Infrastructure

National Family Medicine Strategic Plan for Research (FMSPR)

C1: Create partnerships and align the discipline with future advancements in healthcare delivery to be on the forefront of new research opportunities and changes in healthcare policy

Action Steps: 

  1. Partner with payers to gain access to data and fund research around shared goals
  2. Define the end-users of primary care research and think across sectors about strategic partnerships (policymakers, patients, etc.)

C2: Utilize a repository of clinical data to answer key questions in primary care

C3: Increase accessible and integrated research models that produce clinically applicable research and evidence-base (e.g. optimize PBRNs, communities of practice, and consider other types of networks such as geographic and content networks)

Responsible Committee: NAPCRG Committee on Advancing the Science of Family Medicine

Action Steps:

  1. Create a consultation service focused on leveraging existing research resources

C4: Leverage Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) networks and create Centers of Excellence to increase family medicine research within institutions

Responsible Committee: ADFM Research Development Committee

Action Steps: 

  1. Convene effort for strategic communication of value proposition that resonates with CTSA

C5: Design and utilize distinctive methodology such as pragmatic trials, participatory methods, community-based research, translational science, implementation research and dissemination, big data analytics and machine learning.

Responsible Committee: NAPCRG Committee on Advancing the Science of Family Medicine

Action Steps: 

  1. Strategically place and identify regional primary care research centers of excellence and their key strengths
  2. Defining shared measures that are relevant for primary care research and provide access to expertise in a national research consortium

 

Lack of Investment in Family Medicine Research

Although it is the largest funder of biomedical research, the National Institute of Health, spent only 0.2% of its budget in 2021 on family medicine research.4 Despite being the largest specialty in the US Health system, primary care investment pales in comparison to other developed nations.5 This underinvestment impacts clinical care.6

Find Open Program Funding Opportunities

               

What is the Clinical and Translational Science Institute?        

The Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) funds The Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) through the National Institute for Health (NIH) and supports a national network of medical institutions that speeds the translation of research discoveries into improved care. This program nurtures the field of translational science through education, training, and support.

Find your local NIH Funded CTSA Hub

While the traditional focus has often favored specialty/internal medicine partnerships through disease-oriented research rather than a whole-person community-engaged approach, many projects, initiatives, and coordinated support activities can advance family medicine. Additionally, introducing new research opportunities has encouraged CTSIs to increase primary care involvement. 

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Advantages of working with the CTSI

  • Utilize Existing Infrastructure, Networks and Partnerships:
    • Opportunities for multisite collaborations
    • Supported community-focused research initiatives
    • PBRN Development - internal and external
    • Enhanced visibility and assistance in securing letters of support
  • Leadership Integration:
    • Guiding community-engaged research initiatives and actively assuming leadership roles or serving as core faculty members.
    • The role of family medicine in providing internal traction, making leadership more effective in driving these efforts
  • Mentorship and Fellowship:
    • Support research/scholarly activities for residents
    • Guide career or academic development
    • Educational and Scholarship Opportunities
  • Learning and Cultural Engagement:
    • Access to webinars, symposiums, and cultural programs
    • Improved quality improvement capacity
    • Access to boilerplates, facilities and resources information
    • Training series focused on grant writing skills
    • Biostatistical support, research methods, grants management, bioinformatics, and research training.1

Clinical and Translational Science Institutes can significantly benefit from collaborating with family medicine departments because they provide a direct access point to diverse patient populations within a community, enabling researchers to conduct impactful studies that better reflect real-world healthcare needs, while also facilitating community engagement and practice-based research crucial for translating findings into practice.  

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Advantages of working with Family Medicine Departments

  • Most healthcare in the U.S. is delivered by primary care clinicians and family medicine dominates this workforce. Family physicians treat the broadest range of conditions and illnesses among all specialties with the most clinic-based patients visits, seeing patients of all ages and genders, requiring all types of care from acute episodic, to treatment of chronic conditions, to preventive care. In addition, a large proportion of populations categorized as vulnerable, marginalized or underserved are cared for by family physicians. 1,2,3   

  • Family medicine has a strong rapport with patients and community stakeholders with a deep understanding of people and institutions resulting in relationships and knowledge that cannot be replicated.

  • Family medicine practitioners are well-poised to inform questions, participate in and lead research; but CTSI expertise and formal research training is needed to succeed with greater research participation. 

  • The request for applications now restricts pilot awards to translational science compared to the broader translational research area. This is a key opportunity for family physicians with skills that intuitively translate (i.e. what works for what groups and in what context).

  • Primary care regularly applies population health and quality improvement strategies as part of value-based care arrangements that can be leveraged to inform family medicine research

  • Family medicine can accelerate scholarly research as well as clinical and translational science, resulting in a phenomenal impact on public health through collaboration and innovation.

    • Rural Health Initiatives

    • Community Engagement

    • Wellness Visits & Preventative Care 

    • Chronic Disease Management

    • AI Research, Health Informatics

    • Health Equity

    • Leverage of Practice Based Research Networks

For questions and updates on the strategic plan, please reach out to Shannon Robinson (srobinson@napcrg.org).