The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has recently funded a four-year demonstration project to Practice Partner  and the Practice Partner Research Network (PPRNet) entitled "Accelerating TRIP in a Practice Partner Research Network."  The purpose of this demonstration project is to expand PPRNet’s successful approach to quality improvement in primary care practice, validated in an ongoing project as part of AHRQ’s Translating Research into Practice (TRIP) II initiative.  

The three main goals of A-TRIP are as follows:

1) To expand the number of practices in PPRNet, with a goal of 100 active primary care practices by 2005. This goal has been reached.

2) To increase the number and diversity of clinical practice guidelines in PPRNet practice reports. The project addresses practice guidelines for priority conditions and improvement approaches advocated in the recent Institute of Medicine (IOM) report and Healthy People 2010 activities. Approved adherence with 85 practice guidelines in eight clinical areas are the aim of this project.

3) To disseminate the PPRNet-TRIP quality improvement model to a greater number of practices. The improvement model incorporates evidence-based strategies of teamwork, organizational change, patient activation, individualized and population-based medicine, and electronic medical record (EMR) tools.

The improvement model is disseminated through a three-component intervention:

Practice Reports- Distributed quarterly show, for each measure, historical performance, performance at the present time, the median performance of all PPRNet practices, the 90th percentile among PPRNet practices, and national benchmarks.  Click here for PPRNet Extract Instructions on how to run your quarterly extract.

Site Visits  - Twice yearly site visits by project consultants who have extensive experience with academic detailing, Practice Partner Patient Records, and Quality Improvement in practice.  Introductory PPRNet ATRIP site visits are currently being offered via Microsoft Live Meeting.  Internet-Based Meeting sessions are offered to all PPRNet Members.  Click here to see photos from an actual Live Meeting with a practice in Homer, Alaska.  

Network Meetings -  

The 2006 Network Meeting was held on September 25-26, 2006 in Charleston, SC at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Historic Downtown.   Click here for more information.

CME credit is provided for participation in PPRNet activities.