LA Net Advisory
Council Members
John A Kotick, JD (Chairman)
Family Health Care Centers of Greater Los Angeles
Mohsen Bazargan, Ph.D.
Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science
Condessa Curley, MD
Eisner Pediatrics and Family Medical Center
Ignacio DeArtola , MD
Cleaver Family Wellness Center
Grace Floutsis, MD
Clinica Msr. Oscar A. Romero
Lillian Gelberg, MD, MSPH
University of California, Los Angeles
Ricardo G. Hahn, MD
University of Southern California
Sally Hur, Pharm. D.
QueensCare, Echo Park
Sarah Ingersoll, MSN, MBA, RN
American Medical Informatics Association
University of Southern California
Cristina Jose Kampher, PhD
AltaMed
June Levine. RN, MSN
Access to Care Collaborative
Carmela Lomonaco, PhD
Imelda Meza, MA
The Children’s Clinic
Kiki Nocella, PhD
University of California, Riverside
Felix Nuñez, MD, MPH
Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles County
Elise Pomerance, MD
East Valley Community Health Center
Jehni Robinson, MD
The Los Angeles Free Clinic
Michael A. Rodríguez, MD, MPH
University of California, Los Angeles
Richard Seidman, MD, MPH
LA Care
Maureen Strohm, MD
California Hospital Medical Center
Ava Lenda Waldman
AIDS Research Alliance
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LA Net Projects and Studies
Colorectal Cancer Screening in Latino, African American and Asian Populations
This study examined the efficacy of unsedated colonoscopy compared to flexible sigmoidoscopy as an office-based screening tool. Outcomes of interest include: completion rates, depth reached, clinical findings, complications, as well as access indicators. A proposal is pending at the National Cancer Institute and one manuscript has been published.
Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Use by Recent Immigrants
This study was selected by LA Net members at the 2005 Forum. Clinicians from LA Net developed a survey to administer to CCALA members on attitudes and behaviors related to CAM with their patients. A second survey (verbal) was administered to patients at South Central Family Practice Center at time of visit to identify CAMs currently being used, and to discuss their CAM experiences with health care provider. A third phase of study may seek to analyze contents of actual CAMs provided by patients.
Child Development Parent Training
This study will be conducted in collaboration with the Southern California Center of Academic Excellence on Youth Violence Prevention and Latino Health Access. It will examine the potential impact of primary care delivered parent training for reducing the incidence of child abuse, child aggression, and improving developmental and health outcomes for children aged 5 to 12.
Latino Parents' Beliefs and Practices Related to Pediatric Obesity Prevention in Young Children
Data collected through focus groups on immigrant parents’ feeding practices and nutritional knowledge will be used to inform development of a culturally competent pediatric obesity prevention intervention for use in primary care setting.
Incidence of Plagiocephaly in Full-term Infants
This study will determine the incidence of deformational plagiocephaly in infants and examine relationships among ethnicity, parent reported common sleeping position for infant, weight at time of delivery and presence of deformational plagiocephaly. This study is currently in process.
ePCRN: electronic Primary Care Research Network
The purpose of the ePCRN is to establish a clinic-based registry in primary care that interfaces with the research database, promotes translation of research findings into practice, provides a set of investigational tools for practitioners, and uses a standardized dataset (CCR) that promotes clinical information exchange. LA Net is also one of 10 networks participating in the ePCRN project funded by the National Institutes of Health. As part of this project, 10 LA Net sites will be linked electronically through existing billing, laboratory and other data systems to establish a regional primary care patient registry that will be used to support quality improvement initiatives, and rapid translation of research into practice. The application and use of the ePCRN was presented by LA Net in a poster session at the UNC Chapel Hill Minority Health Conference in 2007.
National Children's Study Pilot Project
The National Children’s Study examined environmental impacts on child development. 100,000 children from before birth to age 21 will be followed in this $2.9 billion dollar study. LA Net was chosen as a pilot site for the NCS to examine feasibility of using primary care providers to recruit and collect data from study subjects. As of September 2005, six Study Centers have been identified, one in Orange County, CA, and will be the first to recruit participants and collect data in local communities as part of this decades-long research effort.
Primary Care Network Survey
The primary care network survey (PRINS) was conducted in 2002. Data were collected on randomly selected office visits in 5 clinics at 4 different times of the year (to control for seasonal variation). Visit profiles were developed for each participating clinic and data are available for secondary analysis both for LA Net and a larger national study.
System Assessment of Healthy Psychosocial Development
This CDC funded pilot study examined health care provider interventions to improve the mental health of high-risk, low-income children in two network clinics. Results of the pilot study will be used to provide the rationale for a larger practice-based intervention in this area.
MEADERS – Pilot to Test a National Medication Error and Adverse Drug Event Reporting System for Ambulatory Care
To design and test a user friendly primary care medication event reporting system that can be used for quality improvement at the practice level and for adverse drug event surveillance at the national level by contributing data to the FDA’s MedWatch program. Clinics involved on the project are East Valley West Covina and Pomona, Clinicas Msr. Oscar Romero Marengo Street and Alvarado Street and QueensCare Echo Park Clinic.
Improving Quality of Depression Screening in Patients with Diabetes
This project will evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of Depression management algorithms developed by LA County Dept of Health to primary care providers in community health centers. It has been expanded to evaluate the impact of partial implementation of the MacArthur Toolkit for Managing Depression on quality of care in primary care in two LA Net practices.
Sexually Transmitted Infections Quality Improvement Intervention
An intervention developed by Dr. Elise Pomerance has been developed and piloted to decrease time between diagnosis and initiation of treatment of STIs for patients receiving care at an LA Net practice. This quality improvement intervention combines use of health information technology (I2I: Medtronics) and one FTE "tracker." A retrospective pre-post study design is being used to evaluate the impact of the STI intervention at two clinic sites. Findings show an average time between diagnosis and treatment dropped from over 20 days to 5 days. The change was significant at the p>.0001 level using a two-tailed t-test for independent samples. Cost for implementation and maintenance is currently being evaluated.
AIM-HI – Americans in Motion Healthy Intervention
The AIM-HI study will bring together the American Academy of Family Physicians, 8 federally-funded Centers for Obesity Research (COR), the editors of Obesity magazine, and two primary care practice-based research networks (LA Net and SCERN) to implement and evaluate culturally appropriate interventions to increase “fitness” (physical activity, nutrition and emotional well-being) among low-income, minority patients. Goals of the study include implementing a culturally appropriate fitness intervention in 6 primary care practices in Los Angeles and evaluating the reach and effectiveness of the intervention with low-income, minority patients.
For more information on a study please contact Lyndee Knox at knox@usc.edu.
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