Table 1.

PATIENTS research sub-projects

Study title/start date/P.I.	Research/community partners	Objectives	Design/aims	Preliminary results
Improving heart failure (HF) outcomes (2013) Robin Newhouse, PhD, RN	• Riverside Health System rural hospitals • Rural nurses and providers • Rural patients	Build infrastructure to implement evidence-based interventions in health systems (rural hospitals) to improve patient outcomes	1. Test if an intervention (standardized patient education, post discharge appointment, calling patient to reinforce HF education) improves patient outcomes (lower readmissions, better knowledge and self-care) 2. Identify hospital and provider characteristics associated with better implementation of heart failure patient care processes 3. Determine which healthcare processes and outcomes are most important to heart failure patients	• 22% of patients readmitted (compared to national rate of 25%) • No relationship between 7 days post discharge self-care subscales and readmission • Improvements in pre- and post-maintenance and management changes in self-care
Methods for selecting comparator interventions (2014) Susan dosReis, PhD	• Maryland Coalition of Families • Alzheimer’s Association of Greater Maryland • Alzheimer’s Association of the National Capital Area	Develop methods to help surrogates make treatment decisions; investigate methods to match surrogates’ health outcome preferences with the best available evidence-based treatment	1. To quantify joint process of selecting and prioritizing key attributes of comparator interventions and preferred health outcomes 2. To create a framework to match surrogate preferences for preferred health outcomes with selection of comparator interventions 3. To validate the framework across age, race/ethnicity, and SES that may contribute to potential disparities in patient-centered care	• Caregivers felt most concepts presented were relevant now or in the past in care management • Most (75%) of the concepts were validated by focus group participants • Priorities for caregivers in care management approaches are presented as two distinct sets: (1) health system decisions and (2) outcomes or goals for care
Personalized strategies to activate and empower patients in health and health care (2015) Jie Chen, PhD	• Montgomery County DHHS Asian American, African-American, and Latino Health Initiatives • Cynthia Chauhan (patient) • Westat	To provide a comprehensive assessment of effective patient activation and empowerment strategies (PAES) for diverse patient populations	To develop culturally designed personalized PAES that sustain patients’ involvement, develop abilities to manage their health, help patients express treatment concerns and preferences, empower patients to ask questions about treatment options; and build up strategic patient-physician partnership through shared decision-making	• Depressed patients seen in a physician’s office have significantly higher patient activation levels than those with a usual source of care in the ER or hospital outpatient clinics • The primary care setting may be critical to sustain patient-physician relationships that enhances patient engagement in mental health care • People with mental illness and co-occurring physical conditions were significantly less likely to be engaged in health care
Patient perspectives on hospital discharge planning and transitions to home (2016) Eberechukwu Onukwugha, PhD	• Union Regional Medical Center • University of Maryland Medical Center • MedStar Franklin Square Hospital Center	Examine how to improve hospital discharge planning and transitions to home from the patient perspective	1. To elicit patients’ and healthcare providers’ perspectives on post-hospital discharge outcomes and components of a patient-centered discharge plan. 2. To elicit patients’ perspectives on the multi-level factors that prevent individuals from managing their own health following hospital discharge 3. To compare findings by setting (urban, suburban, and rural)	TBD