Battelle Women and Children’s Healthcare Partnership to Study Healthcare Innovations

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Program Seeks to Improve the Quality of our Nation’s Healthcare - A consortium of 11 primary organizations led by Battelle will participate in studies that will evaluate healthcare improvements in practice settings and determine how to implement successful innovations on a broader scale. Known as the Accelerating Change and Transformation in Organizations and Networks II (ACTION II), the program could be funded for as long as five years and up to $100 million. It’s awarded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

The program’s directive, to develop a model of field-based research designed to promote innovation in healthcare delivery by accelerating research into practice, is parallel with Battelle’s mission to use science to help mankind. Success for the program would mean that new, evidence-based improvements would find their way into routine healthcare practice and improve the quality of care.

The Battelle team is called the Battelle Women and Children’s Healthcare Partnership and includes principle investigators from Nationwide Children’s Hospital; Washington University; The Ohio State University; University of Miami; University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center; Baylor College of Medicine; University of Arizona; Arkansas Children’s Hospital Research Institute; Emory University; Saint Louis University and Duke University. The group serves and provides access to healthcare delivery to more than 3 million patients, including more than 1.7 million children and significant numbers of rural, low-income, and minority patients.

“The Battelle team is a great partnership, and we can move the needle on AHRQ’s understanding of innovative healthcare delivery,” said the operational lead, Tim Pivetz, a program manager for Battelle’s Health and Life Sciences Global Business. “We’re able to deliver scientifically defensible results that are vital for the acceptance of innovation, which is of critical importance at this juncture of the development of America’s healthcare system. Because of our group’s breadth, we’ll be able to engage the diverse clinic population and access the supporting databases that are required to effectively bring innovations to scale.”

The Battelle group is one of 17 total partnerships in the ACTION II network, comprising more than 350 collaborating organizations that provide healthcare to about half the United States population. The award is a five-year task order contract model known as ID/IQ.

About Battelle

As the world’s largest, independent research and development organization, Battelle provides innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing needs through its four global businesses: Laboratory Management, National Security, Energy Technology, and Health and Life Sciences. It advances scientific discovery and application by conducting $6.2 billion in global R&D annually through contract research, laboratory management and technology commercialization. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Battelle oversees 22,000 employees in more than 130 locations worldwide, including seven national laboratories which Battelle manages or co-manages for the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and a nuclear energy lab in the United Kingdom. Battelle also is one of the nation’s leading charitable trusts focusing on societal and economic impact and actively supporting and promoting science and math education. Media contacts: Katy Delaney at (614) 424-7208, or T.R. Massey at (614) 424-5544.