Embedded research to improve health: the 20th annual HMO Research Network conference, March 31-April 3, 2014, Phoenix, Arizona.

The HMO Research Network (HMORN) is a member-based network of 17 research centers affiliated with not-for-profit health care systems across the US with an eighteenth site in Israel. These health care organizations all provide comprehensive medical services to enrolled members and patients. Though not all HMORN members are Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) most are integrated delivery systems, and most of the member research centers reside within the organizational structure of the health system itself. This ‘embeddedness’ of the research center within the health plan creates a natural opportunity for direct interactions between health care leaders, clinicians and staff, patients/members, and research investigators from HMORN member sites. Both organizational and member stakeholders are essential collaborators in the new model of patient and provider engaged research envisioned by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Health Care Systems Research Collaboratory,1 the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI),2 as reflected in recent funding opportunities published by NIH, PCORI and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).3,4,5,6,7,8 The theme of the 2014 HMORN annual conference, Embedded Research to Improve Health, was especially timely as the US research environment shifts toward increased stakeholder engagement. The conference included several new features: a poster contest, an award for the best thematic abstract, an investigator development program, project and scientific interest group working meetings, and numerous sessions devoted to sharing methods, best practices, processes, and other information to engage a variety of stakeholders in research and research processes. The 20th annual conference of the HMORN was held in Phoenix, Arizona between March 31 and April 3, 2014. The event was hosted by Kaiser Permanente Colorado with Heather S. Feigelson, PhD, MPH as scientific chair and Sarah Madrid, MA ABD PhD as conference manager. The event marked two decades of sustained and productive collaboration across member sites. The State of the Network Address by the 2013–2014 HMORN Governing Board chair, Dr. John Steiner of Kaiser Permanente Colorado, celebrated this longevity, identified essential elements of network sustainability, and discussed the skills necessary to practice “leadership without control” in decentralized, collaborative research environments such as the HMORN. The keynote address was delivered by Patricia Gabow, MD, the recently retired chief executive officer (CEO) of Denver Health, a nationally prominent, integrated safety-net delivery system. She discussed research-operations partnerships, and presented the Denver Health experience in using Lean9 approaches to improve organizational efficiency and control costs. Senior staff from PCORI offered two luncheon addresses and participated in panel sessions. Four early career investigators awardees shared findings on studies of patient satisfaction, lifetime cancer care costs, breast cancer prevention, and nursing home discharge outcomes. Two poster sessions, numerous sessions for research administrators and IRB officials, and opportunities for informal networking rounded out this year’s event.