Project Summary
This project is based on what the Center for Workforce Health and Performance (CWHP) learned in its first PCORI-funded project around the evidence employers are looking for and the barriers that get in the way of utilizing PCORI evidence for employee health improvement decisions. The project team is proposing a national conference with the goal of better understanding if and how employer-sponsored worksite health centers identify, use, and apply PCORI and other evidence for workforce health improvement. Close to 50 percent of large employers and 30 percent of all public and private employers currently offer some form of onsite or near-site health and medical services to their covered populations. Currently, there is little known about the extent to which these worksite health centers use patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR) and associated evidence in their practice. Recent surveys of the members of the National Association of Worksite Health Centers (NAWHC) demonstrate unmet needs around best practices that are prevalent in a working population including musculoskeletal, metabolic, cardiovascular, mental illness, and a variety of other conditions. The dissemination and use of best practices and PCORI research findings could improve a worksite clinic’s outcomes and improve an employee’s health, attendance, and performance.
The project team is proposing an information-gathering and dissemination conference to improve understanding of how worksite health clinics identify, use, and apply evidence around worker health improvement. The prospective attendees will primarily be drawn from the NAWHC's membership, as well as other employers known to have onsite, near-site, shared, mobile, and virtual clinics. The team will also engage practitioners, suppliers, payers, and others associated with the worksite clinic industry to better understand if and how PCOR evidence is identified, used, and applied. A diverse set of clinic sponsors and providers will help identify different types of practices that may be used across a variety of sites. Evidence generated by PCORI and other sources appropriate to worksite clinic settings will be disseminated and provide real case examples to gauge the extent to which existing evidence is/isn't useful, utilization barriers, and opportunities to spread the use of high-quality PCOR evidence. Existing evidence examples include antibiotic prescribing, type 2 diabetes management, and predictive modeling for diabetes risk.
The following objectives will be met.
- Identify Evidence: a selection of existing PCORI-funded research findings with potential relevance to worksite clinics will be identified.
- Identify and Convene Attendees: a selection of presenters and diverse set of attendees from NAWHC membership, nonmember public and private employers, clinic vendors and providers, and the PCOR field will be convened to discuss awareness and utilization of evidence, as well as how this research can be best disseminated and used.
- Summarize and Disseminate Recommendations: a summary of the conference/symposium discussion around barriers and opportunities for greater use of PCOR evidence in worksite health centers will be disseminated to NAWHC and CWHP's audiences.
The project team will achieve the following outcomes.
Short-term Outcomes: Improve awareness of PCOR evidence and what's required to improve its use in worksite health clinics
Medium-term Outcomes: The types of clinical guidance and other best practices that sponsors of worksite clinics would find relevant from PCORI and other sources that would result in greater use among NAWHC members
Long-term Outcomes: Improvements in treatment and outcomes around worker health
Stakeholders will be engaged in all three phases of the project. This partnership between CWHP and NAWHC represents a unique research-to-practice alignment involving NAWHC’s diverse membership of worksite health center stakeholders.