Q12: What is the overall goal of Prescription for Health?
A: The overarching goal of Prescription for Health is to improve the health of millions of people by incorporating practical strategies that promote healthy behaviors into routine primary care practice.
Q13: Who is the lead contact for the Prescription for Health initiative?
A: The lead contact for Prescription for Health is Maribel Cifuentes, Deputy Director of the program. She can be reached by e-mail at healthy.behaviors@uchsc.edu, or by phone at (303) 724-9771.
Q14: What health behaviors does this program target?
A: The program targets four specific health-risk behaviors: sedentary lifestyle, unhealthy diet, tobacco use, and risky alcohol use. To be eligible, applicants must submit proposals that address at least two of the four target health risk behaviors. Strong preference will be given to proposals that address all four. Applicants whose proposals do not address all four behaviors must present a strong justification for such omissions (e.g., it might be inappropriate to include interventions targeting risky alcohol use in a project aimed at children).
Q 15: Are there different goals between Round 1 and 2 of Prescription for Health?
A: The primary goal of Round 1 was to increase the utilization of effective health behavior change counseling techniques in routine primary care by: (1) testing evidence-based, brief interventions and/or (2) developing and evaluating implementation tools, novel approaches and partnerships. Documenting the cost of the intervention(s) and patient outcomes (e.g., self-reported or verified behavior changes, related clinical outcomes) was secondary in the first round.
The goal of Round 2 is to understand and measure the extent to which more comprehensive strategies are effective in improving patients’ health behaviors and result in improved practice. Interventions should field- test new models of care, new tools, and strategies that have potential to facilitate the delivery of health behavior change interventions or to improve their efficiency and reach and be compatible with existing evidence, such as the interventions disseminated by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and the CDC Community Guide Task Force.
Q16: Why did you choose to fund only PBRNs?
A: PBRNs are broadly representative of community-based practice and function as vital research laboratories capable of identifying important questions and opportunities and investigating what actually does and can happen in frontline practice. PBRNs are thus well positioned to find practical means to seize opportunities for integrating interventions for health behavior change into everyday care.
Q17: What population does this program intend to reach?
A: Because the program is focused on primary care practices, it intends to reach the population cared for by primary care practices. In a typical month in the United States, about 113 of every 1000 people visit a primary care practice. More than 80% of people have a usual source of care, and for the majority this usual source of care is a primary care physician. Because health behaviors are relevant to everyone, this program does not exclude any population subgroup. PBRNs are encouraged to develop and test innovations appropriate for the people they serve from all walks of life and background.
Q18: What is the difference between the NPO and the PBRN Resource Center?
A: The NPO is responsible for general oversight and direction for the Prescription for Health program. The NPO will also be responsible for providing some technical assistance, and making appropriate linkages between grantees and appropriate resources, including the PBRN Resource Center.
Q19: What is the PBRN Resource Center?
A: The PBRN Resource Center funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) will provide selected technical assistance and consultative support to grantees specifically aimed at building the research capacity of the selected PBRNs.
Funded PBRNs will need to identify their potential needs and submit their requests to the PBRN Resource Center, who will administer a discrete additional pool of money to accommodate these requests. The availability of specific technical assistance should not be automatically assumed.
The PBRN Resource Center is made up of a team of experts from Indiana University School of Medicine and the National Opinion Research Center. Their expertise includes (but is not limited to):
- Information Technology (IT) and Electronic Medical Record (EMR) structure and function
- Research involving diverse populations
- Institutional Review Board (IRB) and HIPAA regulations
- Engaging community representatives in research
- Translating research into practice
- Conceptualization, design, and implementation of effective research methods
- Instrument testing and development
- Data management and analysis
- Health informatics
The scope of assistance provided to each grantee site will depend on what is needed and appropriate.
To learn more about the PBRN Resource Center visit www.pbrnrc.iupui.edu.
