The UCLA CTSI, the Southern California CTSI at USC, and the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (LAC DHS) awarded Implementation Science Awards to three project teams to develop and pilot interventions to enhance quality, efficiency and patient-centeredness of care in the county health care system. 

Initiated three years ago, the Implementation Science Awards provide each team with up to $75,000 for one year. Projects are expected to provide preliminary data for extramural funding to implement and formally evaluate the interventions within DHS.

Below are the 2018 awardees. 

"Rapid Engagement of Patients with Substance Use Disorders through Expedited Triage (RESET): A Jail Implementation Study"

PI: Lello Tesema, MD, MPH

General Internist and Director of Population Health, Los Angeles County Department of Health Services - Los Angeles County Correctional Health Services 

Co-Investigators:

• Alia Moore, MD MPH, General Internist and Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, and Director of Medical Home with Los Angeles County's Correctional Health Services
• Michael Hochman, MD MPH, Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine and inaugural Director of the Gehr Center, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine
• Albert Farias, PhD, Assistant Professor of Clinical Preventive Medicine, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine
• Sean Henderson, MD, Director of Urgent Care and Transitions, Los Angeles County Correctional Health Services

"Using Behavioral Science to Reduce Inappropriate Antibiotic Use in Acute Care Settings"

PI: Kabir Yadav, MDCM, MS, MSHS

Emergency Medicine Physician, Clinical Informaticist, and Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center

Co-Investigators:

• Larissa May, MD, MSPH, MSHS, Director of ED Antibiotic Stewardship at the University of California-Davis; Task Force member for the CDC, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America
• Aubyn Stahmer, PhD, Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UC Davis 
• Daniella Meeker, PhD, Information Scientist, Assistant Professor at Keck School of Medicine at University of Southern California, Director of Clinical Research Informatics at the SC CTSI and the Director of the DHS Health Informatics Core Facility 
• Jason Doctor, PhD, Associate Professor of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Economics & Policy at University of Southern California, and Director of Health Informatics at the Schaeffer Center
• Ross Fleischman, MD, MCR, Assistant Professor and Director of the Clinical Informatics Program at Harbor-UCLA Department of Emergency Medicine; Physician Lead for the Electronic Health Record Workgroup for the emergency departments of the Los Angeles Department of Health Services
• Catherine Sarkisian, MD, MSHS, Professor in Residence at UCLA Division of Geriatrics; Staff Physician at VA Greater Los Angeles, Division of Geriatrics
• Chase Coffey, MD MS, Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine at LAC+USC Medical Center, the Interim Los Angeles County Department of Health Services Chief Medical Informatics Officer, and the Associate Medical Director at LAC+USC
• Kenneth Zangwill, MD, Chair of the Department of Infection Prevention and Control at Harbor-UCLA and Chief of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases
• Michael Bolaris, MD, Assistant Professor in the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Director of the Harbor-UCLA Antimicrobial Stewardship Program
• Brian S. Mittman, PhD, Senior Scientist at Kaiser Permanente Southern California Department Of Research And Evaluation; Senior Scientist for Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (Queri) at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System; Co-Leader of the Implementation and Improvement Science Initiative, UCLA CTSI
• Sheba George, PhD, Assistant Professor for the Center for Biomedical Informatics at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science
• Roger Lewis, MD PhD, Chair and Professor of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
• Brad Spellberg, MD, Chief Medical Officer of the Los Angeles County University of Southern California Medical Center, Professor of Clinical Medicine, and Physician Lead for DHS MediCal PRIME Antibiotic Stewardship Measures team
• Arthur Jeng, MD, Associate Professor of Infectious Diseases at UCLA; Director of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program and Co-Director for the Infection Control department at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center
• Breena Taira, MD, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine and the Director of Research at Olive View Department of Emergency Medicine 
• David Campa, MD MPH, Director of Primary Care for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services Ambulatory Care Network
• Monica Soni, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at UCLA and Director of Continuity Care and Clinical Informatics Lead at the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services MLK Outpatient Center

"Curing the Opioid Crisis: Integrative Medicine Services for Outpatient Pain Management"

PI: Emiley Chang, MD, MPH, MSHPM 

Assistant Clinical Professor at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Division of General Internal Medicine

Co-Investigators:

• Catherine Sarkisian, MD, MSHS, Professor in Residence at UCLA Division of Geriatrics; Staff Physician at VA Greater Los Angeles, Division of Geriatrics
• Ka-Kit Hui, MD, Annenberg Professor in Integrative East-West Medicine and Director of the CEWM at UCLA, Division of GIM and Health Services Research
• Sheng-Xing Ma, MD, PhD, Professor in Residence at UCLA and Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology; Director of Integrative Medical Research Labs in Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute
• Anish Mahajan, MD, MSHS, Chief Medical Officer at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center; former Director of System Planning, Improvement & Data Analytics for Los Angeles County Department of Health Services
• Christopher Brown, MD, MPH, Assistant Clinical Professor at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Division of GIM; Director of the interdisciplinary Advanced Practices Clinic for Opiate Use Disorders
• Mindy Aisen, MD, Chief Medical Officer at RLA National Rehabilitation Center; Professor of Clinical Neurology at University of Southern California; Co-Chair of the DHS Pain Management Workgroup
• Kathy Pan, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Division of Hematology and Oncology; special focus on breast cancer survivorship
• Tony Hung, MD, Fellow at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, Division of Hematology and Oncology; former Chief Resident at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center
• Lynn Yen, MD, Co-Investigator. Assistant Clinical Professor at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry
• Kabir Yadav, MD, MS, MSHS, Emergency Medicine Physician, Clinical Informaticist, and Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
• Maureen McCollough, MD, Associate Professor at OVUMC, Department of Emergency Medicine; Co-Chair of the DHS Pain Management workgroup; Co-Chair of the Executive Committee and Medical Practice Action Team of SafeMed LA
• Patricia Evans, MSW, Chief of Social Work at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center
• Joann York, MPT, Co-Investigator. Chief of Rehabilitation Services at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center

Original article found here.

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