The Southern California Evidence-based Practice Center will conduct systematic reviews and technology assessments of all aspects of health care, perform research on improving the methods of synthesizing the scientific evidence and developing evidence reports and technology assessments, and provide technical assistance to other organizations in their efforts to translate evidence reports and technology assessments into guidelines, performance measures, and other quality-improvement tools.
The Center brings together a breadth and depth of methodological and clinical expertise and can staff multiple simultaneous task orders. The Center is also the natural progression of more than 20 years of work (dating back to 1972 and the beginning of the RAND Health Insurance Experiment) by RAND and its affiliated institutions in reviewing the biomedical literature for evidence of benefits, harms, and costs; using meta-analysis, decision analysis, and cost-effectiveness analysis to synthesize the literature; developing measures of clinical appropriateness and practice guidelines; developing and assessing medical review criteria; and developing and assessing performance measures and other tools for translating evidence-based knowledge into clinical practice. The hallmark of this work has been: (1) its multi-disciplinary nature: RAND and its affiliated institutions combine the talents of clinicians, health services researchers, epidemiologists, statisticians, economists, and advanced methods experts in meta-analysis and decision analysis; (2) the advancement of knowledge about the methods for performing literature reviews, synthesizing evidence, and developing practice guidelines or review criteria; and (3) the emphasis on developing and evaluating products for use in the real world of health care delivery.
The Southern California Evidence-based Practice Center combines the talents of RAND and its five affiliated regional health care institutions: the University of California, Los Angeles; the University of California, San Diego; Cedars-Sinai Medical Center; the University of Southern California; and Value Health Sciences. In addition, through the VA/RAND/UC Field Program, "Center for the Study of Health Care Provider Behavior," there will be four collaborating Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) facilities: the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center, Sepulveda VA Medical Center, San Diego VA Medical Center, and the Technology Assessment Center of the Management Decision and Research Center. The EPC will also be affiliated with a minority Medical Treatment and Effectiveness Program (MEDTEP) center, five health services research training programs, and, through the participation of the Director, the International Cochrane Collaboration.
Access information about the Southern California EPC-RAND at:
http://www.rand.org/organization/health/epc/
Or contact:
Paul Shekelle, M.D., Ph.D.
Director, Southern California EPC-RAND
1700 Main Street
Santa Monica, CA 90401
Phone: (310) 393-0411, ext. 6669
Fax: (310) 451-6917
E-mail: paul_shekelle@rand.org
Internet Citation:
Southern California-RAND Evidence-based Practice Center. Profile, September 1998. Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/epc/socalepc.htm
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