The COERE’s infrastructure is organized around 6 research and training units. These Units are designed to function as University-wide shared facilities under the COERE. Through these Units the COERE supports and maintains:
- Methodological expertise in the use or development of instruments to measure patient outcomes
- Methodological expertise in the development and evaluation of interventions to improve patient outcomes
- Assistance in the design and analysis of outcomes and effectiveness and research studies
- Assistance in the analysis of patient and provider level data for outcomes and studies
- Collaboration on the development of research grant applications
- Mentoring of faculty, fellows and students in outcomes research
Statistical Design and Analysis
Director: Sharina D. Person, Ph.D.
Steering Committee: Jeroan J. Allison, M.D., M.S; Janet Bronstein, Ph.D.; Mark Litaker, Ph.D.; Robert , M.D.; O. Dale Williams, Ph.D.
This Unit houses statistical design and analysis expertise and support available to COERE investigators engaging in outcomes research. Faculty in the SDAU offer biostatistical support and experience in the utilization of large clinical and administrative data sets, as well as knowledge about the application of quality measurement tools. The SDAU receives infrastructure support for the Division of Preventive Medicine's Data Information and Statistical Core (DISC).
Economic Evaluation and Modeling
Director Maria Pisu, Ph.D.
Steering Committee: John Bian, Ph.D.; Jeffrey Burkhardt, Ph.D.; Robert Centor, M.D.; Gerald Glandon, Ph.D.; Gustavo Heudebert, M.D.; Meredith Kilgore, Ph.D.; Stephen T. Mennemeyer, Ph.D.; Bryce Sutton, Ph.D.
Faculty in this unit address issues of research design and analytic methods in the following areas:
- Cost-effectiveness, cost-utility, and cost-benefit analysis
- Economic evaluation of clinical interventions
- Simulation-based disease modeling<
- Econometric analysis of outcomes research data
- Clinical decision analysis
- Diagnostic test evaluation
Education and Training
Director: Pamela Autrey, Ph.D., R.N.
Steering Committee: Kathleen Brown, Ph.D., R.N.; Carlos Estrada, M.D.; Peter M. Ginter, Ph. D.; S. Robert Hernandez, Dr. P.H.; David Macrina, Ph.D.; Wendy Marsh-Tootle, O.D.
This unit collaborates with academic and continuing education programs across campus to promote understanding of outcomes and effectiveness research methods. The primary activities of this unit include:
- Multidisciplinary educational seminars for faculty and trainee development in outcomes research
- Collaboration with academic programs in the Schools of Nursing and Public Health which prepare graduates for clinical health service research careers
- Assistance to Schools across UAB in the development of curricula and course offerings related to outcomes research
Health Informatics
Director: Thomas K. Houston, M.D., M.P.H.
Steering Committee: Eta Berner, Ed.D.; Shelia Cotten, Ph.D.; Russell Kirby, Ph.D.; Jacqueline Moss, Ph.D., R.N.; Helmuth F. Orthner, Ph.D.; Michelle Robinson, DMD, MA; Feliciano Yu, MD, MHI, MSPH
This Unit was developed to focus on the use and evaluation of information technology and its impact on health care processes, effectiveness and outcomes. Faculty in the HIU offer expertise in the design and evaluation of IT and internet-based interventions aimed at improving the quality of health care. To facilitate collaborations between investigators planning and implementing research in applied Health Informatics, the Unit:
- Links UAB investigators to investigators with expertise in Health Informatics and their projects
- Identifies potential sources of external collaboration
- Co-sponsors seminars and meetings to increase University-wide interaction among investigators interested in developing Health Informatics interventions
- Provides opportunities for trainees and students to work on research projects
- Continues to develop new methods for evaluation of Information Technology
- Seeks funding for the evaluation of the impact of Information Technology on healthcare processes and outcomes
Health Outcomes Assessment
Director: Joshua C. Klapow, Ph. D.
Co-Director: Richard Shewchuk, Ph.D.
Steering Committee: Gustavo Heudebert, M.D.; David L. Roth, Ph.D.; Jan Wallander, Ph.D.; Rachel Fry, Ph.D.; Marilyn Doss, MA
The faculty of this unit focus on the following areas of health outcomes assessment:
- Instrument selection for measurement of health-related quality of life, functional status, health state utilities, symptom assessment, patient satisfaction, and patient adherence
- Collection and management of outcomes data
- Design and implementation of patient-based outcomes assessment protocols
- Instrument development and validation
- Psychometrics and measurement theory analysis and interpretation of health outcomes data
Center for Education and Research on Therapeutics*
Director: Kenneth Saag, M.D., M.Sc.
Co-Director: Jeroan Allison, M.D., M.S.
COERE Investigators: Kathleen Brown, Ph.D.; Catarina Kiefe, Ph.D., M.D.; Joshua Klapow, Ph.D.; Maria Pisu, Ph.D.; Sharina Person, Ph.D.; Norman Weissman, Ph.D.
The UAB CERTs of Musculoskeletal Disorders is one of 7 national centers funded under the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's CERTs program. The mission of the CERTs program is to:
- To increase awareness of both the uses and risks of new drugs and drug combinations, biological products, and devices as well as of mechanisms to improve their safe and effective use
- To provide clinical information to patients and consumers; health care providers; pharmacists, pharmacy benefit managers, and purchasers; health maintenance organizations and health care delivery systems; insurers; and government agencies
- To improve quality while reducing cost of care by increasing the appropriate use of pharmaceuticals and biological products and devices and by preventing their adverse effects and consequences of these effects (such as unnecessary hospitalizations)
The CERTs effectiveness research capabilities create the linkage for the UAB COERE, Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Center, Center for Metabolic Bone Disease, and other centers to collaborate on research aimed at improving the effectiveness and quality of care in the treatment and management of patients with musculoskeletal disorders.
Unit Faculty