Research and education

Projects seek to identify effective treatments and create a talent pipeline

Published March 2, 2018 by Robert Powell, III

Many of the stories about health care in Virginia last year involved research and education projects.

The Richmond-based Virginia Center for Health Innovation and many of the state’s health-care plans, for example, are involved in a pilot program looking at the effectiveness of health-payment reform. 

The program, led by the Catalyst for Payment Reform (CPR), seeks to measure “which strategies are having the desired impact on the market,” according to the CPR website.

The project’s key goal is to identify health-care payments that are “value-oriented,” which CPR defines as effective treatments combined with a reduction in unnecessary spending.

Meanwhile, the Inova Center for Personalized Health continues to take shape at its 117-acre campus in Fairfax County. Now under construction is the 220,000-square-foot Global Genome and Bioinformatics Research Institute, a partnership involving Inova Health System, the University of Virginia, George Mason University and the commonwealth that is pursuing a variety of projects. 

Inova also announced last year a partnership with Shenandoah University in Winchester to expand graduate-level programs in a number of health-care fields including public health and personalized medicine.

Construction also is underway in Roanoke on a $90 million expansion of the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute. The additional space is expected to house an additional 25 research teams. The partners in the research institute, Virginia Tech and Carilion Clinic, also have created a $15 million venture capital fund. It will be used by startups that plan to turn lab discoveries into new businesses.

Also in Roanoke, the Carilion-owned Jefferson College of Health Sciences intends to merge with Radford University. The health-sciences school, which has about 1,050 students, offers 25 degree options in the associate, bachelor’s and graduate levels.

The growing demand for health professionals prompted Regent University in Virginia Beach to announce plans to start a college of health-care sciences this fall. The college will include the university’s current health-care programs and a new school of nursing.

Healthcare charts

•     Top hospitals by revenue
•     Health and accident insurers
•     Life insurers
•     Virginia’s top nursing facilities by revenue