Advancing Geriatrics Infrastructure & Network Growth

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application responds to PAR-13-287 (Network and Infrastructure Support for Development of Interdisciplinary Aging Research). We propose to bridge the HMO Research Network with the Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Centers (OAICs; aka Pepper Centers) to create a national resource to nurture and advance an interdisciplinary research agenda focused on older adults with multiple chronic conditions (MCCs). Our specific aims under this initiative are: (1) to collaboratively develop a framework and procedures to enhance the existing HMORN data infrastructure to advance interdisciplinary research on older adults with MCCs; (2) to support interdisciplinary pilot projects that optimize HMORN and OAIC resources and foster collaboration between HMORN and OAIC investigators to address questions relevant to data validity, comparative effectiveness, health outcomes, health disparities, and costs of care in older persons with MCCs. These projects will serve to further define the adequacy of available data, identify and prioritize additional data needs, and lay the groundwork for interventions to preserve and recover function in older adults with MCCs; (3) to identify and mentor junior faculty from the HMORN and OAICs with a research focus on older adults with MCCs; and (4) to disseminate interdisciplinary research approaches and findings relating to the science of MCCs in older adults to the larger scientific community. These synergistic aims leverage the accumulated aging research expertise of the OAICs together with the HMORN's large patient populations, electronic health record data, and cadre of embedded healthcare delivery system researchers to create a unique national resource that will: (1) encourage, facilitate, and support research that can address the most important questions relevant to older persons with MCCs; (2) increase knowledge about how best to use data found in electronic health record systems from multiple, diverse healthcare organizations; (3) promote collaboration among researchers from different disciplines, and engage, mentor, and develop junior faculty from across these fields; and (4) disseminate findings from research on older persons with MCCs that will translate into the delivery of higher quality and more cost-effective care.