Infrastructure

National Family Medicine Strategic Plan for Research

C1: Create partnerships and align the discipline with future advancements in healthcare delivery to be on the forefront of new research opportunities and changes in healthcare policy

Action Steps: 

  1. Partner with payers to gain access to data and fund research around shared goals
  2. Define the end-users of primary care research and think across sectors about strategic partnerships (policymakers, patients, etc.)

Current Activities: Ongoing collaboration with STFM and ADFM around AI initiatives is aligning the discipline with emerging technologies that are reshaping care delivery and research. NAPCRG's webinar on AI in primary care  further advanced this goal by fostering cross-disciplinary dialogue and elevating the role of primary care in driving responsible AI adoption. 

 

C2: Utilize a repository of clinical data to answer key questions in primary care

Current Activities: 

At a recent ADFM Research Directors and Chairs meeting, experts highlighted how big data is transforming family medicine research. National datasets, including the NIH All of Us Research Program, CMS Medicare claims, the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, and the American Community Survey, along with the ABFM’s PRIME Registry, provide large, longitudinal data covering diverse populations, communities, and geographies. These resources enable the study of health care utilization, disparities, and outcomes at a scale not possible with smaller studies. Presenters emphasized the need for robust digital infrastructure, including common data models, standards, governance, and interoperability, to make these datasets research-ready and translate findings into actionable insights for practice.


https://www.researchallofus.org/
https://data.cms.gov/
https://www.meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/
https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/data.html
https://primeregistry.org/

C3: Increase accessible and integrated research models that produce clinically applicable research and evidence-base (e.g. optimize PBRNs, communities of practice, and consider other types of networks such as geographic and content networks)

Responsible Committee: NAPCRG Committee on Advancing the Science of Family Medicine

Action Steps:

  1. Create a consultation service focused on leveraging existing research resources

Current Activities: NAPCRG's CASFM Workgroups are contributing to this initiative by creating workshops and publications as well as compiling key resources to support future family medicine researchers and Practice Based Research Networks.

C4: Leverage Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) networks and create Centers of Excellence to increase family medicine research within institutions

Responsible Committee: ADFM Research Development Committee

Action Steps: 

  1. Convene effort for strategic communication of value proposition that resonates with CTSA

Current Activities: A webpage has been developed to highlight the critical role of the Clinical and Translational Science Institute while highlighting the disparity in investment in family medicine research compared to other developed nations and disease-specific research initiatives. The website will also serve as a resource for Family Medicine Department chairs, providing essential tools to facilitate engagement with their local CTSA hub.

C5: Design and utilize distinctive methodology such as pragmatic trials, participatory methods, community-based research, translational science, implementation research and dissemination, big data analytics and machine learning.

Responsible Committee: NAPCRG Committee on Advancing the Science of Family Medicine

Action Steps: 

  1. Strategically place and identify regional primary care research centers of excellence and their key strengths
  2. Defining shared measures that are relevant for primary care research and provide access to expertise in a national research consortium

Current Activities: NAPCRG's CASFM Workgroups are contributing to this initiative by partnering with the journal "Family Practice" to provide manuscripts for their methodology section as well as conducting workshops and compiling key resources to support future family medicine researchers.
>> Journal Article

 

Suggested Reading

Building strong family medicine research infrastructure is a strategic priority that goes beyond funding and publication counts. A key approach is to build on existing community-engaged work, recognizing that impactful research often starts small and grows over time. As one leader observed, “research is a part of family medicine’s ‘DNA’ as a discipline” (Etz et al., 2024). Departments already have the foundation to expand their scholarly work. The below articles from the JABFM Special Issue offer practical examples and tools to support a mission-driven research culture.

Practice Based Research Networks (PBRNs), grounded in clinical and educational community ties, act as essential spaces for engagement, connecting academic research with real-world practice and enabling funded studies (Westfall et al., 2024).

Federal programs like the Clinical and Translational Science Award and Clinical and Translational Research Award support infrastructure through resources, mentorship, and implementation assistance (Bennett et al., 2024).

New data resources such as the NIH All of Us program, the PRIME Registry, and the American Family Cohort help researchers conduct large scale studies to improve equity and outcomes in underserved communities. The All of Us database, for example, allows family medicine to “utilize a repository of clinical data to answer key questions in primary care” (DeVoe et al., 2024).

Tools like the Productivity And Capacity Evaluation in Research (PACER) help measure and grow research capacity (Carek et al., 2024).

We urge departments, deans, and chairs to invest in infrastructure by engaging with communities, strengthening PBRNs, using national networks and large datasets, and applying tools to build capacity—ensuring family medicine advances its vital research mission.

Family Medicine Research and Translational Science Alignment: Leveraging the Clinical Translational Science Award Network

Practice-Based Research Networks: Asphalt on the Blue Highways of Primary Care Research

Building Family Medicine Research Through Community Engagement: Leveraging Federal Awards to Develop Infrastructure

Every Day I Write the Book: Transforming EHR Data from Daily Practice into New Knowledge

Leveraging the All of Us Database for Primary Care Research with Large Datasets

Measuring Research Capacity: Development of the PACER Tool

Experiencing food insecurity is associated with Vitamin B12 deficiency in All of Us participants

Answering 100 Most Important FM Questions

Family Medicine’s Role in Generating Evidence to Inform Primary Care Payment Reform and New Care Delivery Models

Lack of Investment in US Family Medicine Research

Although it is the largest funder of biomedical research, the National Institute of Health, spent only 0.2% of its budget in 2021 on family medicine research.4 Despite being the largest specialty in the US Health system, primary care investment pales in comparison to other developed nations.5 This underinvestment impacts clinical care.6

                 

Clinical and Translational Science Research Infrastructure in the United States

Building clinical and translational research infrastructure is essential for advancing primary care science and improving community health. Two key NIH programs support this goal: the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) program, led by NCATS, and the Institutional Development Award for Clinical and Translational Research (IDeA-CTR) program, led by NIGMS. While they differ in geographic scope and institutional eligibility, both programs aim to accelerate the translation of research into practice, support the development of the clinical and translational workforce, and foster partnerships between researchers, clinicians, and communities.

Understanding what applies to you and how to access these resources:

Clinical and Translational Science Awards 

The Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) through the National Institute for Health (NIH) supports a national network of medical institutions that speeds the translation of research discoveries into improved care. This program nurtures the field of translational science through education, training, and support.  Connect with your local NIH Funded CTSA Hub to identify Funding Opportunities and access other resources

  • A Guide to using NIH RePORTER can help departments search for grant opportunities, track awarded grants, understand funding timelines and identify CTSA Principal Investigators (PIs)

Institutional Development Award for Clinical and Translational Research (IDeA-CTR)

The IDeA-CTR program, funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), is a federal initiative designed to build and strengthen clinical and translational research infrastructure in underserved and historically underfunded states. These often include rural regions and institutions that lack access to large, research-intensive networks. Through multi-institutional centers, the program supports pilot funding for early-stage investigators, mentorship and career development, core research resources, and community-engaged research. If you are located in an IDeA state, access NIGMS Funding Opportunities

Clinical and Translational Research Infrastructure Network (CTR-IN)

As part of the NIH’s IDeA-CTR program, the Clinical and Translational Research Infrastructure Network (CTR-IN) supports institutions in 13 IDeA-eligible states that often lack the centralized infrastructure of larger academic centers (largely in the Mountain West Region). Through pilot funding, mentoring, and shared research support, CTR-IN helps build research capacity in areas where family medicine departments and primary care research are often critical to population health. Connect with your local program to identify MW CTR-IN Funding Opportunities

While the traditional focus has often favored specialty/internal medicine partnerships through disease-oriented research rather than a whole-person community-engaged approach, many projects, initiatives, and coordinated support activities can advance family medicine. Additionally, introducing new research opportunities has encouraged  Clinical and Translational Programs to increase primary care involvement. 

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Advantages of working with Clinical and Translational Programs

  • Utilize Existing Infrastructure, Networks and Partnerships:
    • Opportunities for multisite collaborations
    • Supported community-focused research initiatives
    • PBRN Development - internal and external
    • Enhanced visibility and assistance in securing letters of support
  • Leadership Integration:
    • Guiding community-engaged research initiatives and actively assuming leadership roles or serving as core faculty members.
    • The role of family medicine in providing internal traction, making leadership more effective in driving these efforts
  • Mentorship and Fellowship:
    • Support research/scholarly activities for residents
    • Guide career or academic development
    • Educational and Scholarship Opportunities
  • Learning and Cultural Engagement:
    • Access to webinars, symposiums, and cultural programs
    • Improved quality improvement capacity
    • Access to boilerplates, facilities and resources information
    • Training series focused on grant writing skills
    • Biostatistical support, research methods, grants management, bioinformatics, and research training.1

 Clinical and Translational Programs can significantly benefit from collaborating with family medicine departments because they provide a direct access point to diverse patient populations within a community, enabling researchers to conduct impactful studies that better reflect real-world healthcare needs, while also facilitating community engagement and practice-based research crucial for translating findings into practice.  

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Advantages of working with Family Medicine Departments

  • Most healthcare in the U.S. is delivered by primary care clinicians and family medicine dominates this workforce. Family physicians treat the broadest range of conditions and illnesses among all specialties with the most clinic-based patients visits, seeing patients of all ages and genders, requiring all types of care from acute episodic, to treatment of chronic conditions, to preventive care. In addition, a large proportion of populations categorized as vulnerable, marginalized or underserved are cared for by family physicians. 1,2,3   

  • Family medicine has a strong rapport with patients and community stakeholders with a deep understanding of people and institutions resulting in relationships and knowledge that cannot be replicated.

  • Family medicine practitioners are well-poised to inform questions, participate in and lead research; but CTSI expertise and formal research training is needed to succeed with greater research participation. 

  • The request for applications now restricts pilot awards to translational science compared to the broader translational research area. This is a key opportunity for family physicians with skills that intuitively translate (i.e. what works for what groups and in what context).

  • Primary care regularly applies population health and quality improvement strategies as part of value-based care arrangements that can be leveraged to inform family medicine research

  • Family medicine can accelerate scholarly research as well as clinical and translational science, resulting in a phenomenal impact on public health through collaboration and innovation.

    • Rural Health Initiatives

    • Community Engagement

    • Wellness Visits & Preventative Care 

    • Chronic Disease Management

    • AI Research, Health Informatics

    • Health Equity

    • Leverage of Practice Based Research Networks

Importance of Relationship and Networking

Want to build Research Capacity?

Early steps in collaboration - “Getting started with community-based research” based on the JABFM article, “Building Family Medicine Research Through Community Engagement: Leveraging Federal Awards to Develop Infrastructure

The seven strategic opportunities for family medicine to expand its research capacity and impact, based on the JABFM article, “Leveraging the Clinical Translational Science Award Network to Advance Family Medicine Research”

  • Community Engagement with those interested and affected

  • PBRNs

  • Research Training, Education and Workforce Development

  • Research Services and Pilot 

  • Alignment for Health Informatics Adoption and Integration

  • Clinical & Translational Science Research Programs

  • Apply to Establish a new CTSA

For questions and updates on the strategic plan, please reach out to Shannon Robinson (srobinson@napcrg.org).