Baylor wins $12.7 million from PCORI to fund brain injury study
Researchers at Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation and Baylor Scott & White Research Institute will participate in a nationwide study to improve post-acute care for patients who have suffered a traumatic brain injury thanks to a $12.7 million award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.
PCORI Executive Director Joe Selby said the institute selected the study for funding because of its scientific merit and commitment to engaging patients and other healthcare stakeholders in a major study conducted in real-world settings, and also for its potential to answer an important question about traumatic brain injury and fill a crucial evidence gap.
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Jeanne Hoffman, a professor in rehabilitation medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine, and Jesse Fann, a professor in psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the school, are the principal investigators of the five-year project.
The research team plans to enroll 900 people with moderate to severe TBI who are discharged from inpatient rehabilitation at Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation and five other facilities: University of Washington, Indiana University, Ohio State University, Mount Sinai in New York and Moss Rehabilitation in Philadelphia.
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The patients will be assigned randomly to one of two groups – standardized discharge care, which includes advice and referral sources, and standardized discharge care with a care manager who will assess for unmet needs and assist with coordination of care via telephone over six months.
The project team will compare functioning and quality of life at three, six, nine and 12 months in the two groups.
Nearly 2 percent of Americans live with TBI-related disabilities and more than 40 percent of those hospitalized for TBI have long-term disability – including a mix of physical, cognitive, behavioral and psychosocial difficulties, according to PCORI, a nonprofit created by Congress in 2010 to fund research needed to make better-informed healthcare decisions.
"Poor outcomes after a traumatic brain injury are caused, in part, by the challenges of transitioning from inpatient rehabilitation to outpatient care, leaving many survivors with unmet healthcare needs," Simon Driver, director of rehabilitation research and chairman for traumatic brain injury research at Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation, said in a statement.
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