Managed Care - March 2008 - (Page 28) Health Plans Come Together For Better Outcomes Research Companies that participate in large research cooperatives such as the HMO Research Network are helping the whole medical system By Lola Butcher Contributing Editor ealth plans are known more for competing with one another than collaborating, but the HMO Research Network is an exception to that rule. After more than two decades of working on research projects, the HMO RN, as it is called, recently won federal funding for what may be its biggest effort yet. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute will finance the creation of the Cardiovascular Research Network — the newest initiative of the HMO RN — with $7.5 million over five years. The goal of the researchers is to study the epidemiology, prevention, management, and outcomes of cardiovascular diseases. The CVRN is a multiyear initiative to learn about cardiovascular disease using an unusual information source — patient data available to researchers affiliated with some of the nation’s largest HMOs. The research network, headed by Alan S. Go, MD, assistant director of clinical research at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research, is the first to follow patients over time, using information PHOTOGRAPH BY ROBERT HOLMGREN H What makes health plan collaboration so beautiful is that it can bring together data representative of the entire population, says Alan S. Go, MD, at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research. 28 MANAGED CARE / MARCH 2008
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