Administrative and Data Core

REVISED PROJECT SUMMARY The Administrative & Data Core provides coordination and administrative oversight for the Program Project and manages the acquisition, storage, preparation, and security of the numerous data sets required for the proposed research. The Core is housed within the Department of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School, which has a long and successful history of managing large and highly complex research projects. The overarching objectives of the Administrative & Data Core are to provide the administrative and data infrastructure necessary for the successful execution of the proposed research in the five constituent projects and to support logistical and intellectual synergies across the projects. Thus, the Administrative & Data Core has four Specific Aims: (1) provide administrative oversight and coordination for the Program Project; (2) meet and manage the overlapping data needs of the projects; (3) support a model of team science that shares insights across the Program Project and elevates junior investigators and trainees; and (4) disseminate research findings and solicit external input from experts, including a Scientific Advisory Board, in concert with the Methods & Theory Core’s training and learning lab. Major tasks within the first aim will include maintenance of IRB approvals, recruitment and coordination of staff, completion and coordination of progress reports, and managing project finances. Major tasks of the second aim include managing data needs for all projects and execution and maintenance of agreements (data use agreements, in particular). Major tasks of the third aim include holding monthly Program Project-wide team meetings and work-in-progress seminars, establishing a new series of small group meetings involving Program Project leadership and Project Leaders to identify opportunities for young investigators and synergistic collaboration across projects, providing young investigators regular opportunity to showcase their work and receive structured feedback, and coordinating with the Harvard PhD Program in Health Policy. Major tasks of the fourth aim include dissemination of findings to a broad audience, convening a Scientific Advisory Board, soliciting tailored feedback on both work in progress and planned work from experts on a case-by-case basis, and formulating syntheses of findings and implications across papers and projects. Dissemination efforts and external dialogue will leverage the deep institutional knowledge accrued by members of the Program Project through years of engagement with the policy community. Thus, as the projects generate evidence, the Administrative & Data Core will be the driving forces behind the dissemination of those findings to the public, the broader research community, and to the national agencies responsible for the provision of Medicare services.