Massachusetts

Child Health Extramural Research by State and Country

Massachusetts

Principal Investigator: Adams, William
Title: Using an EMR to Improve Urban Child Health
Institution: Boston Medical Center, Boston, MA
E-mail: badams@bu.edu
Project Dates: 04/01/04-03/31/07
Project No.: K02 HS013655
Summary: The purpose of this Independent Scientist Award is to develop, use, and evaluate technology-based solutions (including electronic medical records) to improve the quality of health and healthcare of urban children focusing on two areas of importance to clinicians—preventive services and the care of asthma. This study will include children in predominantly economically poor populations of ethnic minorities.

Principal Investigator: Bates, David W.
Title: Improving Medication Safety Across Clinical Settings
Institution: Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA
E-mail: dbates@partners.org
Project Dates: 09/24/01-08/31/06
Project No.: P01 HS11534
Summary: The aim of this project is to extend previous studies to new populations and settings to improve drug safety across the continuum of care in diverse patient groups. One study will determine the rates, types and predictors of medication errors and adverse drug events in a pediatric ambulatory setting, and perform a randomized controlled trial to assess the effectiveness of an intervention on reducing serious medication errors in children.

Principal Investigator: Bates, David W.
Title: Trial to Reduce Antibiotic Use in a Primary Care PBRN*
Institution: Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA
E-mail: dbates@partners.org
Project Dates: 09/30/03-09/29/05
Project No.: R03 HS14420
Summary: This pilot study will design and implement an electronic medical record-based template for the care of patients with upper respiratory tract infections (URIs) in primary care practices, using the URI Smart Set. It will also test the implementation of the URI Smart Set in a randomized, controlled trial within 18 practices. The URI Smart Set will include easy documentation with checkboxes for symptoms and physical findings; patients' problems, allergies, and medications; decision-support for the treatment of sinusitis, pharyngitis, and acute bronchitis; printable patient handouts about URIs, self-care, antibiotics; and access to relevant medical literature. Minority women and children are fully represented in this study, in proportion to their presence in the 18 outpatient practices in the Brigham and Women Primary Care Clinics.

Principal Investigator: Blumenthal, David
Title: Validation of an Innovative Approach to Error Reduction*
Institution: Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
E-mail: dblumenthal@partners.org
Project Dates: 09/30/03-09/29/05
Project No.: R01 HS13099
Summary: This project will validate and improve a previously developed instrument that directly identifies error-prone clinical processes and systemic factors contributing to errors in a network of hospital emergency departments. Investigators will conduct personal interviews, focus groups and literature reviews to produce a revised instrument that will be cognitively and psychometrically tested, and then administered to approximately 6800 personnel in a network of 85 emergency departments. This study will include pediatric populations. Black, Hispanic and other personnel and patients from and about whom data are collected will be in this study.

Principal Investigator: Cleary, Paul
Title: Consumer Assessments of Health Plans Study
Institution: Harvard University, Boston, MA
E-mail: cleary@hcp.med.harvard.edu
Project Dates: 09/30/1995-09/29/00
Project No.: U18 HS09205
Summary: The goals of the project are to: (1) produce survey protocols for collecting reliable and valid information from consumers regarding their assessments of health plans and services; (2) develop and test the effectiveness of different report formats for conveying results to consumers and benefits managers; (3) demonstrate the resulting survey protocols; and (4) evaluate the usefulness of the survey information for consumers and purchasers selecting health plans and services.

Principal Investigator: Cleary, Paul
Title: CAHPS® II
Institution: Harvard University, Boston, MA
E-mail: cleary@hcp.med.harvard.edu
Project Dates: 09/30/02-09/29/07
Project No.: U18 HS09205
Summary: This project includes development of the pediatric version of the CAHPS® instrument for assessing care at the group practice level and production of refined and tested instruments that will be suitable for a large-scale field test. These cooperative agreements fund a collaborative program of research, development, and evaluation that will advance the state of the field with respect to the design, collection, and use of consumers' assessments of health care for purposes of informing health care choices and improving health care quality.

Principal Investigator: Davis, Robert
Title: Prevalence and Strategies for Appropriate Prescription Medication Dosing in Children
Institution: Kaiser Foundation Research Institute, Boston, MA
E-mail: rdavis@u.washington.edu
Project Dates: 11/01/02-11/30/03
Project No.: 290-00-0015
Summary: This project will assess the prevalence of inappropriate prescribing of medication in the ambulatory pediatric setting and the scope and breadth of current strategies to avoid inappropriate prescribing. This project will include an assessment of appropriate medication safety monitoring by recommended laboratory tests (e.g. liver function tests for carbamazepine). The project will also evaluate strategies and make recommendations to minimize outpatient prescription medication errors in children.

Principal Investigator: Feinberg, Emily
Title: Children's Health Insurance Coverage in Massachusetts
Institution: Harvard University, Boston, MA
E-mail: feinberg@hsph.harvard.edu
Project Dates: 07/01/99-06/30/00
Project No.: R03 HS10207
Summary: This project will use the administrative and claims files and telephone survey data on a sample of participants in Massachusetts' Children's Medical Security Plan (CMSP) to determine the relationship among insurance status, unmet health needs, and health services utilization; assess the impact of CMSP on access to care; and determine the extent to which crowdout is occurring in the CMSP.

Principal Investigator: Ferris, Timothy
Title: Improving Pediatric Safety and Quality with Health Care IT
Institution: Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
E-mail: tferris@partners.org
Project Dates: 09/30/04-09/29/07
Project No.: R01 HS015002
Summary: In this study, researchers will assess changes in patient experience of care using a modified CAHPS® survey to evaluate the influence of (1) weight based dosing on pediatric adverse drug events; (2) a test result tracking system on appropriate followup of ordered tests; and (3) automated reminders on symptom monitoring and medications for children with asthma and attention deficit disorder. This study will include inner city minority communities, especially Hispanic and African-American populations.

Principal Investigator: Fleegler, Eric
Title: Patient-Centered Access to Resources for Families with Health Related Social Problems
Institution: Boston Medical Center, Boston, MA
E-mail: eric.fleegler@childrens.harvard.edu
Project Dates: 02/15/04-12/31/04
Project No.: 04R000101
Summary: This study will use geographical information systems to perform a geospatial analysis to evaluate the availability of appropriate referral agencies, based on families' needs and preferences. The study population will include English- and-Spanish speaking caregivers of children ages 0-6 present at one of two urban primary care pediatric clinics for well-child visits.

Principal Investigator: Friedman, Robert
Title: Impact of a Telecommunication System in Childhood Asthma
Institution: Boston Medical Center, Boston, MA
E-mail: rfriedman@bu.edu
Project Dates: 09/30/99-09/29/03
Project No.: R01 HS10630
Summary: This study is assessing the effectiveness of Telephone-Linked Communications for Asthma (TLC-Asthma) in the care of children with symptomatic asthma. The system monitors asthma symptoms, quality of life, and asthma knowledge and self-care behavior.

Principal Investigator: Ganz, Michael
Title: Child Mental Health and Mental Health Service Use
Institution: Harvard University, Boston, MA
E-mail: mganz@hsph.harvard.edu
Project Dates: 04/01/02-09/30/03
Project No.: R03 HS13047
Summary: The aims of this project are to examine families' socio-economic status, clinical and insurance correlates of mental health conditions, and related services for children in the U.S.

Principal Investigator: Goldmann, Donald
Title: Child Health Services Research Training Program
Institution: Children's Hospital, Boston, MA
E-mail: goldmann@a1.tch.harvard.edu
Project Dates: 09/30/03-06/30/08
Project No.: T32 HS00063
Summary: The aim of this Institutional Training-Post Doctoral Award is to address the well-documented critical gaps in child health services research and fundamentally improve the capacity of the U.S. health care system to meet the needs of children and families, including socio-economically disadvantaged and minority populations.

Principal Investigator: Goldmann, Donald
Title: Harvard Pediatric Health Services Research (HSR) Fellowship Program
Institution: Harvard University, Boston, MA
E-mail: goldmann@a1.tch.harvard.edu
Project Dates: 07/01/08-06/30/13
Project No.: T32 HS00063
Summary: This program seeks to train researchers who can fundamentally improve the capacity of the U.S. health care system to meet the needs of children and families, including socioeconomically disadvantaged populations. This mature program, first funded in 1994 by AHRQ, is now fully integrated across its three core sites: Children's Hospital Boston, Massachusetts General Hospital for Children, and the Harvard Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention. New components include new initiatives in frontier areas in child health services research, including use of genetic information in pediatrics; IT innovations in personal health records to promote family-centered care; comparative effectiveness research using large integrated databases to inform clinical and policy decisions; approaches to improving population health through collaborations among health care and public health systems, payers, and community partners; quasi-experimental methods for evaluating quality improvement interventions (including initiatives to reduce disparities); and new methods for detecting and preventing medical errors.

Principal Investigator: Greenes, David
Title: Automated Lab Test Followup to Reduce Medical Errors
Institution: Children's Hospital, Boston, MA
E-mail: david.greenes@tch.harvard.edu
Project Dates: 09/30/02-09/29/03
Project No.: R03 HS11711
Summary: This project will evaluate the effectiveness of a computerized system: "Automated Late-Arriving Resulting Monitoring System (ALARMS)" in an emergency department. ALARMS will gather and generate a list of all late-arriving, abnormal laboratory results to improve the rates of followup for late-arriving abnormal laboratory results.

Principal Investigator: Hermann, Richard
Title: Quality Measures for Severe/Persistent Mental Illness
Institution: Harvard University, Boston, MA
E-mail: richard_hermann@hms.harvard.edu
Project Dates: 09/30/99-09/29/01
Project No.: R01 HS10303
Summary: This project will identify quality of care measures for severe and persistent mental illness and develop an inventory that will be incorporated into AHRQ's CONQUEST database. A stakeholder panel will then work with investigators to develop a conceptual framework for measure development, and further develop and test a subset of measures. Includes children, but is not entirely child-focused.

Principal Investigator: Hodgkin, Dominic
Title: Impact of Three Tier Prescription Drug Copay on Use and Spending*
Institution: Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Waltham, MA
E-mail: hodgkin@brandeis.edu
Project Dates: 09/16/02-08/31/04
Project No.: R01 HS013092
Summary: This study will examine the impact of a three-tier prescription drug copayment program on drug and medical services utilization, expenditures, and therapeutic continuity of care, using enrolled patient cohorts in the Tufts Health Plan, a large HMO in Massachusetts. Part of this study will focus on five specific drug classes, and children will be represented among users of asthma and allergy medications, and possibly antidepressants.

Principal Investigator: Homer, Charles
Title: Community-Based Health Services Research Curriculum
Institution: Children's Hospital, Boston, MA
E-mail: homer@ihi.org
Project Dates: 07/01/98-06/30/01
Project No.: R25 HS09792
Summary: This Institutional Training Innovation Incentive Award Program is developing a curriculum on performing effectiveness research in community settings for the National Research Service Award (NRSA) Health Services Research Fellows at Children's Hospital, Boston. NRSA fellows will work in partnership with community health centers, payers, public health, schools, and other community settings. The organization's first step is to establish a process to include a needs assessment to identify key curricular elements. The goal is to develop a series of cases, as well as an Annual Community-Based Health Services Research Conference for faculty, fellows, and community partners.

Principal Investigator: Homer, Charles
Title: Evaluating Quality Improvement Strategies
Institution: Children's Hospital, Boston, MA
E-mail: homer@ihi.org
Project Dates: 09/30/99-09/29/02
Project No.: R01 HS10411
Summary: This study will compare the effects of office-based quality improvement with regular practice on processes and outcomes of care for children with asthma ages 2 to 18. Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness will be evaluated in this managed care setting.

Principal Investigator: Homer, Charles
Title: Family Linkages Supporting Hyperbilirubin Guidelines
Institution: Children's Hospital, Boston, MA
E-mail: homer@ihi.org
Project Dates: 09/30/1996-09/29/00
Project No.: R01 HS09390
Summary: This effort will develop and implement a computer-based decision-support system to help different types of providers identify and treat infants at risk for developing hyperbilirubinemia by providing better access to patient records and guidelines. More than half of all infants born in hospitals develop jaundice within 48 hours of discharge.

Principal Investigator: Homer, Charles
Title: Fifth Annual Forum for Improving Children's Health Care—March 16-18, 2005 (Orlando, FL)
Institution: National Initiative for Children's Healthcare Quality, Cambridge, MA
E-mail: chomer@nichq.org
Project Dates: 09/30/05-09/29/06
Project No.: R13 HS14202
Summary: This conference focused on: (1) building will for improvement in care by highlighting successful evidence-based models and interventions; (2) Disseminate strategies for implementing valid findings of health services research; (3) providing the basis for collaboration and information sharing related to child health care across the multiple stakeholder levels affecting children's health care; (4) developing faculty capacity for future initiatives intended to improve quality of health care for children.

Principal Investigator: Homer, Charles
Title: First Annual Forum for Improving Children's Health Care—March 12-13, 2002 (Tempe, AZ)
Institution: National Initiative for Children's Healthcare Quality, Cambridge, MA
E-mail: chomer@ihi.org
Project Dates: 01/15/02-01/14/03
Project No.: R13 HS12070
Summary: This conference was convened to widely disseminate information about what is known about best practices and research findings related to quality improvement in children's health care, highlight successful evidence-based practice models and interventions, and create opportunities for new insights and learning.

Principal Investigator: Homer, Charles
Title: Improving Care for Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, North Carolina—2002
Institution: National Initiative for Children's Healthcare Quality, Cambridge, MA
E-mail: chomer@ihi.org
Project Dates: 11/07/01-11/06/02
Project No.: R13 HS12063
Summary: AHRQ funded several meetings as part of a "Breakthrough Series Collaborative" designed to make major changes in the systems of care and outcomes for children with ADHD by promoting translation of evidence about the diagnosis and treatment of children with ADHD into clinical practice.

Principal Investigator: Homer, Charles
Title: Pediatric 100,000 Lives Campaign
Institution: National Initiative for Children's Healthcare Quality/Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), Cambridge, MA
E-mail: chomer@nichq.org
Project Dates: 06/22/05-9/30/05
Project No.: HHSP233200500443P
Summary: This contract helped support the pediatric arm of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement 100k Lives Campaign and resulted in a summary paper. The "100,000 Lives Campaign," led by IHI, is a nationwide initiative to dramatically reduce morbidity and mortality in American health care, focusing on inpatient care.

Principal Investigator: Homer, Charles
Title: Promoting Quality of Care for Publicly Insured Children—August 17-18, 2006 (Washington, D.C.)
Institution: National Initiative for Children's Healthcare Quality, Cambridge, MA
E-mail: chomer@nichq.org
Project Dates: 07/21/06-02/20/07
Project No.: R13 HS16360
Summary: The purpose of this dissemination conference was to improve the quality of care for children served by public programs by promoting the translation of recent research into practice and policy. The conference objectives were to: (1) summarize what is known from research and state experience for key aspects of the quality agenda—namely quality measurement and improvement, health information technology, and pay for performance; (2) engage research users and stakeholders in a discussion of next steps and strategies necessary to accelerate the diffusion and adoption of this research into policy and practice; (3) identify key research questions that remain unanswered; and (4) disseminate the results of this event broadly to researchers and stakeholders in the public and the private sectors. The conference included a specific emphasis on low-income children, racial/ethnic minority children, and children with special health care needs.

Principal Investigator: Homer, Charles
Title: Third Annual Forum for Improving Children's Health Care—March 2-4, 2004 (San Diego, CA)
Institution: National Initiative for Children's Healthcare Quality, Cambridge, MA
E-mail: chomer@nichq.org
Project Dates:02/25/04-01/30/06
Project No.: R13 HS14202
Summary: This conference focused on (1) building improvements in care by highlighting successful evidenced-based models and interventions; (2) disseminating strategies for implementing valid findings from health services research; (3) providing collaboration and information sharing relating to child health care across multiple stakeholder levels; and (4) developing faculty for future initiatives to improve quality of health care for children.

Principal Investigator: Kuhlthau, Karen
Title: Specialized Therapies by Children, Correlates of Use
Institution: Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
E-mail: kkuhlthau@partners.org
Project Dates: 08/06/03-07/31/04
Project No.: R03 HS13757
Summary: This project will (1) describe patterns of use and expenditures for specialized therapies for Hispanic, black and Native or American Indian, and Asian or Pacific Islander and other children with and without chronic conditions, (2) determine correlates of specialized therapy use among children including predisposing, enabling, and need characteristics, and (3) understand how use of providers affects use. The project will use data from four data sources, the National Health Interview Survey on Disability, the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, the 5 percent sample of Medi Cal eligibility and encounter data, California's fee for service Medicaid plan, and a cohort of children in Harvard Vanguard Health Associates.

Principal Investigator: Landon, Bruce
Title: Incentive Formularies and the Costs and Quality of Care*
Institution: Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
E-mail: landon@hcp.med.harvard.edu
Project Dates: 09/30/05-09/29/08
Project No.: R01 HS14774
Summary: This project will (1) examine the variation of different pharmacy benefit structures on total pharmaceutical and out of pocket spending; (2) examine the impact of variation of different pharmacy benefit structures on total medical spending, including inpatient, outpatient, and emergency services; and (3) study the effects of variation of pharmacy benefits on continuity of chronic medication use for conditions such as hypertension and hypercholesterolemia, the use of appropriate medications for hypertension and the adverse consequences of medication discontinuation and switching for diabetes and asthma. Women, minorities, and children will be included in this study.

Principal Investigator: Lee, Grace
Title: Strategies for Group A Streptococcal Prevention
Institution: Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Inc., Wellesley, MA
E-mail: grace_lee@hphc.org
Project Dates: 05/05/04-04/30/09
Project No.: K08 HS013908
Summary: The purpose of this Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Award is to incorporate patient preferences and advance modeling methods in evaluating the cost-effectiveness of interventions against infections such as pharyngitis. This pediatric population will include patients of racial and ethnic minority groups (African-Americans, Asians, Hispanic or Latino).

Principal Investigator: Lieu, Tracy
Title: Asthma Care Quality in Varying Managed Medicaid Plans
Institution: Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare, Brookline, MA
E-mail: tracy_lieu@hphc.org
Project Dates: 07/01/98-03/31/01
Project No.: U01 HS09935
Summary: This study is identifying features of managed care organizations (MCO) that are associated with the quality of care for children with asthma insured by Medicaid. The MCO features to be studied include payment mechanisms, provider profiles and incentives, and disease management programs, as well as features of care measured at the individual patient level such as accessibility, continuity, and self-care practices. Quality measures will include change over time in asthma-related quality of life, hospitalization and emergency department visits, and anti-inflammatory medication use.

Principal Investigator: Lightdale, Jenifer
Title: Improving Safety of Pediatric Sedation
Institution: Children's Hospital, Boston, MA
E-mail: lightdale@tch.harvard.edu
Project Dates: 06/01/03-05/31/07
Project No.: K08 HS13675
Summary: This Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Award will assess intolerance, other adverse events and medical errors during sedation of children for gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy; utilize regression modeling to develop prediction rules to improve the safety of sedation for children undergoing the procedure; and tailor existing taxonomies to classify medical errors associated with IV sedation for GI endoscopy. Primary and secondary outcomes data, including measures of intolerance, other adverse events and errors related to sedation, will be collected in a large prospective, observational pediatric cohort study. Researchers will seek to include minorities in this pediatric study.

Principal Investigator: Mitchell, Janet B.
Title: Medicaid Versus Premium Subsidy: Oregon's CHIP Alternatives
Institution: Center For Health Economics Research, Waltham, MA
E-mail: jmitchell@her-cher.org
Project Dates: 09/30/99-09/29/02
Project No.: U01 HS10463
Summary: This project will study the CHIP program in the state of Oregon, where there are two very different health insurance options. The first option is a Medicaid look-alike program and the second is a premium subsidy program. Eligibility requirements are the same under both programs. The Medicaid CHIP program is virtually indistinguishable from the regular Medicaid program in the state. The premium subsidy CHIP program is run by a separate state agency that aids low income children in purchasing health insurance either through a parent's employer or the individual market. Unlike Medicaid, however, the premium subsidy program requires some cost sharing. Thus, the options under CHIP are to have public insurance at no cost, or private insurance at some cost. This study will address a number of related issues. These include identifying factors associated with the decision of parents to enroll their children in CHIP, and among those choosing to enroll, which type of plan (public or private) is chosen. Finally, the impact of these insurance decisions on access to care for children will also be studied. The project will have a special emphasis on Hispanic children—a population with disproportionately low enrollment rates.

Principal Investigator: Needleman, Jack
Title: Measuring the Quality of Care for Diabetes
Institution: Harvard University, Boston, MA
E-mail: needlema@hsph.harvard.edu
Project Dates: 9/30/99-9/29/01
Project No.: R01 HS10332
Summary: This project uses Medicaid data, including data on children, to develop and test measures of quality of care for people with diabetes. Includes children, but is not entirely child-focused.

Principal Investigator: Palmer, R. Heather
Title: MAJIC, Making Advances Against Jaundice in Infant Care
Institution: Harvard University, Boston, MA
E-mail: hpalmer@sph.harvard.edu
Project Dates: 05/01/98-04/30/03
Project No.: R01 HS09782
Summary: Studies of hospital readmissions and emergency department use in the first several weeks of life have established that jaundice is the most common single diagnosis and the most common "preventable" cause of high cost health services use. This five-year project is testing the impact of a collaborative quality improvement intervention on adherence to the American Academy of Pediatrics Guidelines for Jaundice Management. Researchers are using the Consumer Assessment of Health Plans Survey to examine the effects of the quality survey management improvement initiative on parents' experiences of health care.

Principal Investigator: Perrin, James
Title: Promoting Safety in Child and Adolescent Health Care—April-May, 2003
Institution: Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston MA
E-mail: jperrin@partners.org
Project Dates: 09/30/02-08/31/03
Project No.: R13 HS92544
Summary: This conference will examine current knowledge in patient safety in key sites for providing child health care services (inpatient, emergency departments, and outpatient and community settings) and will address broad themes in child/adolescent patient safety, including areas of measurement, the role of parents, and racial and cultural disparities influencing safety.

Principal Investigator: Phillips, Rosalie
Title: Meeting the Challenge of Medicaid Managed Care: Best Practices for Clinical Care and Teaching—November 1-3, 2001
Institution: Tufts Managed Care Institute, Boston, MA
E-mail: Rosalie_Phillips@tufts-health.com
Project Dates: 09/30/01-09/29/02
Project No.: R13 HS10969
Summary: Tufts Managed Care Institute, in collaboration with Partnerships for Quality Education, will convene a conference to enhance the competencies of clinicians and faculty in academic health centers and affiliated practices to meet needs of both patients and trainees in Medicaid managed care programs. A workshop will focus on "childhood immunization rates." The core audience will be primary care physicians and nurse practitioners.

Principal Investigator: Porter, Stephen
Title: Informative Technology: Linking Parents and Providers
Institution: Children's Hospital, Boston, MA
E-mail: stephen.porter@tch.harvard.edu
Project Dates: 07/01/02-06/30/05
Project No.: K08 HS11660
Summary: The aims of this Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Award are to (1) develop and test an electronic interface on the basis of user-perceived quality and the capture of valid data for asthma-specific history, and (2) present parent-derived information to providers in the content of current evidence-based guidelines and assess the effects of this electronically-supported collaboration on parents' report of satisfaction and process measures of quality.

Principal Investigator: Porter, Stephen
Title: ParentLink: Better and Safer Emergency Care for Children
Institution: Children's Hospital Corporation, Boston, MA
E-mail: stephen.porter@childrens.harvard.edu
Project Dates: 09/30/04-09/29/06
Project No.: R01 HS014947
Summary: This study will (1) evaluate the completeness and accuracy of information on symptoms, disease condition, medications and allergies generated by parents using ParentLink versus information documents by ED physicians and nurses; and (2) measure the ParentLink's impact on ED patient safety and quality, specifically the error rate for ordering and prescribing of medications during ED care and the percent of ED visits that adhere to national evidence-based guidelines. Women (speaking for children under 12 years), and Black and Asian/Pacific Islander children will be represented in this study.

Principal Investigator: Richardson, Douglas K.
Title: A Perinatal Health Services Research Laboratory Pilot
Institution: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Inc., Boston, MA
E-mail: drichard@caregroup.harvard.edu
Project Dates: 09/30/00-09/29/01
Project No.: R03 HS10824
Summary: This project aims to define new outcomes related to perinatal morbidity and their associated resource use, to define sample and effect sizes for future studies of perinatal morbidity, and identify future research priorities in perinatal care. The project also aims to establish agreements between a major managed care organization and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Principal Investigator: Richardson, Douglas K.
Title: Unstudied Infants: Low Risk Babies in a High Risk Place
Institution: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Inc., Boston, MA
E-mail: drichard@caregroup.harvard.edu
Project Dates: 08/01/00-07/31/03
Project No.: R01 HS10131
Summary: Moderately premature newborns comprise the greatest number of admissions to Neonatal Intensive Care Units, but are considered relatively low risk for adverse outcomes, and have not received a great deal of research attention. This project will describe the epidemiology, treatment, and outcomes of moderately premature newborns who are admitted to an intensive care setting during the birth hospitalization. The project will also develop a multivariate model to predict length of stay corrected for gestational age. The proposed study sites are 12 NICUs in California and Massachusetts.

Principal Investigator: Soumerai, Stephen
Title: Outcomes of Legislated Increases in Maternity Stays
Institution: Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare, Brookline, MA
E-mail: ssoumarai@hmc.Harvard.edu
Project Dates: 05/01/99-04/30/01
Project No.: R01 HS10060
Summary: This study will evaluate the effects of two successive policies regarding hospital care for childbirth: Harvard Pilgrim Health Care's program to reduce inpatient stay and Massachusetts legislation mandating that health insurance cover at least 48-hour stays after normal deliveries.

Principal Investigator: Stafford, Randall
Title: Time Series Modeling of Trends in Medication Prescribing*
Institution: Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
E-mail: randy.stafford@stanford.edu
Project Dates: 04/19/02-12/31/04
Project No.: R01 HS13405
Summary: The aim of this project is to develop and assess a novel economic model of influence of multiple determinants on trends in medication prescribing for asthma, depression, hypertension, and congestive heart failure.

Principal Investigator: Webster, Romi
Title: Teen Suicide: Attributes and Opportunities for Prevention
Institution: Massachusetts General Hospital for Children, Boston, MA
E-mail: romi.webster@childrens.harvard.edu
Project Dates: 02/15/04-12/31/04
Project No.: 04R000101
Summary: This project will (1) describe the attributes of teen suicide as portrayed by the 2001 and 2002 National Violent Injury Statistics System (NVISS) data on suicide victims less than 18 years of age, and (2) compare these attributes to 2001 and 2002 NVISS adult suicides to explore developmental patterns and potential opportunities for prevention of adolescent suicide.

Principal Investigator: Witt, Whitney P.
Title: Treatment of Maternal Depression and the Impact on Children's Use of and Expenditures for Healthcare
Institution: Massachusetts General Hospital for Children, Boston, MA
E-mail: wwitt@partners.org
Project Dates: 03/22/02-03/31/03
Project No.: HRSA-240-97-0043
Summary: This study will determine whether maternal depression increases children's use of and payments for healthcare services, and if and how maternal mental healthcare treatment moderates the relationships among maternal depression, adverse child health outcomes, and children's higher healthcare use and expenditures.

Principal Investigator: Young, Gary
Title: Evaluation of the Rewarding Results Program*
Institution: Boston University, Boston, MA
E-mail: health@bu.edu
Project Dates: 09/30/02-09/29/06
Project No.: U01 HS13591
Summary: Under a grant administered by AHRQ, Dr. Young will conduct a comprehensive national evaluation of six projects. Four of the projects being evaluated will address issues relevant to children. They include pediatric access, service and HEDIS scores, and asthma.

*Project includes children or children's health care issues but does not focus exclusively on children.

Return to Map
Proceed to Next Section