$16 Million in Federal Stimulus Funding Establishes Seattle as a Hub of Comparative-Effectiveness Research...(d Georgetown University. Cancer scre...),Health

Cancer screening -- A $4 million project based at Group Health aims to lay the groundwork for studies to improve the effectiveness of colorectal and cervical cancer screening and increase participation in such screening. "How well cancer screening works in real-world settings depends not only on how well each screening test identifies cancer, but also on patients, health care providers and the context and systems in which health care is delivered," said Diana Buist, Ph.D., M.P.H., an associate investigator in epidemiology at Group Health and one of the project's leaders. "Our grant will study how to deliver colorectal and cervical cancer screening most effectively to populations. The goal is to detect cancer better, decrease the rates of screening's adverse effects and, ultimately, to reduce death from cancer," she said. The project, called "SEARCH: Screening Effectiveness and Research in Community Based Healthcare," will be co-led by Chyke Doubeni, M.D., M.P.H., an assistant professor in family medicine and community health at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. The project will be conducted in collaboration with seven other health-maintenance organizations in the NCI's Cancer Research Network, a consortium of 14 health plans across the U.S., to quickly and effectively translate and disseminate its findings directly into clinical practice.

Cancer treatment -- In addition, Group Health is collaborating on a $4 million GO grant based at Dana Farber Harvard Cancer Center that will address two key issues: the costs and effectiveness of treating advanced cancer and the lack of population-based research on patterns and outcomes of cancer care in populations not covered by Medicare, such as those under 65 and the poor. The data from the study will be provided, in part, by the Cancer Research Network, a research-based consortium of health-maintenance organizations that is based at Group Health. "Most
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