Project Grant R18HS029839

The federal Project Grant award R18HS029839, funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) under the Research on Healthcare Costs, Quality and Outcomes (CFDA 93.226) program, was awarded to Brigham & Women's Hospital Inc. for a $795,826 project. The goal is to reduce variation and sociodemographic disparities in radiology recommendations for additional imaging (RAI) in head and neck care, with a focus on three conditions: thyroid cancer, lung cancer, and canal dehiscence syndrome. Key objectives include: 1) identifying sociodemographic disparities in RAI, 2) describing RAI-related epidemiology and diagnostic error, 3) developing local best practices, and 4) implementing a peer learning audit and feedback intervention to decrease RAI variation. The project will leverage natural language processing and a multi-disciplinary team to achieve these aims over the 5-year performance period from September 2024 to September 2029. As a subsidiary of Partners Healthcare System Incorporated, Brigham & Women's Hospital has extensive experience managing federal grants and contracts for biomedical research.