Expansion of Rural Health Care Research Infrastructure through the ECHO Model

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DESCRIPTION (PROVIDED BY APPLICANT): The Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO) Model was developed by the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center (UNM-HSC) as a platform for both service delivery and research. Using state-of-the-art telehealth technology, ECHO is designed to train primary care providers from underserved areas (such as rural communities) to develop knowledge and self-efficacy in best practice care for complex health conditions. ECHO'S "learning loops" and other provider training components were designed based on case-based learning used in medical education and a theoretical framework that includes Social Cognitive Theory and situated learning. Four inter-disciplinary research teams will assess the ability of the ECHO Model to train community providers, while they receive mentoring in six major content areas through both ongoing consultation with senior faculty and a structured training curriculum. This will expand the capacity of these minority faculty to conduct health services research. The specific aims of each of the four research arms parallel the following broad aims for the overall project. 1. To increase the capacity of minority faculty to become independent, externally-funded researchers by providing them with leadership, skills and knowledge. 2. To assess ECHO'S robustness to train inter-disciplinary teams of health care providers, by replicating and testing it on a broad range of complex health problems/conditions. 3. To assess ECHO'S capability to increase provider knowledge and self-efficacy in current best practices. 4. To improve clinical outcomes for underserved patients by expanding access to best practice care. The proposed research will replicate and test the ECHO Model for four complex health issues. Research Arm on Diabetes, PI Kathleen Colleran, MD Research Arm on Pediatric Overweight, PI Keri Bolton Oetzel, PhD, MPH, LPC Research Arm on Buprenorphine, PI Miriam Komaromy, MD Research Arm on Medical Ethics, PI Anne Simpson, MD, CMD