activities (i.e. health-related social needs)
What is a PBRN?
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) defines a primary care practice-based research network, or PBRN, as a group of ambulatory practices devoted principally to the primary care of patients, and affiliated in their mission to investigate questions related to community-based practice and to improve the quality of primary care. This definition includes a sense of ongoing commitment to network activities and an organizational structure that transcends a single research project. PBRNs often link practicing clinicians with investigators experienced in clinical and health services research, while enhancing the research skills of the network members.
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What is practice facilitation?
AHRQ also defines practice facilitation as a supportive service provided to a primary care practice by a trained individual or team of individuals. These individuals use a range of organizational development, project management, quality improvement, and practice improvement approaches and methods to build the internal capacity of a practice to help it engage in improvement activities over time.
“A growing body of evidence supports practice facilitation as an effective strategy to improve primary health care processes and outcomes, including the delivery of wellness and preventive services, through the creation of an ongoing, trusting relationship between an external facilitator and a primary care practice.”
-Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Practice Facilitation. 2017
ORPRN primarily uses Practice Enhancement Research Coordinators (PERCs) to deliver practice facilitation.
What is QI?
Quality improvement (QI) consists of systematic and continuous actions that lead to measurable improvement in health care services and the health status of targeted patient groups. The Institute of Medicine (IOM), which is a recognized leader and advisor on improving the Nation’s health care, defines quality in health care as a direct correlation between the level of improved health services and the desired health outcomes of individuals and populations.
-Health Resources and Services Administration. Quality Improvement. 2011
What is Project ECHO?
Project ECHO® (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) is a telementoring education model originally developed at University of New Mexico to build the capacity of primary care clinicians to manage health conditions that they typically refer to specialty care. The Oregon ECHO Network, housed within ORPRN, is a statewide utility providing educational programs and support services utilizing the ECHO model.
What is Deflection?
- Support Oregon’s implementation of behavioral health Deflection programs as directed in House Bill 4002
- Collaboration with the OHSU Section of Addiction with support from the Criminal Justice Commission
- Technical assistance, training and Deflection ECHOs for Oregon counties, law enforcement, and behavioral health providers to create pathways for individuals to treatment and recovery support, instead of citing and arrest