The KLS-Martin Group, a medical technology company that focuses on specialty markets, such as cranio-maxillofacial surgery, has awarded a $20,000 unrestricted educational grant for use toward the Allied Cleft Quality-Improvement and Research Network (ACQUIREnet) project.
This project, led by principal investigator Alexander C. Allori, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Surgery, Division of Plastic, Maxillofacial & Oral Surgery, is working toward implementing prospective, standardized data collection across cleft and craniofacial teams in North Carolina and the surrounding states.
“Cleft teams should stop competing on quality and instead collaborate on improving care for all patients in their region,” says Dr. Allori. His team at Duke will serve as the coordinating and statistical center for ACQUIREnet. Participating cleft teams will be able to check their performance relative to comparable teams in the network. “By providing metrics that matter to patients, their families, and clinicians,” says Dr. Allori “we will give teams a dashboard or report card that says, ‘This is how your team is doing, and this is how you can get better.’” The ACQUIREnet network will not only be used for data collection but will also serve as a vehicle by which to disseminate best practices and evidence-based protocols of care across the teams in the region.
The generous grant from KLS-Martin will support the building of informatic infrastructure required for data collection and data analysis in ACQUIREnet, as the research team works to prepare a competitive application for NIH R01 and PCORI grant funding. Based on project reports, KLS-Martin may continue to offer additional funding annually for three years. Dr. Allori previously was awarded a pilot research grant from the Duke Children’s Health & Discovery Initiative (CHDI), which funded exploratory research related to the ACQUIREnet project.