KP EPC researchers have led several projects providing technical and scientific resource support for evidence-based guideline and systematic review groups. Currently, the KP EPC supports the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). Previously, KP EPC supported the Evidence in Genomics Practice and Prevention Working Group (EGAPP) and the Effective Health Care (EHC) Program.
Scientific Resource Center for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force
In collaboration with Abt Associates, KP EPC researchers co-lead the Scientific Resource Center for the USPSTF. Our researchers have responsibility for several main areas of work:
- LitWatch Newsletter – a regular audit of selected information sources to locate newly published research and guidelines that are relevant to USPSTF topics and methods;
- Facilitating topic selection and prioritization by 1) evaluating the scope and relevance of newly nominated topics, and 2) preparing background documents that summarize literature searches for new evidence and outline the disease burden, relevance to prevention and primary care, health equity issues, recommendations of other guideline developers, and existing controversy or gap between evidence and practice;
- Conducting methods projects, such as development of a health equity framework, communication of shared decision making principles, addressing subpopulation considerations, and procedures for using decision analysis/modeling.
Knowledge Synthesis Center for Evidence in Genomics Practice and Prevention
In response to the rapidly evolving field of genomic testing, the Knowledge Synthesis Center (KSC) was established by the Centers for Disease Control from 2010 to 2013 to produce information about how to apply genomic testing to health and health care. KP EPC researchers led this center, which provided systematic reviews that synthesized evidence on established tests and outlined new areas of clinical research including emerging genetic tests. The KSC also developed methods to help improve the efficiency and quality of systematic reviews for genomic applications, as well as worked on other methods projects including developing, operationalizing, and pilot testing an evidence-informed method to determine when to report incidental findings from next-generation sequencing technologies.
In addition, our researchers produced systematic reviews of the evidence to support the EGAPP Working Group, a multidisciplinary panel who guided clinical practitioners on the appropriate use of genetic tests.
Scientific Resource Center for AHRQ’s Effective Health Care Program
From 2007 to 2012, KP EPC researchers led topic development and selection activities for AHRQ’s Effective Healthcare (EHC) Program as their Scientific Resource Center, which included developing and implementing topic nomination development and selection processes for research topic nominations to the EHC Program. This work involved collaborating with AHRQ to outline selection criteria against which all nominations are evaluated to allow selection of topics for research reviews that are important, feasible, likely to have potential clinical impact, and not already addressed by existing high-quality reviews.
During this project, KP EPC researchers developed over 325 topics, which included background searching, definition of the topic scope, a search for systematic reviews, documentation of existing guidance on the topic, a feasibility scan for primary research, and completion of a three-part topic brief that summarizes information relevant to the topic’s evaluation against EHC Program selection criteria.