Program Overview

Prescription for Health has awarded two rounds of grants, and is currently working with 10 primary care practice-based research networks (PBRNs) in its second and final round of funding.

In round one, Prescription for Health awarded 17 grants to selected PBRNs to test the feasibility of innovative strategies for improving the reach and practicality of behavior change counseling in primary care practice. To learn more about this work please refer to:

Prescripiton for Health: Changing Primary Care Practice to Foster Healthy Behaviors - Annals of Family Medicine July/August 2005 Volume 3, Supplement

P4H Primary Results Papers - Round 1

In round two, Prescription for Health is working with 10 PBRNs to:

1. Develop effective, practical strategies for changing Americans' unhealthy
behaviors through primary care
2. Understand and measure the extent to which more comprehensive health
behavior counseling strategies are effective in improving patients' behaviors
and result in improved practice
3. Evaluation outcomes using a common set of patient and practice measures,
and assess the strategies for reach, effectiveness, adoption,
implementation, and maintenance

Technical assistance is being offered by1) the National Program Office (NPO) located at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Department of Family Medicine 2) the PBRN Resource Center funded by AHRQ and located at Indiana University, School of Medicine and 3) through a series of meetings to promote collaborative learning among the funded PBRNs.

RWJF also separately funds an Analysis Team (A-Team) to assess the program’s progress in developing and applying novel, practical approaches to promoting healthy behaviors in primary care practices. The A-Team will facilitate the learning of overarching lessons that transcend any single project and provide regular feedback to each funded PBRN that can be used to enhance projects and evaluate their outcomes.