SEATTLE—Group Health Research Institute, formerly Group Health Center for Health Studies, will receive more than $15 million in federal stimulus funding from ARRA, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The Institute was awarded 52 percent of the ARRA dollars (44 percent of the grants) for which it applied, a high rate of success for any competitive awards—and especially for these ones.
"We were extremely pleased to learn that our Institute will receive more than 50 percent of the proposal dollars we submitted," said Eric B. Larson, MD, MPH, executive director of Group Health Research Institute. This surpasses the Institute's typical success rate of about 30 percent. Competition for the stimulus funds was intense, with many institutions competing nationwide. "This reaffirms that Group Health's research agenda is well-aligned with national priorities to improve health care and make it more affordable," Larson added.
Much of the newly funded work is "comparative effectiveness research" (CER), which the Institute has been doing since before CER had a name. CER compares outcomes to determine which medical treatments, screening or diagnostic tests, and ways of preventing disease and delivering care serve patients best. Unlike research conducted in highly controlled experimental settings, CER enrolls populations in real-life health care settings that accurately reflect widespread community practice. As is customary in research, Group Health respects patients' privacy by stripping data of information that could identify individuals.
The National Institutes of Health is awarding the funds for 17 different projects over two years, including research to improve:
This work is in addition to more than 200 other research projects typically underway at the Institute, which had more than $34 million in grant revenue in 2008.
Many of the new ARRA-funded projects will be conducted in collaboration with researchers from other institutions. Group Health researchers listed below are leading ARRA projects where Group Health is the prime grant recipient:
These Group Health researchers are taking part in ARRA-funded projects where Group Health is a subcontractor to another institution (dollars amounts are two-year awards to Group Health):
Group Health Research Institute
Founded in 1947, Group Health Cooperative is a Seattle-based, consumer-governed, nonprofit health care system. Group Health Research Institute ( www.grouphealthresearch.org ) changed its name from Group Health Center for Health Studies on September 8, 2009. Since 1983, the Institute has conducted nonproprietary public-interest research on preventing, diagnosing, and treating major health problems. Government and private research grants provide its main funding.
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