Project Summary
CNY-CAN’s vision is to enable citizens, patients, caregivers, clinicians, researchers, and health and social service organizations to guide aging-related research, participate in research and project teams, be champions for patient-centered research, help translate research into practice, and help sustain CNY-CAN as a community resource. CNY-CAN’s focus is on developing a comparative effectiveness research (CER) study on improving communication between providers and patients with Alzheimer’s and other dementias and their caregivers. Under Tier III, CNY-CAN will finalize a multi-stakeholder research team and study advisory committee that will engage stakeholders in identifying one, out of a list of three, CER question to develop as a competitive Letter of intent. The three prospective CER questions align with PCORI’s broad Funding Announcement for communication and dissemination research, and include the use of digital communication by patients and caregivers to convey questions and track progress, the use of tele-education and shared medical appointments with rural primary care clinicians and their patients and caregivers, and the role of peer mentors in improving communication.
F.O.C.U.S. Greater Syracuse and SUNY Upstate Medical University are the co-leads for the Tier III contract, bringing together SUNY Upstate’s research and clinical resources with F.O.C.U.S.’s unique expertise as a citizen engagement organization that, for 20 years, has been a neutral convener of citizens, organizations, and government working together to promote inclusive, sustainable decision making on a range of civic issues. Other founding partners that will remain engaged under Tier III are the Southwest Community Center (grassroots community partner) and HealtheConnections (health services and population health partner).