UB Selected to Participate In National Initiative to Improve Delivery of Primary-Care Services

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The Department of Family Medicine in the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences is part of a four-university consortium that has been awarded $900,000 to participate in a new research initiative to change the way primary-care services are delivered and assessed.

The four-year grant from the American Academy of Family Physicians was awarded to the Center for the Value of Family Practice, composed of, in addition to UB, Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha and Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown, Pa.

The Center for the Value of Family Practice was one of three centers funded out of 65 applicants. The award is part of an $8 million effort undertaken by the academy to provide a new level of scientific evidence about the importance of an integrated, whole-health approach to the practice of family medicine.

"Everyone knows intuitively that family medicine is highly health-effective and cost-effective," stated Neil H. Brooks, M.D., president of the academy, in announcing the initiative. "Countless stories from the 85,000 members of the academy confirm that. But a doctor's anecdotes are not enough." This effort, he added, will lay the groundwork for evidence-based, outcomes-oriented research in primary care.

Carlos Jaén, M.D., associate professor of family medicine and director of UB's Center for Urban Research in Primary Care, is UB's co-director of the project .

"This is very exciting for us," he said. "The competition was quite stiff. This initiative will give us a chance to help make family practice better for all physicians and patients."

He and his fellow co-directors will develop a detailed map of the core structures and processes of family practice. Their center will address five priorities:

• Increasing the community focus of family practice