Capacity

Community Linkages

With 14 research centers based in integrated health care delivery organizations nationwide, the CRN is heavily influenced by its proximity to and familiarity with the day-to-day provision of cancer care. All CRN sites are longstanding organizations with a stable presence in their communities. They also have research centers and investigators who understand their enrollee populations, the organization and delivery of care, and the associated data systems.

Population Coverage

CRN member organizations have a combined population of nearly 11 million enrollees. The age and sex distributions of enrollees collectively reflect those of the general US population, although individual plans vary widely. The CRN includes population centers with a high percentage of African American enrollees (Henry Ford Health System, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, and Kaiser Permanente Georgia); Asian Americans (Kaiser Permanente Hawaii, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, and Kaiser Permanente Southern California); and Hispanics (Lovelace Health System, Kaiser Permanente Southern California, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, and Kaiser Permanente Colorado). Racial and ethnic diversity is an important strength of the CRN, which permits studies emphasizing effectiveness research focused on those subpopulations.

Quick Facts

Between 1999 and 2007, CRN researchers published more than 100 peer-reviewed journal articles.
CRN partnerships and affiliations include the HMO Research Network , many NCI-designated Cancer Centers, and several federal agencies, including NCI, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
The CRN has significantly leveraged its core funding since the original grant to develop and receive 12 infrastructure or core research grants; 17 administrative or minority supplements; and seven pilot studies.
The CRN has participated in other funded work, including 12 R01, U01, and P50 grants; nine NCI, CDC, AHRQ, and pharmaceutical company contract studies; and three training grants and career awards.

Characteristics of the Research Centers

Research facilities
	GHC	GHS	HPHC	HPRF	HFHS	KPCO	KPG	KPH	KPNC	KPNW	KPSC	LHS	MCRF	MPCI
Year established	1983	2003	1969	1989	1948	1987	1998	1991	1961	1964	1975	1990	1959	1996

2007 funding, mil $	28.1	3.8	24	10.2	66.9	14.7	1.6	4.0	62.7	30	19	2.3	29	1.2
Extramural, %	89	90	80	75	86	63	75	90	93	90	63	100	42	70

# of full-time MD/PhD-level staff	29	14	45	13	81	15	3	2.5	52	54	14	6	25	10
# of programmers	25	1	12	10	24	17	3.5	2	76	24	22	3	10	2
Total staff	269	118	130	78	500	106	12	31	467	250	90	31	190	23

Survey research	X	X	X	X	X	X		X	X	X			X	X
Clinical center	X	X	X	X	X		X	X	X	X			X	X
Chart abstraction	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X

Characteristics of the Health Plans

Structure, %
	GHC	GHS	HPHC	HPRF	HFHS	KPCO	KPG	KPH	KPNC	KPNW	KPSC	LHS	MCRF	MPCI
Year established	1947	1985	1969	1957	1960	1969	1985	1958	1945	1942	1947	1973	1916	1977
Staff/Group	80	90	20	64	65	100	90	100	100	100	100	52	85	53
Independent Phys. Assn.	20	10	80	0	30	0	10	0	0	0	0	48	15	46
Preferred provider	0	0	0	36	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Clinic sites	30	1,234	14	34	70	17	10	17	159	27	103	21	41	20
Hospitals	2	84	21	84	10	2	3	1	19	1	11	4	4	53¹
Total enrollment, x 1,000²	540	210	805	620	295	462	286	225	3,260	487	3,190	221	175	171
1-year	80	82	79³	77	84	83	87	85	87	82	85	85	88	95⁴
3-year	63	54	55	57	68	66	67	72	75	66	71	N/A	73	92
5-year	51	41	-	44	56	56	54	63	66	57	61	N/A	68	92
Age, years, %
<=24	30	27	33	36	30	30	32	32	32	31	34	34	31	29
25-44	24	26	31	29	26	27	34	28	28	27	27	29	23	24
45-64	33	30	29	27	31	29	27	28	28	30	27	26	26	27
65-74	7	8	4	4	7	8	4	6	7	7	7	7	9	9
>=75	6	9	3	4	6	6	3	5	6	5	5	5	10	11
Female, %	53	51	52	52	55	53	52	51	52	52	53	52	53	51
Race, %
White	82	96	75	85	67	75	63	25	51	84	38	55	97	87
African-American	3	<1	16	6	28	6	33	<1	8	3	8	1	<1	2
Asian-American	6	0	5	5	2	2	<1	63	17	5	10	1	<1	3
Am. Indian	1	<1	<1	<1	<1	1	<1	<1	<1	1	<1	2	<1	<1
Hispanic	4	1.4	4	4	1	15	<1	3	19	6	41	38	<1	8
Other	3⁵	<1	0	0	2	1	4	17	5	1	<1	0	<1	0

1) Includes affiliated hospitals.
2) Total enrollment, all sites combined: 10,966,000 members.
3) 1-year retention is for Dec 2002 cohort.
4) Retention among cancer survivors only.
5) Includes persons reporting >1 race.

GHC = Group Health Cooperative (Group Health Research Institute)
GHS = Geisinger Health System (Geisinger Center for Health Research)
HPHC = Harvard Pilgrim Health Care (Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention)
HPRF = HealthPartners (HealthPartners Research Foundation)
HFHS = Henry Ford Health System (Center for Health Services Research)
KPCO = Kaiser Permanente Colorado (Institute for Health Research)
KPG = Kaiser Permanente Georgia (Center for Health Research-Southeast)
KPH = Kaiser Permanente Hawaii (Center for Health Research-Hawaii)
KPNC = Kaiser Permanente Northern California (Division of Research)
KPNW = Kaiser Permanente Northwest (Center for Health Research-Northwest)
KPSC = Kaiser Permanente Southern California (Department of Research & Evaluation)
LCF = Lovelace Health System (Lovelace Clinic Foundation)
MCRF = Marshfield Clinic (Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation)
MPCI = Fallon Community Health Plan (Meyers Primary Care Institute)

Maintained by the Applied Research Program, Division of Cancer Control & Population Sciences.
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