AcademyHealth Strategic Plan 2009-2012
Health Services Research (HSR)
Learning Consortium
Strategic Plan
June 14, 2011 – June 10, 20141
Date Accepted: October 15, 2011
Advancing Research, Policy and Practice
Health Services Research (HSR) Learning Consortium Strategic Plan
Table of Contents
Executive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
I. Organizational Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
II. Mission, Vision, and Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
III. Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
IV. Strategies/Tactics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Executive Summary
AcademyHealth has undertaken a series of activities to articulate
the potential contribution that the HSR Learning Consortium can
make to elevate training for the field of health services and policy
research. In addition to bringing the community of educators,
employers, practitioners, and students together to discuss training
priorities, the HSR Learning Consortium has supported the
development of online learning and training resources, while
fostering the development of new scholarships and training
programs. To advance discussion and opportunities for training
in HSR, a set of five goals has been proposed:
GOAL 1: Regularly engage with the HSR Community2 to
exchange information and learn from each other regarding
challenges, opportunities, and innovations in population health
and health care, as well as approaches to learning in a variety of
settings and through various approaches across academic training
and continuous professional development.
GOAL 2: Facilitate networking and collaborations within the
HSR Community to ensure that the field is responsive to the
challenges, opportunities, and innovations identified by the HSR
Learning Consortium.
GOAL 3: Develop new training resources and enhance existing
ones to ensure that the field is responsive to those challenges,
opportunities, and innovations in population health and
health care, and learning in a variety of settings and through
various approaches across academic and continuous
professional development.
GOAL 4: Promote innovations in continuous professional
development for health services and policy research.
GOAL 5: Ensure sustainable support for the activities of the HSR
Learning Consortium.
Strategies and tactics have been proposed to achieve each of the
stated goals. Implicit in these directions is the importance of
expanding participation in the field, including efforts to increase
diversity with respect to under-represented constituencies and
intellectual disciplines, and include important perspectives from
key stakeholders including patients, providers, consumers, and
communities.
2
Health Services Research (HSR) Learning Consortium Strategic Plan
I. Description of the HSR Learning
Consortium
The HSR Learning Consortium is a forum for educators,
employers, and learners of all ages to address training needs for
the field of health services research (HSR). A key goal of the
HSR Learning Consortium is to improve communication and
collaboration between stakeholders in the field and encourage
partnerships to ensure that HSR training is appropriately meeting
the needs of employers and practitioners in the public and
private sector, as well as academia. With support from the Agency
for Healthcare Research and Quality, the first HSR Learning
Consortium meeting was held at the Annual Research Meeting
in Chicago on Tuesday, June 30, 2009. Subsequent meetings have
engaged private support from both Bristol-Myers Squibb and Lilly.
The Learning Consortium is guided by an Advisory Committee,
which includes the following members:
Diane Martin, Ph.D. * (chair)
Professor
Department of Health Services
University of Washington
Tanisha Carino, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President
Center on Evidence-Based Medicine
Avalere Health, LLC
Francis Chesley, M.D.
Director
Office of Extramural Research, Education, and Priority
Populations
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Bryan Dowd, Ph.D.*
Professor
Division of Health Services Research and Policy
University of Minnesota
Diane Flickinger, R.Ph., M.B.A
Senior Clinical and Health Outcomes Liaison
U.S. Outcomes Research
Eli Lilly and Company
Barbara McNeil, M.D., Ph.D.*
Ridley Watts Professor and Head
Department of Health Care Policy
Harvard Medical School
John O’Donnell, Ph.D.
Vice President
Global Health Economics and Outcomes Research
Bristol-Myers Squibb
Mark Pauly, Ph.D.
Professor
The Wharton School of Business
University of Pennsylvania
Joan Reede, M.D., M.P.H., M.S.
Dean
Office of Diversity and Community Partnership
Harvard Medical School
Sarah Rosenbaum, J.D.*
Professor and Chair
Department of Health Policy
The George Washington University
Karen Rudzinski, Ph.D.
Director
Division of Research Education
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Lucy Savitz, Ph.D., M.B.A.
Director, Research and Education
Institute for Healthcare Delivery Research
Intermountain Healthcare
Mary Durham, Ph.D.
Director, The Center for Health Research
Vice President of Research
Kaiser Permanente
Carol Simon, Ph.D., M.S.
Managing Director
The Lewin Group
Seth Eisen, M.D., M.Sc.
Director
Health Services Research and Development Service
Department of Veterans Affairs
Albert Wu, M.D., M.P.H.
Professor
Department of Health Policy and Management
Johns Hopkins University
* Member of the AcademyHealth Methods Council
3
Health Services Research (HSR) Learning Consortium Strategic Plan
The HSR Learning Consortium meets annually to discuss updates in
the field, engage in dialogue, and propose activities and resources to
advance training in HSR. Findings and recommendations from each
meeting are disseminated to HSR stakeholders for feedback and to
enhance communication and collaboration among all consortium
members, including those not able to attend the meeting.
As a result of these discussions and recommendations,
AcademyHealth has pursued several innovative projects, often in
collaboration or with guidance from the AcademyHealth Methods
Council. Examples include:
• The AcademyHealth/Aetna Foundation Minority Scholars
Program.
• New sessions at the Annual Research Meeting focused on
communication topics and new workforce development topics,
with a focus on non-academic career paths. Examples from the
2011 Annual Research Meeting include:
– Talking the Talk: Best Practices in Effectively Communicating Research Results
– Charting your Career in Health Services Research:
New Opportunities for the Field
The HSR Learning Consortium is focused on advancing training
for health services researchers in degree-based programs and postdoctoral training, as well as continuing education opportunities for
practitioners in the field. Key areas of emphasis include:
•
Expanding perspectives within the field, including efforts to
increase diversity3 with respect to the inclusion of researchers
from under-represented constituencies and intellectual
disciplines, and include important perspectives from key
stakeholders, including patients, providers, consumers, and
communities.
•
Understanding community priorities and ensuring community
engagement and participation throughout the research process.
•
Embracing innovation in the field, including new methods and
techniques for the conduct of both research and learning.
•
Maintaining a commitment to responsible conduct of research,
including respect for persons, as well as security, privacy, and
confidentiality of personal health information.
III. Goals
The following goals for the HSR Learning Consortium have been
articulated as priorities by consortium participants.
– Building a Successful Career in Non-University Settings
• The HSR Training Directory.
• Online skill-building seminars on communications topics, as
well as translation and dissemination.
• Online methods seminars on quantitative methods, including
the recent three-part webinar series on analysis of social
networks.
• Submission of a large conference grant on quantitative methods
in HSR.
• Project proposals for a ‘practice-based fellowship.’
II. Mission, Vision, and Values
Mission Statement
The mission of the HSR Learning Consortium is to advance
learning in the field of health services and policy research in order
to improve health care and population health.
Vision Statement
The HSR Learning Consortium enhances and strengthens the
expertise needed to achieve a learning health care system by
promoting diversity and competency in the HSR workforce.
Values Statement
The HSR Learning Consortium is an open forum for all members
of the HSR Community, engaging key stakeholders, patients,
and consumers to contribute ideas and build partnerships to
advance training and learning.
GOAL 1: Regularly engage with the HSR Community to exchange
information and learn from each other regarding challenges,
opportunities, and innovations in population health and health
care, as well as approaches to learning in a variety of settings
and through various approaches across academic training and
continuous professional development.
GOAL 2: Facilitate networking and collaborations within the
HSR Community to ensure that the field is responsive to the
challenges, opportunities, and innovations identified by the HSR
Learning Consortium.
GOAL 3: Develop new training resources and enhance existing
ones to ensure that the field is responsive to those challenges,
opportunities, and innovations in population health and health
care, and learning in a variety of settings and through various
approaches across academic and continuous professional
development.
GOAL 4: Promote innovations in continuous professional
development for health services and policy research.
GOAL 5: Ensure sustainable support for the activities of the HSR
Learning Consortium.
4
Health Services Research (HSR) Learning Consortium Strategic Plan
IV. Strategies/Tactics
For each of the identified goals, the following strategies/tactics
are proposed.
GOAL 1: Regularly engage with the HSR Community to exchange
information and learn from each other regarding challenges,
opportunities, and innovations in population health and health
care, as well as approaches to learning in a variety of settings
and through various approaches across academic training and
continuous professional development.
Strategies/Tactics:
1.Hold an annual HSR Learning Consortium meeting to discuss
key issues in the field. This breakfast meeting will be held
concurrent with the AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting
(ARM). It will provide a summary of annual accomplishments
and present new issues for discussion.
Invited participants will include:
– All program directors from identified HSR doctoral programs;
– Representative employers from major federal agencies, non-
profit, and private employers in the field;
– Faculty mentors from AcademyHealth student chapters;
– Student leadership from AcademyHealth student chapters;
– AcademyHealth Methods Council members;
– Recipients of major traineeships and fellowships, including the Aetna Minority Scholars Program and the Public Health Systems Research (PHSR) Scholarship programs; and
– Funders of health services research.
2.Produce an annual ‘State of the Field’ brief on the training
needs in the field. This document will draw on information
on current funding and trends in the field, and will identify
innovations as well as questions, concerns, and comments from
educators and employers. The brief will include an annual
scan of employers’ needs with an emphasis on important HSR
skill sets, which will inform materials for the HSR Learning
Consortium annual meeting and facilitate discussion between
educators and employers;
3.Convene two to three Web-based discussions for HSR Learning
Consortium members. These will provide an opportunity for
dialogue among consortium members on topics and themes to
be decided with guidance from the HSR Learning Consortium
Advisory Committee;
4.Develop a networked community for HSR Learning Consortium
members, facilitated through my.AcademyHealth.org. This site
will enable the information exchange and discussion across the
community interested in promoting best practices for continuous
professional development in HSR;
5.Develop materials to address issues related to the responsible
conduct of HSR in academic, policy research, advocacy, and
operational/corporate settings (e.g., HIPAA privacy rule;
handling of personal health information).
GOAL 2: Facilitate networking and collaborations within the
HSR Community to ensure that the field is responsive to the
challenges, opportunities, and innovations identified by the HSR
Learning Consortium.
Strategies/Tactics:
1.Facilitate ad hoc subcommittee meetings on projects and
collaborations of interest to the community;
2.Advance one or two projects per year to promote collaboration
across the HSR Learning Consortium. Examples may include
efforts to facilitate exchange and collaboration between faculty
at existing NRSA T32 training programs and those at new
training programs, outreach and interaction with relevant
Clinical Translational Science Award (CTSA) Key Functional
Committees (KFC) (e.g., education and career development,
community engagement, and comparative effectiveness
research), and the Consortium of African American Public
Health Programs.
GOAL 3: Develop new training resources and enhance existing
ones to ensure that the field is responsive to those challenges,
opportunities, and innovations in population health and health
care, and learning in a variety of settings and through various
approaches across academic and continuous professional
development.
Strategies/Tactics:
1.Develop at least one new skill-building webinar (e.g., written
and verbal communication) per year with input from HSR
Learning Consortium members;
2.Develop at least one new webinar series on methods and data per
year, based on input from HSR Learning Consortium members;
5
Health Services Research (HSR) Learning Consortium Strategic Plan
3.Identify new models and programs for training in practice-based
settings, either by conducting case studies of successful residency
programs or developing new collaborative models for practicebased training in non-academic settings;
4.If the HSR core competencies are revisited and revised, develop
new resources to disseminate the competencies and expand their
utility (e.g., for programs, prospective students, etc.);
4.Develop and share models of successful HSR programs to share
best practices.
5.Work with employers and educators to develop one or two new
educational tools or resources per year. Examples may include
case studies or examples for teaching purposes, discussion
guides, data sets, or online skill assessments/surveys. Areas and
topics of particular interest include approaches to working with
new data sources, mixed methods research, communication
skills, working with communities throughout the research
process, translational research, and policy analysis and synthesis.
GOAL 5: Ensure sustainable support for the activities of the HSR
Learning Consortium.
GOAL 4: Promote innovations in continuous professional
development for health services and policy research.
Strategies:
1.Create new awards for excellence in teaching and mentoring;
2.Regularly highlight innovative approaches and lessons from
individuals, institutions, and organizations within the HSR
Learning Consortium network;
3.Conduct an environmental scan of efforts in “open science” and
“collaborative science” that are relevant to HSR. This would
include a review of:
• Collaborative research projects in HSR;
• Open access approaches to research conduct, translation,
• The opportunity to work with new professional communities (e.g., technologists and applications developers) to contemplate emerging approaches to research conduct, translation, and dissemination.
Strategies:
1.Convene a budget workgroup to review a proposed budget for
the HSR Learning Consortium and assess financial goals for the
consortium;
2.Develop core metrics of success for the HSR Learning
Consortium to evaluate progress.
Endnotes
1. These dates correspond to the conclusion of the 2011 and 2014 AcademyHealth
Annual Research Meetings, which will take place in Seattle, WA, and San Diego,
CA, respectively.
2. The field of HSR typically refers to health services and policy researchers
working in a variety of settings. The broader community with whom health
services researchers engage includes patients, consumers, providers, purchasers,
payers, employers, state, local, and federal policy analysts and policymakers,
as well as community-based organizations, health systems, and policymaking
entities with a strong interest in the use of evidence to improve health care and
population health. In this document, the “HSR Community” refers both to
those who produce health services research, and to the users of the research.
3. AcademyHealth is committed to promoting diversity among our members and
the field at large in terms of race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender
identity, and other historically underrepresented backgrounds.
and dissemination, including e-publishing and the gray literature; and
6