Thomas W. Concannon

Who Gets Care When Hospitals Are Overwhelmed? Clear Policies Are Often Lacking

As COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations surge to new highs, states, health systems, and the public continue to need clarity on health care resource allocation policy. A RAND checklist provides clear and consistent criteria for structuring such difficult decisions.

Patients Should Have a Role in Deciding the Value of Medicines

Patients, their family members, and the general public have historically been excluded from contributing to health care value assessment models. But methods for including patient voices in research are far less complicated or demanding than some researchers believe they will be.

What Makes Stakeholders Want to Become Involved in Research?

Involving stakeholders in comparative-effectiveness research is important. But competing demands for their time can make this a challenge. Why do stakeholders get involved in this research, or not?

What Do Stakeholders Say About Comparative-Effectiveness Research?

Insurers, employers, and industry are some of the stakeholder groups that are critical to the success of comparative-effectiveness research. Current research models may not provide stakeholders with all the information they need to support their involvement.

More Research Is Needed on Artificial Joints and Patients Can Play a Key Role

Safety problems with artificial knees and hips, including product recalls, highlight the need for more patient-centered research. RAND has partnered with CreakyJoints in a project intended to train a group of patients to get involved in research on this topic.

Can Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Improve Health Care?

A review in 2017 of the adequacy and use of Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Trust Funds will be used to determine whether funding levels should be continued or adjusted after its authorization runs out in 2019. Researchers ought to take stock of the work in patient-centered outcomes research.

Report

Measurement of Consumer Engagement in HIV Care Quality Improvement

Working with HIV care providers and consumers, RAND researchers identified partner priorities and measures of consumer engagement in HIV care quality improvement work, including the available instruments and measures that address those priorities.

Journal Article

A New Taxonomy Is Proposed for Defining the Interests of Stakeholders' Representatives in Health Research: The Case of Guideline Development

This article distinguishes between the non-conflicting interests of stakeholder groups relating to the inherent rights of that group from the conflicting interests relating to the interests of the representatives or the organization they represent.

Journal Article

Treatment Goals for Rheumatoid Arthritis: Patient Engagement and Goal Collection

We worked with a steering committee and surveyed patients with rheumatoid arthritis to test a new method for engaging patients in healthcare valuation using patient goals.

Research Brief

Infection Control in Long-Term Care: Decisionmaking Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted a need to transform the decisionmaking culture in long-term care to make it more inclusive of residents, staff, and others who are affected by infection-control policies in these facilities.

Report

Policy Decisionmaking in Long-Term Care: Lessons from Infection Control During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Policies to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in long-term care facilities have failed to balance community safety and resident well-being. Input from a range of stakeholders highlighted a need for inclusive policy decisionmaking in long-term care.

Journal Article

Use of Real-World Evidence for Regulatory Approval and Coverage of Medical Devices: A Landscape Assessment

Use of real-world evidence in FDA processes has the potential to contribute important evidence to drug approval processes.

Report

Translational Impacts of World Trade Center Health Program Research: A Mixed Methods Study

In this report, the authors describe the findings and recommendations of a four-year study of the World Trade Center Health Program's research portfolio and its translational impact. Recommendations are designed to help guide Program planning.

Journal Article

Creating Culture-Centered Health and Health Insurance Literacy Resources: Lessons Learned from Haitian Creole, Mandarin, Native American, and Vietnamese Communities

A culture-centered approach to health literacy programs enhances meaningful and effective health communication.

Report

Health Care Resource Allocation Decisionmaking During a Pandemic

The Core Guidance Checklist was created from a discussion process with bioethicists, health system leaders, clinicians, patient advocates, and representatives of communities affected by COVID-19 to improve resource allocation decisionmaking.

Journal Article

Engaging Patients and Other Non-Researchers in Health Research: Defining Research Engagement

This paper discusses patient involvement in specific research projects.

Journal Article

Evaluation of the Million Hearts® Cardiovascular Disease Risk Reduction Model: Third Annual Report

In its first three years, the Million Hearts® Model improved cardiovascular preventive care, but did not yet reduce observed heart attacks and strokes or lower Medicare spending.

Report

An Implementation and Impact Evaluation of From Coverage to Care

The authors present their analysis of From Coverage to Care's effectiveness in meeting its goals of helping consumers understand their health insurance and connect to care and supporting organizations as they aid consumers in this process.

Journal Article

Practical Guidance for Involving Stakeholders in Health Research

This paper provides guidance to researchers on how to systematically involve stakeholder groups in their research, how to identify which stakeholders to involve, what roles they should play, and which modes of engagement are optimal.

Report

Engaging Consumers in the Quality Measurement Enterprise

This report explores the experience of consumer advocates in engaging with quality measurement, identifies barriers to effective consumer engagement, and suggests ways to address those barriers.

Journal Article

HIV, Breast Cancer and Vaccines: What Do High-Profile Cases Reveal About Stakeholder Engagement in Research?

Four examples of engaging stakeholders in health care related research provide insight for current efforts and show that clear articulation on the purpose of engagement can affect how stakeholders are included and lead to better outcomes.

Research Brief

Characteristics and Treatment Patterns of Service Members with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

This research brief describes the first comprehensive study of care for mild traumatic brain injury, or concussion, in the Military Health System, including patient characteristics, care settings, co-occurring conditions, and long-term care needs.

Report

Understanding Treatment of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in the Military Health System

This first population-based study of care received by service members with mild traumatic brain injury in the Military Health System profiles patients, their care settings and treatments, co-occurring conditions, and risk factors for long-term care.

Report

Employer, Insurer, and Industry Perspectives on Patient-Centered Comparative Effectiveness Research: Final Report

This report describes the views of purchasers, payers, and industry stakeholders on comparative effectiveness research and implications for the work of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.

Report

Resources and Capabilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs to Provide Timely and Accessible Care to Veterans

The Department of Veterans Affairs health care system, with broad resources and capabilities, provides timely and high-quality care to most, but not all, patients. Meeting veterans' needs over the next five years will require additional capacity.

Research Brief

When and How Are We Engaging Stakeholders in Health Care Research?

Stakeholder engagement in research varies significantly: Patients and health care providers were the most frequent collaborators. Policymakers and other researchers collaborated infrequently, or about 20 percent of the time.

Report

Improving Dementia Long-Term Care: A Policy Blueprint

As baby boomers age, many will require long-term services and supports (LTSS) for dementia care. This blueprint outlines policy options and research directions to help decisionmakers improve the LTSS delivery system, workforce, and financing.

Research Brief

What to Do About Dementia? Policy Options for Crucial Long-Term Care

Policy options to improve dementia long-term care include those that increase public awareness and promote earlier detection, improve access to and quality of services, increase support to family caregivers, and reduce the cost burden.

Journal Article

A National Strategy to Develop Pragmatic Clinical Trials Infrastructure

An important challenge in comparative effectiveness research is the lack of infrastructure to support pragmatic clinical trials, which compare interventions in usual practice settings and subjects.

Journal Article

A Systematic Review of Stakeholder Engagement in Comparative Effectiveness and Patient-Centered Outcomes Research

OBJECTIVES: We conducted a review of the peer-reviewed literature since 2003 to catalogue reported methods of stakeholder engagement in comparative effectiveness research and patient-centered outcomes research.

Report

CMS Innovation Center Health Care Innovation Awards: Evaluation Plan

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation has funded 108 projects implementing new service delivery or payment models intended to deliver lower cost through improving quality of care. This report describes a strategy for evaluating the results.

Journal Article

Evidence of Systematic Duplication by New Percutaneous Coronary Intervention Programs

New PCI programs were systematically duplicative of existing programs and did not help patients gain access to timely PCI.