Primary Care Conference Considers Emerging Issues in Chronic Disease

The North Carolina Network Consortium (NCNC) recently held a day-long conference in Greensboro bringing together primary care physicians, clinic staff, health care researchers and public health workers. Titled “Emerging Issues in Chronic Disease in Primary Care,” the conference featured presentations from researchers and physicians in practice-based research networks around the state on diabetes, heart disease, dementia, telemedicine and more.

NCNC comprises seven practice-based research networks around the state, including 286 individual practices and more than 1,200 providers encountering 3 million patient visits annually. The network spans 60 counties of North Carolina and two counties of South Carolina.

NCNC’s primary mission is to work collaboratively to improve patient outcomes by researching and disseminating information on the effectiveness and delivery of high-quality, safe and cost-efficient primary care services. Katrina Donahue, M.D., M.P.H., and Jacqueline Halladay, M.D., M.P.H., are the co-directors.

The keynote speaker was Michael Dulin, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Mecklenburg Partnership for Primary Care Research, based at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte. He described how his practice-based network has involved members of a predominantly Latino community in setting health care priorities for a large, multi-year health intervention in which they now participate.

“The secret is using a participatory approach,” said Dulin. “This process is very important. …When we had that participatory approach, we actually had people coming to us saying they wanted to be part of the research.”

Samuel Cykert, M.D., professor of medicine at UNC School of Medicine and associate director for medical education for the North Carolina Area Health Education Centers program, presented on the topic of emerging roles for physicians amid health care reform. William Hensel, M.D., program director of the Moses Cone Family Medicine Residency Program and a professor of family medicine in the UNC School of Medicine, spoke about new approaches to collaboration in clinical settings.

“The TraCS [North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute] initiative seems to be an excellent fit. Researchers want to bring the latest information to the bedside and my physician networks have the ability to put practice protocols in place,” said Hensel. “Together we can affect a lot of lives in a short period of time.”

During lunch participants heard rapid-fire eight-minute presentations on cardiovascular disease, diabetes and weight loss, dementia and telemedicine’s use to increase adolescent immunization.

Afternoon breakout sessions provided opportunities for practitioners and researchers to discuss in smaller groups topics including: use of cardiovascular risk reduction guidelines in pediatrics, preventing chronic disease through healthy workplaces and using informatics for evidence-based medicine in the era of electronic health records.

“We hoped that by showcasing a sample of research projects that are ongoing throughout the state, that the conference experience could spawn new relationships among those in the Greensboro area and other parts of the state,” said Halladay.