Directors:
Associate Director:
Jeroan J. Allison, MD, MS Epi
Established: October
1998
The mission of the UAB COERE is to
build and maintain a successful program of research targeted at improving the
quality and outcomes of health care.
This is accomplished by using interdisciplinary teams to test
innovations that promote evidence-based practice, reduce inequities in care for
under-served and minority populations, and improve quality of life and
functional outcomes for patients; developing and testing innovative methods
with application to important questions in the delivery of health care;
training and mentoring students, fellows and faculty in these methods; and
serving as a resource to UAB faculty, health care systems, related
organizations, government, and philanthropy to further disseminate outcomes
research knowledge and expertise.
Multidisciplinary Membership
Sponsored by the Schools of
Business, Dentistry, Education, Engineering, Health Professions, Medicine,
Nursing, Optometry, Public Health, and Social and Behavioral Sciences, the
Center includes approximately 200 faculty from across the UAB campus.
Scope
The scope of outcomes research is
broad, requiring a multidisciplinary approach.
The COERE brings together clinical, biomedical, quantitative,
behavioral, and social sciences researchers offering a range of expertise.
Center Research
The COERE offers integrated
scientific expertise and experience in all areas of outcomes and effectiveness
research, including: quality measurement and improvement, patient-based
outcomes assessment, outcomes management and tracking, economic and decision
analytic modeling, clinical data analysis, and analysis of large administrative
datasets. Center leadership applies this
expertise to clinical and health services research through an active program of
collaborative, investigator-initiated research and cooperative agreements.
Training and Education
Leadership of the COERE actively
mentors pre and postdoctoral students, clinical fellows, junior faculty, and
mid-career faculty in the methods and applications of outcomes and effectiveness
research and in quality of care research.
The Center sponsors one, two, and three-year predoctoral and
postdoctoral research training opportunities and was awarded a National
Research Service Award Training Grant in Health Services Research from the
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in July 2003. The COERE also participates as a collaborator
on other interdisciplinary training grants at UAB, the Birmingham VA Medical
Center, and Morehouse School of Medicine to include access to outcomes and
effectiveness research training expertise and mentoring. In addition, the COERE offers sponsors and
annual CE Institute on Assessing Outcomes in Health Care. The Center also supports multiple forums for
faculty and trainee enrichment through interdisciplinary seminars, discussion
groups, and a journal club.
Support for UAB's Research Infrastructure
The COERE is organized
around six research and training units designed to build UAB's outcomes
research infrastructure and function as University-wide shared facilities. They house faculty, staff, and postdoctoral research trainees
that collaborate on research projects to address issues of design and analytic
methodology. Center leadership in these
units provides mentoring and training opportunities in outcomes research and
plays a crucial role in securing new extramural funding for UAB.
Faculty
with expertise in decision analysis, including cost-effectiveness, cost-benefit
analysis, and other econometrically focused outcomes research methods, mentor
and train COERE postdoctoral fellows, clinical fellows, and UAB faculty in the
methods of economic and decision-analytic modeling. The Unit also conducts periodic discussion
groups for faculty to present their cost-effectiveness or decision-analytic
models for peer-review discussion and feedback.
Statistical Design and Analysis Unit (SDAU) Sharina Person, PhD, Director
This Unit provides
statistical design, analytic, and data management assistance to UAB researchers
interested in outcomes research. Members
of the Unit specialize in utilizing large clinical and administrative data sets
(e.g., Medicare or VA claims-based data files, HCFA’s Cooperative
Cardiovascular Project), and quality measurement tools (e.g., ABCTM
benchmarking methodology).
Health Outcomes Assessment Unit (HOAU) Joshua
Klapow, PhD, Director
The HOAU houses
expertise and a resource library of tools and scoring methods for patient-based
outcomes measurement. Unit faculty and
postdoctoral trainees are available to consult with UAB faculty in choosing or
developing appropriate instruments for outcomes assessment (e.g., health
status, health-related quality of life, patient preferences) and their
implementation for achieving desired research goals. Instrument development is guided by COERE
faculty with expertise in psychometrics and measurement theory applications in
outcomes evaluation.
Education and Training Unit (ETU)
Pamela Autrey, PhD, RN, Director
This Unit provides enrichment activities for UAB
faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students in the form of discussion
groups, seminars, and a journal club focused on outcomes and health services research
topics. This Unit also coordinates half-day
CME seminar courses through its annual “Institute on Outcomes in Health Care.”
Health Informatics Unit (HIU) Thomas Houston, MD, MPH,
Director
This Unit focuses on the
use and evaluation of information technology and its impact on health care
processes, effectiveness, and outcomes. Examples
of expertise in the HIU include the design and evaluation of internet-based
interventions aimed at improving the quality of health care.
The UAB
CERTs is one of seven national centers funded under the Agency for Healthcare
Research and Quality's CERTs program. Its
focus is on improving physicians' management of the complex drug regimens for
patients with arthritis and osteoporosis.
The CERTs effectiveness research capabilities involve linkages between
the COERE, the UAB Arthritis and
Achievements
Since being designated as a
For additional information:
Web Site: http://www.dopm.uab.edu/coere/index.html
Deputy Director: C.
Email: coere@uab.edu
Phone: 205-934-6838
Approved by: C.
Date: April 29, 2008
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