Louisville Medicine Volume 66, Issue 4 | Page 19

SICKLE CELL study will help take our previously established transition program to another level with the aims of first, having fewer young people fall through the health care cracks, and second, preventing the need for hospitalizations via fewer pain crises. A joint submission by the UofL Department of Pediatrics, Norton Healthcare and SCAK to the highly competitive Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Grant and PCORI’s authorization last year made this research possible. This structured and intricate study will help establish new nation- al standards for the care of sickle cell patients in order to improve health care outcomes. Simultaneously, this project will unveil more efficient use of health care resources. We will learn to do much more for our patients in a cost-effective manner, starting with transitioning this often-ignored patient population from pediatrics to adulthood. Similar to pediatric clinic requirements, the PCORI grant guidelines for adult care are based on the execution of six core measures that may be summarized as follows: 1) Young adult transition and care policy to ensure the patient is properly educated about his or her unique condition; 2) Transition tracking and monitoring to ensure that the patient and his or her information is not lost to follow-up; 3) Orientation to the adult program; 4) Integration to the adult program; 5) Visit information; and This five-year study will take place primarily on and surrounding Norton Healthcare’s downtown campus, including Norton Children’s Hospital, the Norton Healthcare Pavilion at Preston and Broadway, and the brand new UofL Physicians Novak Center for Children’s Health (411 E. Chestnut St., Fourth Level). As the new site for the Outpatient Infusion Center and Sickle Cell Exchange Transfusion Center, the Novak Center for Children’s Health has served as a more effective replacement for the emergency room. Our partners in this national study include the University of North Carolina and Atrium Health in Charlotte, serving as the study sponsors; Wake Forest University and Piedmont Health Services, Winston-Salem, N.C.; Duke University, Durham, N.C.; East Car- olina University, Greenville; University of Alabama, Birmingham; Emory University, Atlanta, Ga.; and Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, Baltimore, Md. Spencer Moorman, MSSW, CSW, serves as the transition coor- dinator for the project, and our community-based partners include Jo Ann Orr, [phone], marketing; and Rebecca Seavers, [phone]), president, of the Sickle Cell Association of Kentuckiana [phone]. Dr. Raj’s clinic, Pediatric PI, may be reached at [phone]. I can be contacted at [phone]. Dr. Glisson practices hematology/oncology with the Norton Cancer Institute and serves as a Principal Investigator for PCORI’s St3P UP, Adult Sickle Cell Program. 6) Ongoing supporting care. STAY Connected facebook.com/Greater-Louisville-Medical-Society with GLMS between publications www.glms.org @LouMedSociety Contact [email protected] for more information @LouMedSociety linkedin.com/groups/Greater-Louisville-Medical-Society SEPTEMBER 2018 17