RESEARCH

‘Immersion Community’-based approach to PhD training

The Training Network for Healthcare Performance Intelligence Professionals (HealthPros) fulfils the need to optimise the use of available healthcare data, supporting healthcare systems in achieving the Triple Aim related performance goals (achieving a balance between improving the health of populations, delivering quality care for individuals, and containing costs) by building capacity and skills of Healthcare Performance Intelligence Professionals. This will be done through the implementation of an ‘Immersion Community’-based approach to PhD training.

Thirteen HealthPros Fellows are working on a coherent set of individual research projects aimed at obtaining a PhD degree divided in three R&D work packages (see WPs in figure). Together, these projects will cover all layers of the Healthcare Performance Intelligence pyramid (see steps 1-3 in figure).

In addition, the Fellows will benefit from a unique concept of the HealthPros Network: the Immersion Community. The HealthPros Consortium maintains close ties to a wide range of organizations in academia, industry, pharma, governance, and purchasing (social health insurance, regional government) that will regularly interact with the Fellows, providing a direct training-to-job-market approach.

Research projects on Healthcare Performance Measurement

Five HealthPros Fellows work on PhD projects related to healthcare performance measurement optimizing the use of available registry and administrative data and applying
statistical models to provide actionable input to HC performance management (Work Package 1; step 1 of the pyramid in the figure). Healthcare data from administrative databases, registries, surveys, etc. will be used to provide a meaningful platform of health information through reliable, valid, and relevant indicators and metrics.

Projects on Healthcare Performance Governance Mechanisms

Four HealthPros Fellows work on PhD projects to translate performance intelligence into value-creating healthcare governance mechanisms (Work Package 2; step 2 of the pyramid in the figure). Data will be integrated using different forms and governance mechanisms (i.e. target setting, health services contracting, health financing, public reporting) that will allow brokering solutions towards their end-users (i.e. citizens, health professionals, and decision-makers). This process will require multiple disciplinary expertise embedded in the consortium through members active in social sciences, public administration, health economics, health services research, political science, health policy and management, biostatistics, clinical epidemiology, medicine, improvement science and information science.

Projects on the Utilization of Healthcare Performance Intelligence

Four HealthPros Fellows work on PhDs aimed to impact the actual use of performance intelligence by different end-users. ESRs will have unique healthcare data access (Work Package 3; step 3 of the pyramid in the figure). HealthPros will apply a practice-oriented approach by testing the practical use of health care performance intelligence by multiple end-users across countries. The projects will apply different conceptual approaches, governance mechanisms and tools introduced in steps 1-2 of the pyramid.

The three-step approach is translated in equivalent Work Packages (WPs), where each of HealthPros Fellows’ projects will form the basis of the research and methodology (see figure).