The advancement of the Center on Health Services Training and Research (CoHSTAR) is fast becoming a savior for physical therapy health services. In recent years, CoHSTAR has been receiving sufficient funding and support from prestige educational institutions and associations. In fact, Brown University was actually given a $2.5 million grant from the Foundation for Physical Therapy to establish CoHSTAR. The American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) gifted the CoHSTAR more than $1 million in donations to support its cause. These major donations along with many other valuable contributions have given Boston University, Brown University, and the University of Pittsburgh the ability to put together strong physical therapy health service programs to perform more research in this field.
The integration of services provided by these three institutions will provideaccess to a variety of resources, the universities have collaborated and have already developed a pilot study program focusing onthe following:
? Analysis of large data sets
? Cost-effectiveness
? Rehabilitation outcomes measurement
? Implementation science and quality assurance
These are four focuses that CoHSTAR aims to perform additional research on through its on-going funding efforts, CoHSTAR will be providing $25,000 to each new focus of study in the healthcare industry that is approved. This expense will support researchers, as well as therapists, as the researchers become more knowledgeable about topics such as improved outcome measurement methods, and better payment models they will then present their findings.The therapists will then be trained by the researchers to better their methods of therapy and treatment. Time will tell whetherthis was money invested wisely or thrown away, but in the meantime physical therapy students would be well advised to take advantage of this opportunity!
Visit http://foundation4pt.org/our-impact/ to get involved & support CoHSTAR!