Helping develop the learning health system leaders of the future
Accelerating health care transformation requires a workforce with the ability to generate meaningful research questions, systematically gather and interpret data, incorporate patient experience, and use evidence-based methods to create sustained change. That’s why the ACT Center is helping train and educate the next generation of researchers and clinician leaders.
CATALyST: Practical training in learning health system science
Completed in fall 2023, the CATALyST K12 Learning Health System Scholar Program was led by the ACT Center’s Paula Lozano and her colleague at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWRHI), James Ralston. (CATALyST stands for Consortium for Applied Training to Advance the Learning health system with Scholars/Trainees.)
Over the past 5 years, CATALyST provided 2 to 3 years of mentored training to 8 early-career scientists, giving them the opportunity to build expertise in learning health system competencies and patient-centered outcomes methodology. Scholars conducted embedded research in partnership with clinical leaders — gaining valuable experience in leading research to improve experiences and outcomes for patients, providers, and health care delivery systems.
Based at KPWHRI, CATALyST brought together four Washington state health research centers with expertise in learning health systems: Kaiser Permanente Washington, the University of Washington, the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System, and the Washington State University College of Medicine. CATALyST is one of 11 U.S. Learning Health Systems Centers of Excellence funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute. The program focused on providing training to help accelerate improvements in quality, safety, equity, affordability, and patient experience across health systems.
Several CATALyST scholars partnered with the ACT Center and contributed to our work within Kaiser Permanente Washington. We are grateful to have had this opportunity to support the scientists who will become the future leaders of learning health system research.
Supporting family practice residents in conducting quality improvement
The ACT Center partners with the Kaiser Permanente Washington Family Medicine Residency Program to enrich the training experience for residents with a special interest in quality improvement. We provide mentorship, technical assistance, and resources for applied projects focused on quality improvement and care delivery innovation conducted by residents as part of their training. In our inaugural project, a third-year resident, Justin Fu, explored approaches to reducing racial disparities in colorectal cancer screening through tailored outreach. We’re excited about growing our partnership with the residency program and equipping future clinical leaders with this important skill set — and we're grateful to the Miller Endowment for the resources that make this partnership possible.
Featured publications
Lozano PM, Lane-Fall M, Franklin PD, Rothman RL, Gonzales R, Ong MK, Gould MK, Beebe TJ, Roumie CL, Guise JM, Enders FT, Forrest CB, Mendonca EA, Starrels JL, Sarkar U, Savitz LA, Moon JH, Linzer M, Ralston JD, Chesley FD. Training the next generation of learning health system scientists. Learning Health Systems. E-pub 10 Sept 2022. doi.org/10.1002/lrh2.10342. Full text
Coley RY, Duan KI, Hoopes AJ, Lapham GT, Liljenquist K, Marcotte LM, Ramirez M, Schuttner L. A call to integrate health equity into learning health system research training. Learning Health Systems. E-pub 24 July 2022. doi.org/10.1002/lrh2.10330. Full text
