RTI DEcIDE Center Resources and Capabilities
To contribute to AHRQ's Effective Health Care program, the RTI DEcIDE Center will call on primary care and specialty clinicians, epidemiologists and statisticians, experts in economics and other social sciences, public policy analysts, individuals with extensive expertise in clinical and claims database management and analysis, and researchers experienced in quality of care and patient safety to generate effectiveness and safety information on treatments of a wide array of health conditions. The Center's state-of-the-art communications technologies and long-standing collaborative relationships facilitate rapid-cycle projects, coordinated management, timely products, and efficient use of resources. Our broad skills in using health system and other data, coupled with our capabilities in evidence-based practice, will also enable us to advance standards and methods needed for effectiveness research.
RTI's DEcIDE Center can also call on the resources represented by the RTI-UNC Evidence-based Practice Center and RTI's Integrated Delivery System Research Network project. This reservoir of talent and broader corporate capabilities (experience, standard operating procedures, and facilities/equipment) underscores the ability of the DEcIDE Center to carry out multiple projects simultaneously without compromising quality or timeliness.
The RTI DEcIDE Center's major research and scientific interests include
- Clinical and therapeutic effectiveness studies, including comparative effectiveness issues
- Quality of care and patient safety, including drug safety
- Pharmaceutical and Medicare Part D studies
- Strategies for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of health care delivery
We also have special interests in specific populations, particularly Medicare beneficiaries and the elderly in general, including those in long-term care facilities. We are also prepared to focus on persons enrolled in state Medicaid plans and in state Child Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) plans, which is a longer-term goal of the AHRQ Effective Health Care program and DEcIDE network. Finally, our researchers have specific expertise in studies relating to women and children and minority populations, especially black and Hispanic groups.
DEcIDE Directors
The RTI DEcIDE Center is headquartered at the North Carolina campus of RTI International in Research Triangle Park. The director is Suzanne L. (Sue) West, MPH, PhD. Linda Lux, MPA, serves as the Center administrator; the founding director, Kathleen N. Lohr, PhD, serves as a senior scientific advisor.
For additional information, please contact:
Suzanne L. West, MPH, PhD
RTI International
Health, Social, and Economics Research
3040 Cornwallis Road
P.O. Box 12194
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-2194
Telephone: 919-541-7048
Fax: 919-541-7384
E-mail: swest@rti.org
rti.org