University of Tennessee Health Science Center’s Role in the COME HOME Program

Cancer care is rapidly evolving and relies on a constant flow of information and feedback loops to ensure that patients are receiving the best possible treatment, based on the most appropriate, accurate and up-to-date information. This is the only way to learn what works and what does not. The practices participating in COME HOME are committed to this type of patient care and realize that – while this approach requires a high level of dedication, energy and time – the result is patient-centered care and better outcomes. Investigators from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center’s Department of Preventive Medicine, led by Dr. Teresa Waters, are providing expertise and manpower to support COME HOME’s real-time outcome evaluation and cost analysis. Dr. Waters is a health economist by training and has extensive experience using claims data and other large healthcare databases to inform care. She and her team are working closely with COME HOME staff to set up systems for collecting and analyzing process, outcome and cost data to ensure that COME HOME practices are able to achieve program goals (better care, higher quality, lower cost) while meeting patient care needs.

About the UTHSC Department of Preventive Medicine

The Department of Preventive Medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center is an interdisciplinary department, including individuals with training in preventive medicine, biostatistics, epidemiology, behavioral health psychology, health economics, sociology, health promotion, health services research, public health, exercise physiology, informatics, medical anthropology and nutrition. In addition to their teaching responsibilities, faculty members are involved in a wide range of ongoing studies, focusing on research that is interdisciplinary in nature and population health/prevention/wellness in focus. For more information, visit www.uthsc.edu/prevmed

About the University of Tennessee Health Science Center

As the statewide, public academic health system, the mission of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) is to bring the benefits of the health sciences to the achievement and maintenance of human health, with a focus on the citizens of Tennessee and the region, by pursuing an integrated program of education, research, clinical care, and public service. Offering a broad range of postgraduate and selected baccalaureate training opportunities, the main UTHSC campus is located in Memphis and includes six colleges: Allied Health Sciences, Dentistry, Graduate Health Sciences, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy. UTHSC also educates and trains cohorts of medicine, pharmacy and/or allied health students — in addition to medical residents and fellows — at its major sites in Knoxville, Chattanooga and Nashville. Founded in 1911, during its more than 100 years, UT Health Science Center has educated and trained more than 53,000 health care professionals in academic settings and health care facilities across the state. For more information, visit www.uthsc.edu.