|
|
National Institute of Aging gives Brown (University) 10 Million Dollars to Study Long-Term Care
Providence Business Journal
November 16, 2007
“At the end of this project, we’ll have the single-most comprehensive data set on long-term care in the United States,” said principal investigator Vincent Mor, chairman of the Department of Community Health at Brown and a member of the university’s Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research.
The National Institute of Aging, a component of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded a five-year, $10 million grant to researchers at Brown University to support the creation of a comprehensive database on long-term health care in the United States.
Brown’s Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research will use the award to collect data from a random sample of 2,600 nursing homes nationwide on insurance reimbursement claims, hospitalizations, the health of long-term care facility residents and many other topics, which it will then compile, along with data on relevant policies in all 50 states.
The goal is to allow researchers to trace a clear relationship among state policies, local market forces and the quality of long-term care, the university said in a statement late yesterday. Policymakers can then use the information to craft state and local guidelines that promote high-quality, cost-effective, equitable care for older Americans.
“At the end of this project, we’ll have the single-most comprehensive data set on long-term care in the United States,” said Vincent Mor, chairman of the Department of Community Health at Brown and a member of the university’s Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research, who will serve as principal investigator for the project. “This storehouse of data will be used, ultimately, to shape policies that improve the health of older Americans.”
Joining Mor in the project will be two Brown social scientists – Andrew Foster, professor and chairman of the Department of Economics, and John Logan, professor of sociology and director of the Spatial Structures in the Social Sciences research initiative – and researchers from Dartmouth College and the University of Rochester.
When their database is completed in 2012, it will be the first to track nursing-home performance on a state level in all 50 states, John Haaga, deputy director of the Behavioral and Social Research Program at the National Institute on Aging, said in a statement.
“This is strong science led by first-class researchers,” Haaga said, “and the public should see the benefits from this project not in 20 years, but in five. This policy-relevant research goes directly to the institute’s mission to support science that can inform our decisions about an aging society.”
“Long-term care is a critical part of our health care infrastructure, improving the lives of millions of Americans every day,” U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a member of the Senate Committee on Aging and a longtime advocate of efforts to promote quality of care and expand the health information technology infrastructure, said in a statement congratulating the Brown research team.
“This grant represents not only an awareness of the importance of long-term care services in our aging society, but also a strong commitment to improving these services moving forward. I’m proud that Brown University will have the chance to continue Rhode Island’s leading role in improving the quality of health care across the country.”
More Information on US Health Issues
|
|
