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Stanford-UCSF

Evidence-based Practice Center

The Stanford-UCSF EPC provides an infrastructure and focal point for conducting high quality systematic literature reviews, supplemental syntheses, and technology assessments, and generating evidence reports.

Profile

The Stanford-UCSF Evidence-based Practice Center (EPC) is a joint collaborative effort between Stanford University and the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF). The Stanford-UCSF EPC draws on the established strengths and successes of both universities, and the California managed care environment.

The Stanford-UCSF EPC provides an infrastructure and focal point for conducting high quality systematic literature reviews, supplemental syntheses, and technology assessments, and generating evidence reports. Access to local experts in all components of health care decision-making enhances the Center's truly multidisciplinary scope. The Center will focus on furthering the practice and translation of evidence-based medicine in the ultimate pursuit of improving health outcomes for populations and individuals.

Capabilities

Evidence-based medicine is the defining principle in much of the work of the group of investigators at both institutions. Both institutions have extensive experience in all aspects of research methodologies including:

  • Systematic review and critical appraisal of the medical literature.
  • Clinical epidemiology.
  • Biostatistics.
  • Health services research.
  • Development of clinical guidelines.
  • Supplemental analyses such as meta-analysis, decision analysis, and cost-effectiveness analysis.

The EPC conducted numerous evidence projects for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in the first round of the EPC program:

  • Medical management of stable angina.
  • Prediction of risk with unstable angina.
  • Critical analysis of patient safety practices.
  • Refinement of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) Quality Indicators.
  • Development of the HCUP Patient Safety Indicators.
  • Analysis of use of decision support and information technologies to respond to bioterrorism events.
  • The usefulness of autopsy as an outcome and performance measure
  • The diagnosis and management of coronary heart disease in women.

Through these projects, the EPC has a demonstrated record of producing timely reports that serve the needs of major professional organizations, guideline development programs, and health care initiatives.

Collaboration

The major strength of the Stanford-UCSF EPC lies in its multidisciplinary, highly capable, and respected faculty. The 66 Center faculty are drawn from a number of clinical departments at Stanford University (e.g., internal medicine, cardiology, psychiatry, pulmonology) and at UCSF (e.g., internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, pharmacy, dentistry, and family and community medicine). Fourteen faculty members are based at three Bay Area Veterans Affairs Medical Centers (Palo Alto, Menlo Park, and San Francisco).

At UCSF, the Center also includes investigators from:

  • The Institute for Health Policy Studies and its associated San Francisco Cochrane Center.
  • The Institute for Health and Aging.
  • The MEDTEP (Medical Treatment Effectiveness Program) Research Center on Minority Populations.
  • The National Center of Excellence in Women's Health.

At Stanford University, Center investigators are from:

  • The Center for Primary Care and Outcomes Research
  • The Center for Health Policy.
  • The National Research Service Award Institutional Program in Health Services Research.
  • The National Library of Medicine Training Program in Medical Informatics.

In addition, two faculty members are based at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, California. In the recent past, faculty members have served on the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and the Public Health Service Expert Panel on Cost-Effectiveness in Health and Medicine.

Additional Information

Access the Stanford University-UCSF EPC Web site at: http://healthpolicy.stanford.edu/stanford-ucsf-epc/

Or contact:

Douglas K. Owens, M.D., M.S.
Director, Stanford-UCSF EPC
Center for Primary Care and Outcomes Research
Stanford University
117 Encina Commons
Stanford, CA 94305-6019
Phone: (650) 723-0933
Fax: (650) 723-1919
E-mail: owens@smi.stanford.edu


Internet Citation:

Stanford-UCSF Evidence-based Practice Center. Profile, November 2002. Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research, Rockville, MD. https://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/epc/ucsfepc.htm


Current as of November 2002
Internet Citation: Stanford-UCSF: Evidence-based Practice Center. November 2002. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://archive.ahrq.gov/research/findings/evidence-based-reports/centers/ucsfepc.html

 

The information on this page is archived and provided for reference purposes only.

 

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