Research News

JGIM Supplement: The Importance of Implementation Science to Quality Improvement

November 10, 2020

Sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), VA/HSR&D, and Kaiser Permanente, this supplemental issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine (JGIM) on implementation science (IS) and quality improvement (QI) marks the formal addition of IS/QI as an area of emphasis for JGIM. This is important because research without action seems incomplete. Moreover, the current pandemic has demanded accelerated implementation within every healthcare system across the globe and has revealed strengths as well as challenges. The articles in this supplement are examples of how HSR&D and QUERI investigators have worked to effectively implement evidence-based research findings within clinical practice. The supplement features innovative research that applied evidence across diverse delivery systems and settings. Articles in this supplement include, but are not limited to:

• Presti and colleagues assessed implementation drivers that could explain differences among federally-qualified community health centers in their success implementing a mailed fecal immunochemical test (FIT) to increase colorectal cancer screening.
• De-implementing low-value care is an essential part of efforts to improve healthcare quality. Presti and colleagues describe efforts to reduce inappropriate PSA screening.
• Papers that empirically illustrate the application of foundational knowledge and skills from QI and IS to improve general internal medicine, include Rikin and colleagues’ study on an opt-in eConsult program and its effect on specialty care visits, as well as Keddem and colleagues’ study of implementation of patient-engagement toolkits.
• Kilbourne, Glasgow, and Chambers provide a high-level overview of important contributions for implementation science with selected stories amplifying successes in the field.

Advancing Evidence at the Intersection of Health Services Research, Implementation Science & Quality Improvement. Journal of General Internal Medicine. November 2020;35(Suppl 2).