FY18 Technical Assistance and Direction for RWJF's Systems for Action Research Program

The University of Kentucky will continue to operate the National Coordinating Center for the Systems for Action (S4A) Research Program that produces, synthesizes and translates new knowledge about ways of aligning the delivery and financing systems that support a culture of health. The program will (1) Manage a distributed research network of three collaborating research centers and a national coordinating center that designs and conducts studies of system innovations and interactions and their impact on health and wellbeing through the COH Action Framework; (2) Enlist diverse and multi-disciplinary scientific communities in the study of transformational system strategies through an open call for research proposals; (3) Engage stakeholders in communities, delivery systems, and policy settings in the design of research studies and in translating study results into real-world system improvements; (4) Develop data and methodological resources needed to support rigorous studies of delivery and financing systems and their interactions on population health; and (5) Implement research synthesis, translation and dissemination strategies that empower system leaders to make science-based decisions and actions supporting a culture of health. Scientific leadership for the program will include program director Glen Mays and co-director Anna Hover at the University of Kentucky College of Public Health, in collaboration with Jim Ziliak at the University of Kentucky Department of Economics and Center for Poverty Research, together with Co-investigators and project staff in biostatistics, epidemiology, and economics. A wide range of collaborating institutions will include AcademyHealth, NACCHO, ASTHO, and Altarum Institute. The program will be the source of scientific knowledge about system approaches for creating a Culture of Health.