LEaRN Initiative

CLHSS was named a Learning Health System Embedded Scientist Training and Research (LHS E-StaR) Center. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) are investing in LHS E-StaR Centers across the country in order to advance learning health system scientist training.

This investment supports CLHSS and our MN-LHS program, as well as our consortium of core clinical partners: M Health Fairview, the Minneapolis VA Health Care System, Essentia Health, HealthPartners, and Hennepin Healthcare.

The MN-LHS LEaRN Initiative (LHS E-STaR of the North) has five key aims:

1. Leverage and expand existing LHS infrastructure to nurture a new generation of embedded scholars.
2. Enhance diversity in LHS scientists, their science, and mentorship.
3. Create a novel LHS infrastructure supporting patient-centered outcomes and comparative effectiveness research in healthcare systems.
4. Establish learning communities and networks for knowledge exchange.
5. Implement a rigorous system for program evaluation and improvement.

Part of this initiative is the Research Education Core (REC), which expands on our MN-LHS program to develop scientists who are capable of more rigorous research and implementing innovative practices in health systems. REC has allowed us to welcome additional scholars to the program as well as provide fellowships and internship opportunities to individuals who are earlier in their research careers.

The other component of our LEaRN Initiative is the Research Data Analysis Core (RDAC). RDAC will increase rigor and impact of LEaRN projects and other patient-centered initiatives by coordinating resources and capabilities across sites, providing cutting edge evaluation methods, as well as helping to disseminate outcomes. Community and patient engagement is a key part of this work; the patient and family centered research initiative already underway within CLHSS will complement these efforts to involve patient engagement from start to finish.

RDAC specifically aims to:

• Co-create and implement patient-centered projects while strengthening MN-LHS hub site partnerships and processes
• Optimize research capabilities for CLHSS, our hub sites, and joint research by removing barriers to patient-centered research
• Disseminate research and intervention findings