OREANDA-NEWS. July 20, 2016. Denver Health and Kaiser Permanente today announced the launch of a unique program that connects patients with researchers — not as study subjects but as contributing members of the research team. The free program, Colorado Patient Partners in Research, brings a relatively new concept in health research to Colorado that could shape the future of how research is conducted.

“CoPPiR believes that patients should have a voice in the way research is conducted to ensure studies and their outcomes are relevant to patients’ preferences, priorities and needs,” said Ed Havranek, MD, and Denver Health’s lead CoPPiR investigator. “This program gives patients familiar with a particular health issue the opportunity to influence future research and possibly save other patients from facing challenges they may have experienced.”

By completing a brief online questionnaire and listing health topics of interest, Coloradans can be connected with a health research team.

Applicants, known as “patient partners,” who are connected with a research team, have the opportunity to provide input on research study design and proposal development, develop patient enrollment materials and methods, provide feed-back on interpretation of study results and help communicate those results to patients.

“A patient’s personal experiences — from diagnosis to treatment — make them an expert in their health care. They’ve lived it and know first-hand what worked, what didn’t and what was missing for them,” says Sarah Madrid, lead project investigator for Kaiser Permanente Colorado’s Institute for Health Research. “We’re proud to work with Denver Health on the start of something great — a public network for Colorado patients and researchers to contribute to an important evolution in health research.”

Colorado researchers are able to access CoPPiR and can submit a request for patient partners based on the disease, health condition, age, gender or other demographics needed for their research topic or study.

Based on online questionnaire responses, CoPPiR  provides potential patient partners with contact information for the research team and basic information about the proposed research project. If the research topic is of interest, the patient partner can follow up to learn more about the specific study and what role they could play on that particular research team.

Denver Health and Kaiser Permanente are actively recruiting Coloradans to join CoPPiR through a variety of outreach methods, including emailed invitations and social media. All Coloradans, regardless of their health insurance status or coverage are encouraged to participate.

There is no fee for signing up for CoPPiR as a patient partner or for researcher requests, but research teams are required to compensate all patient partners’ time once the partner has joined the research team.

The CoPPiR network is, in part, supported by a two-year, \\$250,000 Eugene Washington PCORI Engagement Award. PCORI, the Patient Centered-Outcomes Research Institute, is an independent, nonprofit organization authorized by Congress in 2010 to fund comparative effectiveness research that will provide patients, their caregivers and clinicians with the evidence needed to make better informed health and health care decisions.

For more information about CoPPiR and to learn how to sign up, please visit CoPPiR.org.

About Denver Health
Denver Health is the Rocky Mountain Region’s Level I academic trauma center, and the safety net hospital for the Denver area. The Denver Health system, which integrates acute and emergency care with public and community health, includes the Rocky Mountain Regional Trauma Center, Denver’s 911 emergency medical response system, Denver Health Paramedic Division, nine family health centers, 17 school-based health centers, the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center, NurseLine, Denver CARES, Denver Public Health, the Denver Health Foundation and the Rocky Mountain Center for Medical Response to Terrorism, Mass Casualties and Epidemics.

About Kaiser Permanente Colorado
Kaiser Permanente Colorado is the state’s largest nonprofit health plan, working to improve the lives and health of all Coloradans for 47 years. We are comprised of the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Colorado and the Colorado Permanente Medical Group — one of the state’s largest medical groups with more than 1,100 physicians. We provide comprehensive care for our 675,000 Kaiser Permanente Colorado members through 30 medical offices across the state. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, health education and the support of community health through the use of clinical research at its Institute for Health Research—an integrated department that conducts, publishes and disseminates epidemiologic, behavioral and health services research. For more Kaiser Permanente news, visit kp.org/share or follow us @kpcolorado or like us facebook.com/kpcolorado.