PCORI to Fund UPMC Center for High-Value Healthcare

By Carolyn J Dawson
TMCnet Contributor

The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute has decided to honor the UPMC Center for High-Value Healthcare with a research award. The Center for High-Value Healthcare has initiated a pilot project with an aim to organize the unfulfilled medical requirements of adults suffering with severe mental illness.

PCORI aims to assist people in taking knowledgeable healthcare decisions, enhance healthcare delivery and outcomes. PCORI aims to generate and advertise extremely reliable and evidence-based information, generated by carrying out studies in collaboration with patients, caregivers and the broader healthcare community. PCORI has therefore decided to fund 25 health-related agencies, including the Center for High-Value Healthcare, housed under the UPMC Insurance Services Division.

The Center has initiated a project, "Optimizing Behavioral Health Homes by Focusing on Outcomes that Matter Most for Adults with Serious Mental Illness,”under the guidance of James Schuster, Chief Medical Officer for Community Care Behavioral Health, a unit of the UPMC Insurance Services Division.

In a statement, Dr. Schuster said, "While there are proven strategies that can prevent and manage significant medical conditions that are common among adults with serious mental illness, providers need a better understanding of how to shape and deliver these interventions so that they can effectively support the outcomes that matter most to patients."

Under PCORI's Improving Healthcare Systems research initiative, the center has requested funding assistance worth $1.7 million. Two potential methods to endorse the health, wellness, and recovery of adults with serious mental illness will be tested by the program. The first method showcases the use of an online portal to be used by patients for administering their care. In the second method, patients will interact with nurses during clinical visits to monitor their care. The project aims to target approximately 3,000 Medicaid-enrolled adults with possible chronic medical conditions, who receive care at rural community mental health centers.

Donna Keyser, Senior Director, UPMC Center for High-Value Healthcare said, "Securing funding of this kind is what our center was created to do. This program will inform positive health choices and also key stakeholder decision making to support those choices, which will help to advance health system improvement efforts." 

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