Intermountain Health joins medical research initiative

Utah-based Intermountain Health has been selected to join a nationwide initiative working to speed up implementation of potentially groundbreaking research in health care.

Intermountain is one of 42 health care organizations brought on board by the National Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to contribute to the Health Systems Implementation Initiative.

Providing up to $500,000 for an initial project that helps to prepare health care organizations with future strategies, the Health Systems Implementation Initiative aims to accelerate the use of published research, cutting down what Intermountain said is an estimated 17-year lag between publishing medical research and its use in health care facilities.

Further funding for health care systems involved in the initiative will be provided if health care organizations support other projects promoting evidence from the National Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.

With every implemented project, health care organizations can receive funds ranging from $500,000 to $5 million.

Dr. JP Valin, the chief clinical officer at Intermountain Health, said, “We believe that every patient … deserves to get the best care and the treatment and the most up-to-date and state of the art care that’s being delivered.”

He said the 17-year lag from the time medical research is conducted to when it’s implemented in a facility is because of the process to learn new practices.

Currently, to keep up to date on new treatment and care, Valin said, medical professionals read through journals and attend conferences, which can be a somewhat lengthy process. Then, the research can begin to seep into medical training to benefit patients.

Intermountain has been putting forward an effort to share information faster. Intermountain, Valin said, “has done that through the work of its Healthcare Delivery Institute, which we’ve had for decades now, as well as our clinical programs work.”

Intermountain’s ability to quickly share information has been nationally recognized, and the contribution to the Health Systems Implementation Initiative will only further encourage the sharing of health care research, Valin said.

The Health Systems Implementation Initiative aims to create a platform where researchers from around the country can share their findings, deploying best-care practices in a facility where health care professionals can gather and share more information to improve patients’ health, said Valin.

Valin said, “Then we can publish that (information) and share that more broadly around the country.”

Participants in the Health Systems Implementation Initiative represent 800 hospitals nationwide, serving nearly a quarter of the U.S. population.

Including academic medical centers, community-based systems, integrated health care delivery and finance systems, safety net health systems, faith-based systems, public health care delivery systems, and a medical center within the Veterans Health Administration, the Health Systems Implementation Initiative is taking “groundbreaking” steps, said Nakela Cook, executive director of the National Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.

Cook said these steps will “lay the groundwork for future expansion and broader implementation by demonstrating pathways to uptake and sharing lessons learned across health systems.”

This sharing and implementation of medical research has “never been done on this scale before across the country,” Valin said.

Valin hopes to continue implementing life-changing research to benefit patients nationwide.