Attachment D: Key Informant Interview Information Sheet

ATTACHMENT D

AHRQ’s National Nursing Home COVID-19 Action Network and Coordinating Center

PROJECT DESCRIPTIONS

National Nursing Home COVID-19 Action Network

In the fall of 2020, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) launched the National Nursing Home COVID-19 Action Network (Network) in partnership with the University of New Mexico’s ECHO Institute, and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI). The Network provides free training and mentorship to nursing homes across the country to increase the implementation of evidence-based infection prevention and safety practices to protect residents and staff from COVID-19. The Network has the following goals:

1. Deploy and facilitate a national standardized evidence-based COVID-19 mitigation training curriculum to participating nursing homes

2. Create a national learning network of nursing homes on COVID-19 infection control practices

For more information about the Network, please visit https://www.ahrq.gov/nursing-home/index.html

National Nursing Home COVID-19 Coordinating Center

In December 2020, AHRQ launched the National Nursing Home COVID-19 Coordinating Center. The Coordinating Center plays a critical, complementary role to the Network as a bridge between AHRQ’s initiatives and the nursing home quality improvement (QI) community that:

1. engages scientific and policy stakeholders to identify patient safety needs and best practices

2. ensures coordinated development and dissemination of QI tools and other resources, and 

3. assesses the impact of the Network to inform the nation’s COVID-19 response. 

For more information about the Coordination Center, please email Laurie Imhof (Imhof-Laurie@norc.org).

WHAT IS NORC?

NORC at the University of Chicago is an objective non-partisan research institution that delivers reliable data and rigorous analysis to guide critical programmatic, business, and policy decisions. Our project team offers expertise in large scale evaluations of federal health initiatives using mixed-methods approaches, and a track record of responsible federal project stewardship.

WHAT DOES THE ASSESSMENT INVOLVE?

As part of its work for the Coordinating Center, NORC is responsible for assessing whether and how the Network activities covered by the Provider Relief Funds (PRF) aided nursing homes’ efforts to mitigate the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes assessment of the Network’s reach, retention, and engagement; studying implementation gaps and barriers; and determining the long-term impact, sustainability, and replicability of the training program and Network activities. NORC will conduct a rigorous mixed-methods analysis including document review, key informant interviews, and analysis of secondary data sources.

WHO IS ON THE NORC TEAM?

NORC’s Coordinating Center team is led by project director Alison Laffan, PhD, and project manager Laurie Imhof, MPP. The assessment team is led by Sai Loganathan, PhD and co-led by Brittany Branand, PhD.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INTERVIEWS

Key informant interviews will provide an opportunity to assess stakeholder involvement in the Network and/or its components, learn about changes made as a result of participation in the Network, discuss barriers and facilitators to Network engagement, and to understand how these issues may vary between stakeholders. Each interview will last approximately 30 minutes. Your consent to participate will be requested verbally at the start of the interview.

In addition to the NORC team members facilitating the discussion, a NORC staff member will take notes during the interview. With your permission, we will record the discussion to help develop transcripts of the interview, and to make sure comments are captured accurately. Only NORC staff assigned to this project listen to the recordings as they will help us write a report about the key findings from these discussions. NORC will keep these recordings and any associated data private to the extent permitted by law (as described in the Privacy Act of 1974).

CONFIDENTIALITY

AHRQ staff are involved in developing the sample for this study, and will know the names of people who participate. While AHRQ will be aware of individuals who participate in the interviews only the NORC team will have access to notes, recordings, and/or summaries from individual interviews. We will keep your name and the name of your organization confidential, and will not refer to you by name in any public facing report. Rather, we will refer to interviewees by role in the initiative (e.g., leadership or staff) and the component with which they were engaged.

PARTICIPANT RIGHTS

Your decision to participate in the interview is voluntary. You can stop at any time. You do not have to answer any questions you do not want to answer. If you have any questions or concerns about your rights as a participant, please contact the NORC Institutional Review Board (IRB) Manager toll-free at (866) 309-0542 or by e-mail irb@norc.org.

TO REACH THE NORC TEAM

For questions or comments about the National Nursing Home COVID-19 Coordination Center and the assessment process, please contact:

Alison Laffan, Project Director

Laffan-Alison@norc.org

(312) 405-8304

Laurie Imhof, Project Manager

Imhof-Laurie@norc.org

(312) 325-2530

Sai Loganathan, Assessment Lead

Loganathan-Sai@norc.org

(301) 634-9346

Mollie Hertel, Assessment Co-Lead

Hertel-Mollie@norc.org

(312) 848-2600

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