End of Life Care Research Group

The Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research has long tradition of examining fundamental and policy related questions regarding care of seriously ill and dying persons. Under direction of Emeritus Dean, Dr. David Greer, the Center conducted the first evaluation of hospice. The end of life care working group continues that tradition by conducting research to describe dying in America, end of life care in nursing homes and other settings, and the interface of hospice and nursing homes.

Current Projects:

R01 HS013355-01A1 (Gozalo, Miller) 9/30/03-9/29/06, AHRQ, Market and Provider Effects on Hospice in Nursing Homes. This study proposes to 1) examine and characterize at the national level both the global hospice market and the hospice in nursing homes market. 2) measure the effects that local nursing homes, hospice providers, market and environmental characteristics have on access to hospice in nursing homes locally and at the aggregated national level.

Anonymous Donor (Miller) 9/1/05-8/31/06, Improving Data Infrastructure for Alzheimer's Disease Research: Normal Aging through Dementia. This project aims to develop a centralized data management system with the staffing and structural capacity essential for conducting planned collaborative research.

RWJF# 049891 (Miller) 12/1/03-11/30/05, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Best Practices for Nursing Home End-of-Life Care. The goal of this project is to identify and disseminate the organizational inputs and practices nursing homes and hospices consider critical to achievement of successful partnerships.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of RI (Miller) 1/1/04-12/30/05. Physician Feedback and Reminders to Improve Access to Hospice. This is a physician intervention study with the goal being to positively influence physician behavior so beneficiaries are more often referred to hospice, and are referred earlier to hospice. The ultimate aim of this study is to improve end-of-life care for BCBSRI beneficiaries.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of RI (Miller, Kuo) 7/1/04-6/30/06. Using Data to Inform Future Direction and Meet Community Needs: A Brown University and Blue Cross Blue Shield of RI Initiative. This is a collaborative effort between faculty at the Center for Gerontology and Healthcare Research (CGHR) and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Rhode Island (BCBSRI). The goal of this effort is to use analytic methods and BCBSRI beneficiary data to understanding current health care trends in RI and whether provider care deviates from established best practices (i.e., from evidence-based medicine). Understanding care of chronic terminal illness is included within the scope of work.

AG 023872 (Teno, Miller) 9/15/04-5/31/06, DHHS-NIH. Multifaceted Interventions to Ameliorate Pain/Symptoms. We proposed to develop and pilot test a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) based computer decision support intervention for pain management in nursing homes. In the development of this intervention, we will conduct focus groups with end users (long term care nurses and physician) and pilot test the application in three nursing homes in Rhode Island.

R01 CA097358 (Teno) 9/1/03-8/31/06, NIH/NCI. Cancer Assessments and Reports of End-Of-Life Treatment. The proposed research will design and validate surveys to examine the quality of medical care for cancer patients with substantial risk of death.