Center of Excellence in Primary Care, Department of Family Medicine in the Medical School at the University of Minnesota

The University of Minnesota Center of Excellence in Primary Care (COEPC) was launched on January 29, 2008. Built upon a partnership of primary care clinicians and researchers in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, the Department of Medicine, and the Department of Pediatrics, this center will focus on practice-based research as well as the development of provider-based quality improvement in primary care settings.

COEPC will emphasize the translation of research into primary care clinical practice. It will focus principally on phase 3 and 4 clinical trials, observational studies, survey, and behavioral research in practice-based settings. It will also facilitate delivery of better tools to provide care to community clinicians. Although the center will integrate new findings of practice-based research into guideline development, meta analysis, and systematic reviews, the principal focus of the center will be translation to the community primary care practice through dissemination and implementation research, or what is sometimes called T3 translation.

COEPC will work with community clinicians to address practical and pressing research questions in primary care, facilitate the T3 translation of research into primary care practice throughout Minnesota, and promote investigation and training of provider-based quality improvement and clinical performance.

 The vision of the COEPC is to lead the nation in the following complementary areas:

1. The primary-care based prevention and management of cancer, diabetes, and depression, with potential expansion to other chronic conditions that are common (and often co-morbid) in primary care populations. 
2. The testing and implementation of best practices for effectively using regional and national primary care practice-based research networks and associated tools to engage large numbers of community-based providers/clinics in research, while rapidly turning results back into clinical practice.
3. The development and testing of new, innovative designs for primary care assessments and systems that improve the clinical care of individuals with multiple co-existing health conditions in the primary care environment.  

COEPC will provide benefits beyond the creation of an important and unique research infrastructure. Research conducted in clinical settings speeds the uptake of innovations into practice, and quality improvement leads to the provision of better health care to the community.