Author: Sonya Sutton

IMPACT Collaboratory receives 4 NIA COVID-19 Supplement Awards

Posted on by Sonya Sutton

The National Institute on Aging (NIA) Imbedded Pragmatic Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and AD-Related Dementias (AD/ADRD) Clinical Trials (IMPACT) Collaboratory is pleased to announce that the IMPACT community has been awarded 4 NIA COVID-19 Supplements for research efforts in response to the urgent public health needs arising from COVID-19 and it’s devastating impact on people living with dementia, their families and care partners.

Effect of a COVID-Specific Advance Care Planning Intervention on Documentation of Advance Directives and Goals of Care
Principal Investigator: Ellen McCreedy, PhD, MPH, Brown University School of Public Health
Dr. McCreedy and her team will conduct a cluster randomized embedded pragmatic clinical trial (ePCT) by leveraging electronic health records of Bluestone Physician Services to test the effectiveness of a COVID-specific, advance care planning (ACP) intervention on documentation of care preferences among assisted living community (ALC) residents with AD/ADRD from 150 ALCs in 3 states.

Evaluation of a State-wide Effort to Improve COVID-19 Infection Control in Massachusetts Nursing Homes
Principal Investigator: Lewis Lipsitz, MD, Marcus Institute for Aging Research, Hebrew SeniorLife
Dr. Lipsitz and his team will evaluate the efficacy of a Massachusetts state-funded strategy to minimize the spread of COVID-19 among older adults and their care providers within Massachusetts NHs using multiple data sources. Efficacy will be measured over the 2-month intervention period among all residents in nursing homes (NHs) across Massachusetts compared to those in Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

COVID-19 Serologic Strategies for Skilled Nursing Facilities (CERO)
Principal Investigator: Joshua Chodosh, MD, MSHS, NYU Langone Health
Dr. Chodosh and his team will design and pilot test an intervention that leverages the COVID-19 antibody and PCR status of residents and staff to inform staff-residents care assignments to minimize COVID-19 transmission rates. The team will conduct the study in two New York City facilities with high minority and AD/ADRD representation and compare intervention units using this strategy with those that do not.

Improved Testing for COVID-19 in Skilled Nursing Facilities: IMPACT-C
Principal Investigators: Sarah Berry, MD, MPH, Marcus Institute for Aging Research, Hebrew Senior Life; Vince Mor, PhD, Brown University School of Public Health
Drs. Berry and Mor were awarded a supplement to improve COVID-19 testing for underserved and vulnerable populations as part of the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) initiative, the RADx Underserved Populations (RADx-UP) program. This initiative will leverage the foundation of the IMPACT Collaboratory to establish IMPACT-COVID-19 (IMPACT-C), a collaborative dedicated to developing and evaluating SARS-CoV-2 testing strategies in highly vulnerable residents and health care workers of skilled nursing facilities. IMPACT-C will assemble the organizational, administrative, and expertise components necessary to swiftly conduct a rigorous vaccine trial, when available.

 

 

Bynum and Travison presentations from NIA ADRD Summit now available

Posted on by Sonya Sutton

Julie Bynum, MD, MPH, Core Leader of the IMPACT Technical Data Core and Thomas Travison, PhD, Associate Core Leader of the Design and Statistics Core, presented at the National Institute on Aging Summit Virtual Meeting Series: 2020 National Research Summit on Care, Services, and Supports for Persons with Dementia and Their Caregiver this summer. The slides and presentation videos are now available at: https://bit.ly/3nreloY.

IMPACT-C to develop and evaluate equitable and compassionate COVID-19 testing strategies in skilled nursing facilities

Posted on by Sonya Sutton

The National Institutes of Health has awarded nearly $234 million to improve COVID-19 testing for underserved and vulnerable populations. A part of the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) initiative, the RADx Underserved Populations (RADx-UP) program will support 32 institutions across the United States and will focus on populations disproportionately affected by the pandemic.

IMPACT Principal Investigator Vince Mor, PhD and  Sarah Berry, MD from Hebrew Senior Life received a RADx-UP award for Improved Testing for COVID-19 in Skilled Nursing Facilities. IMPACT-C is a collaborative initiative to develop and evaluate equitable and compassionate SARS-CoV-2 testing strategies in vulnerable patients and workers within skilled nursing facilities.

Read the announcement from the NIH here.

McKnight’s names Mor one of 40 notable newsmakers

Posted on by Sonya Sutton

As part of the 40th anniversary of McKnight’s, McKnight’s Senior Living and McKnight’s Long-Term Care News are recognizing 40 notable newsmakers. Each week, the brands will highlight a new, high-profile leader from the past four decades. On Monday, September 28, they included IMPACT Collaboratory Principal Investigator Vince Mor on the list.

“Numerous top-flight academic researchers delve into nursing home care and policy, but few, if any, approach the track record of Vince Mor,” said the authors of the article.

Moe is professor of health services, policy and practice and the Florence Pirce Grant University Professor in the Brown University School of Public Health, Mor has been the principal investigator of more than 40 National Institutes of Health-funded grants during his 40 years at the university. Read the full article here.

Previously published installments of the series are posted here.

Quiñones and Allore co-author perspective article on link between ADRD and multimorbidity combinations that complicate care

Posted on by Sonya Sutton

An Agenda for Addressing Multimorbidity and Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementia

Ana Quiñones, PhD, MS, leader of the IMPACT Health Equity Team  and Heather Allore, PhD, leader of the IMPACT Design and Statistics Core were among the authors of a perspective article wherein authors discuss the importance of establishing a link between ADRD and multimorbidity combinations that complicate care and lead to poor outcomes, particularly with regard to racial and ethnic disparities. Several research and policy recommendations are presented to address the intersection of ADRD, multimorbidity and underrepresented populations most at risk for adverse outcomes.

Read the full article at this link. 

Grand Rounds September 2020

Not all approaches to data are equal: Data-related challenges for pragmatic trials involving PLWD

Posted on by Sonya Sutton

September 2020 – In Grand Rounds 9, Members of IMPACT's Technical Data Core (TDC) discuss how data algorithms from electronic health records (EHRs) are used to identify, characterize and capture relevant health outcomes of people living with dementia (PLWD) and their care partners.

Download webinar slides.

 

Speakers

David Dorr, MD, MS

David Dorr, MD, MS

Executive Committee, Technical Data Core
Professor and Vice Chair of Medical Informatics and Clinical Epidemiology
Professor of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics
Chief Research Information Officer, Biomedical Informatics Graduate Program, Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine

V.G. Vinod Vydiswaran, PhD

V.G. Vinod Vydiswaran, PhD

Executive Committee, Technical Data Core
Assistant Professor of Learning Health Sciences, University of Michigan

Learning Objectives

  • Understand key data-related steps involved in designing pragmatic trials and trade-offs
  • Identify data-driven approaches to identify people living with dementia and caregivers - focus on EHR
  • Identify challenges in validating approaches in different healthcare settings

Podcast

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Podcast Transcript: Download the podcast transcript.

New IMPACT Resources now available

Posted on by Sonya Sutton

The IMPACT Knowledge Repository (KR) and Pragmatic Trials Training Modules are now available within IMPACT Resources.

The KR is a searchable collection of IMPACT resources including all publications, podcasts, grand rounds, videos and training modules developed by IMPACT members and cores. The IMPACT Pragmatic Trials Training Modules are a series of short videos produced by content experts introducing important considerations for conducting embedded pragmatic clinical trials with people living with Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias and their care partners.