VCU’s Department of Family Medicine receives grant from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

By Malorie Burkett

The Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine’s Department of Family Medicine has received a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality for a study on identifying patients with unhealthy behaviors.

The grant is through Prescription for Health: Promoting Health Behaviors in Primary Care Research Network – a program aimed at developing strategies for changing Americans' unhealthy behaviors through primary care.

VCU received a $300,000, two-year grant for its study titled “Comprehensive Practice-Friendly Model for Promoting Health Behaviors.” The project is being led by Steven Woolf, M.D., professor and director of research in the Department of Family Medicine, and Alex Krist, M.D., assistant professor in family medicine, and is being conducted under the auspices of the Ambulatory Care Outcomes Research Network, or ACORN.

The study uses electronic health record prompts to identify patients with unhealthy behaviors and refer them to intensive counseling interventions delivered outside of the doctor’s office. Interventions can be via telephone, computer or through group counseling.

“We hope to demonstrate that this innovative intervention not only promotes healthy behaviors but is feasible and sustainable in primary care,” said Krist. “Accomplishing these goals requires a delicate balancing act -- deploying evidence-based strategies that are effective in lifestyle change but limit demands for new staff, training or time.

“We strike this balance by harnessing effective technologies and tools and by leveraging resources outside the practice,” he said. “If our intervention helps patients change unhealthy behaviors and is appealing to ordinary practices, we envision the potential for widespread adoption and substantial population health benefits.”

This is the second round of grants awarded by the organizations. VCU also participated in the first round of Prescription for Health, in which a Web site was developed that links patients -- based on their stage of change and individual health behaviors -- to more than 200 local and national resources. According to Krist, the second-round study was created from what was learned in the first round – that behavior change is a complex process requiring a multifaceted approach.

Through the Prescription for Health program, primary care practices are concentrating on four leading health risk factors: lack of physical activity, unhealthy diet, tobacco use, and alcohol abuse. The projects are conducted by practice-based research networks - groups of medical practices that work together to investigate a variety of questions about how health care is managed or delivered.

For more information, visit www.prescriptionforhealth.org and www.acorn.fam.vcu.edu.