Developing an Institute for Health Care Delivery Science: successes, challenges, and solutions in the first five years

Changing the research paradigm for digital transformation in healthcare delivery

The growing focus on healthcare transformation (i.e., new healthcare delivery models) raises interesting issues related to research design, methodology, and funding. More than 20 years have passed since the Institute of Medicine first called for the transition to digital health with a focus on system-wide change. Yet progress in healthcare delivery system change has been painfully slow. A knowledge gap exists; research has been inadequate and critical information is lacking. Despite calls by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine for convergent, team-based transdisciplinary research with societal impact, the preponderance of healthcare research and funding continues to support more traditional siloed discipline research approaches. The lack of impact on healthcare delivery suggests that it is time to step back and consider differences between traditional science research methods and the realities of research in the domain of transformational change. The proposed new concepts in research design, methodologies, and funding are a needed step to advance the science. The Introduction looks at the growing gap in expectations for transdisciplinary convergent research and prevalent practices in research design, methodologies, and funding. The second section summarizes current expectations and drivers related to digital health transformation and the complex system problem of healthcare fragmentation. The third section then discusses strengths and weaknesses of current research and practice with the goal of identifying gaps. The fourth section introduces the emerging science of healthcare delivery and associated research methodologies with a focus on closing the gaps between research and translation at the frontlines. The final section concludes by proposing new transformational science research methodologies and offers evidence that suggests how and why they better align with the aims of digital transformation in healthcare delivery and could significantly accelerate progress in achieving them. It includes a discussion of challenges related to grant funding for non-traditional research design and methods. The findings have implications broadly beyond healthcare to any research that seeks to achieve high societal impact.

Dietary Management of Heart Failure: DASH Diet and Precision Nutrition Perspectives

Heart failure (HF) is a major health care burden increasing in prevalence over time. Effective, evidence-based interventions for HF prevention and management are needed to improve patient longevity, symptom control, and quality of life. Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet interventions can have a positive impact for HF patients. However, the absence of a consensus for comprehensive dietary guidelines and for pragmatic evidence limits the ability of health care providers to implement clinical recommendations. The refinement of medical nutrition therapy through precision nutrition approaches has the potential to reduce the burden of HF, improve clinical care, and meet the needs of diverse patients. The aim of this review is to summarize current evidence related to HF dietary recommendations including DASH diet nutritional interventions and to develop initial recommendations for DASH diet implementation in outpatient HF management. Articles involving human studies were obtained using the following search terms: Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH diet), diet pattern, diet, metabolism, and heart failure. Only full-text articles written in English were included in this review. As DASH nutritional interventions have been proposed, limitations of these studies are the small sample size and non-randomization of interventions, leading to less reliable evidence. Randomized controlled interventions are needed to offer definitive evidence related to the use of the DASH diet in HF management.