Penn Implementation Science Center

• In 2018, PISCE@LDI was launched by Founding Director Rinad Beidas, PhD, and Director of Acute Care Implementation Research, Meghan Lane-Fall, MD, MSHP, expanding and replacing the Implementation Science Workgroup. The Center has grown to include dedicated staff members and five Directors with unique implementation specialties.
• PISCE@LDI has since supported the development of research to guide the implementation of evidence-based interventions across a range of healthcare settings. Past activities include a conference and speaker series, and bi-monthly works-in-progress meetings focusing on research proposals, ongoing projects, manuscripts, and pilot grant funding.
• After Dr. Beidas’ appointment as the Director of Medical and Social Sciences at Northwestern University, Dr. Lane-Fall was named Executive Director of PISCE@LDI in September 2022.
• In 2022, PISCE@LDI had over 500 members, a 22% increase since 2021, with members from 10 schools and more than 50 different departments, centers and institutes across Penn.
• The Center’s research portfolio is robust—in FY 2022, Penn has 43 active NIH grants with over 42 million dollars in direct costs with a number of center grants dedicated to implementation science.
• From 2012–June 2022, over 500 individuals have received training in implementation science through our educational offerings, including the MSHP courses and the Institute.

• 2021 PISCE@LDI Year in Review

• Penn Center for AIDS Research
• Penn Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics
• Penn Center for Healthcare Improvement and Patient Safety
• Penn Palliative and Acute Illness Research Center
• Penn Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Course:  Implementation Science in Health and Health Care

• Taught by Danielle Cullen, MD, MPH, Clinical Instructor, Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
  • Offered as part of Penn’s Master of Science in Health Policy Research, this course is a survey of implementation science theory, design, and measurement, and its applications in health. This course is included in the curriculum for the Implementation Science Certificate.

Course: Advanced Topics in Implementation Science

Taught by Meghan Lane-Fall, MD, MSHP, Associate Professor, Perelman School of Medicine

Offered as part of Penn’s Masters of Science in Health Policy Research, this course offers an opportunity for students to advance their understanding of the thorniest methodological challenges in implementation science.

Implementation Science Institute

This annual meeting on Penn’s campus offers a unique opportunity to learn the tools to design and execute rigorous implementation science research. During the institute, implementation science experts also provide tips for writing specific aims for Implementation Science grants.

The 2023 Implementation Science Institute will be offered from June 6-9, 2023.

• Implementation Science Certificate
  • Directed by Meghan Lane-Fall, MD, MSHP, Executive Director of PISCE@LDI.
  • Four credit unit sequence with courses in implementation science foundations, ethics and equity in implementation science, mixed methods research, and an implementation research practicum.
  • Now enrolling for Spring 2023. Email Kathryn O’Boyle for more information.

Resources to Find Additional Education, Trainings, and Fellowships

• NIH ODP Dissemination & Implementation Research Website
• SIRC Dissemination and Implementation Training Opportunities
• Implementation Science Centers for Cancer Control (ISC³) Capacity Building Database
• Institute for Implementation Science Scholars (IS-2) Resources
• Implementation Science Resource Navigator by the Mongan Institute and Implementation Science Center for Cancer Control Equity

• Postdoctoral Fellowships in Implementation Research in Mental Health and Substance Abuse Treatment
  • This fellowship is led by David Mandell, who is a PISCE@LDI Internal Advisory Board member and LDI Senior Fellow.

• Interested in becoming more involved in implementation science at Penn/CHOP? Sign up to become a member of PISCE@LDI.
• Membership is open to the Penn/CHOP community and the larger implementation science community. Most of our offerings are available to all our members. However, a small subset are only available to members of the Penn /CHOP communities, like our monthly works-in-progress meetings. We will always specify who is eligible to attend an event—if you have any questions please email our Coordinator, Isabelle (Izzy) Kaminer.
• Connect with us on Twitter @PISCE_LDI

Dr. Robert Burke was awarded an NIA R01—with Penn coinvestigators Drs. Rachel M. Werner and Atul Gupta— to evaluate the first pay-for-performance program targeted directly at skilled nursing facilities. In a pay-for performance program, facilities can lose up to 2% of Medicare revenues or gain up to a 2% bonus based on their 30-day hospital readmission rates. However, preliminary analyses suggest the program may not be having this intended purpose (). As nursing home care quality continues to be a primary focus following the COVID pandemic, it is important to create policies that drive improved care practices. This study will use an implementation science lens to understand important aspects of context and culture in nursing homes that improved in the program. The ultimate goal of this project is to discover ways to shape policy to achieve a better balance of intended and unintended effects.

Drs. Kevin Volpp, Dan Rader and Rinad Beidas (Northwestern) were awarded an NHLBI R61 in partnership with the Family Heart Foundation to use insights from behavioral economics to equitably implement cascade screening in individuals with familial hypercholesterolemia. Cascade screening is an evidence-based practice of contacting and screening first-degree biological relatives of FH probands, and improves timely diagnosis and reduces morbidity cost-effectively. This study will contain two phases; in the R61 phase of the study, investigators will co-design health system- and Family Heart Foundation-mediated implementation strategies using behavioral economics in partnership with the Family Heart Foundation and key stakeholders from diverse backgrounds, and then pilot those strategies to ascertain feasibility, acceptability, and appropriateness of the intervention. In the R33 phase, this study aims to 1) compare the effect of health system-mediated, Family Heart Foundation-mediated, and usual care approaches on reach, number of family members screened, number of family members diagnosed with FH, and proband LDL-C levels; and 2) identify implementation strategy mechanisms focusing on health equity. The team looks forward to conducting this work at the intersection of behavioral economics and implementation science in partnership with the FHF. Other Penn investigators include Drs. Jinbo Chen, and Tamar Klaiman.

Drs. Surbhi Grover and Katharine Rendle, in partnership with Dr. Doreen Ramogola-Masire and other colleagues at the University of Botswana, have been awarded funding from the National Cancer Institute to study the effectiveness of adaptive strategies on timely treatment adoption for women with cervical cancer in Botswana. Delays and missed opportunities for timely treatment contribute significantly to global disparities in cervical cancer in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) compared to high-income countries, yet little is known about how best to increase adoption of evidence-based cancer care in LMICs. This project will use a Sequential Multiple Assignment Randomized Trial (SMART) design and evaluate contextual mechanisms contributing to the success or failure of each adaptive strategy using qualitative comparative analysis. The adaptive strategies are designed to target individual- and system-level determinants identified in preliminary work and are supported by systematic evidence of the effectiveness of nudge strategies in clinical care. The primary implementation outcome will be adoption, defined as the initiation of treatment within 90 days. Secondary implementation outcomes include fidelity (i.e., completion of recommended treatment), reach, acceptability, implementation costs, and cancer and HIV-related clinical outcomes. The rationale for the study is that enhancing coordination, communication, and navigation through centralized outreach will both increase timely treatment adoption and be scalable and sustainable after the project is completed. The results of this project will yield fundamental knowledge about how to improve and sustain timely cancer care in Botswana, and, if successful, identify strategies that can be easily translated to address other areas of cancer control across LMICs.