SPROUT-CTSA Collaborative Telehealth Research Network

PROJECT SUMMARY & ABSTRACT
Telehealth is a rapidly growing and evolving field, encompassing healthcare delivery for a wide variety of patients
through audio-video connections and other forms of electronic communication. Because of this rapid evolution
and the resulting variety and complexity of different telehealth practices across the country, conducting quality
research into the impact of telehealth services on healthcare costs, quality, and access has historically been a
challenge. The SPROUT (Supporting Pediatric Research on Outcomes and Utilization of Telehealth)
Collaborative was established in 2016, in collaboration with the American Academy of Pediatrics, to rigorously
evaluate pediatric telehealth services through the development of multicenter research on telehealth
implementation and practice, and has grown rapidly to include 104 healthcare institutions across the country.
The SPROUT-CTSA Collaborative Telehealth Research Network will enhance the existing infrastructure and
expertise of SPROUT with the established research resources of the national CTSA Consortium to develop,
iteratively test and enhance, and disseminate an innovative model for clinical and translational telehealth
research. By creating and disseminating the tools for multicenter telehealth research, we will bridge the gap
between telehealth development and integration of telehealth into the healthcare system. Our Specific Aims are
to: 1) Establish a robust platform for multisite telehealth research, and enhance and expand existing tools,
registries, and best practices for efficient telehealth study conduct, including tools to target research efforts
towards identified gaps in the existing telehealth evidence base; 2) Develop and integrate training and education
modules and workshops across the SPROUT-CTSA Network related to multisite telehealth research study
design, study conduct, recruitment, and data management; and 3) Develop an effective infrastructure to
disseminate telehealth research findings, emerging best practices, and new research tools. The network will
serve to integrate a research focus into the culture and consciousness of telehealth nationwide. We have
assembled a multidisciplinary team of investigators with collective mastery of telehealth development and
implementation, multicenter research methodology, economic evaluation, and guideline and policy development.
The SPROUT-CTSA Network will be led by investigators from the Medical University of South Carolina,
University of Colorado – Denver, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and Mercy Virtual, with national
coordinating support from the American Academy of Pediatrics. Together, we will overcome many of the barriers
to multisite telehealth research and create the tools necessary to bridge the gap between telehealth development
and integration of telehealth into healthcare systems.