Geisinger Health System
11/11/2024 | Press release | Archived content
Geisinger awarded $1.3 million to improve antibiotic prescribing for childhood infections
DANVILLE, Pa. - Geisinger has been approved for a $1.3 million funding award by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to improve antibiotic prescribing for children with acute bacterial respiratory tract infections in outpatient settings.
Led by Swathi Gowtham, M.D., pediatric infectious diseases physician at Geisinger, and Keith Boell, M.D., Geisinger's chief quality officer, the project is intended to ensure the appropriate use of antibiotics for children with acute respiratory tract infections while avoiding adverse side effects and preventing further development of drug-resistant infection.
"This project aims to improve antibiotic prescribing and stewardship by implementing findings from a patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research study," said Dr. Gowtham. "We hope to learn that narrow-spectrum antibiotics are as effective as broad-spectrum antibiotics in treating acute bacterial respiratory tract infections among children, with fewer side effects."
PCORI Executive Director Nakela L. Cook, M.D., MPH, added, "This PCORI funding award will support Geisinger in promoting antibiotic stewardship for children with acute respiratory tract infections."
Geisinger participates in PCORI's Health Systems Implementation Initiative (HSII) and was selected for funding through a PCORI funding opportunity recruiting HSII participants to promote evidence-based practice based on findings generated from PCORI-funded patient-centered CER. HSII aims to reduce the estimated 17-year gap between evidence publication and clinical application. This initiative recognizes health systems' practical experience and real-world insights as crucial for the sustainable, large-scale implementation of practice-changing findings in clinical care.
PCORI is an independent, nonprofit organization authorized by Congress with a mission to fund patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research that provides patients, their caregivers and clinicians with the evidence-based information they need to make better-informed health and health care decisions.
About Geisinger
Geisinger is among the nation's leading providers of value-based care, serving 1.2 million people in urban and rural communities across Pennsylvania. Founded in 1915 by philanthropist Abigail Geisinger, the nonprofit system generates $10 billion in annual revenues across 126 care sites - including 10 hospital campuses - and Geisinger Health Plan, with more than half a million members in commercial and government plans. Geisinger College of Health Sciences educates more than 5,000 medical professionals annually and conducts more than 1,400 clinical research studies. With 26,000 employees, including 1,700 employed physicians, Geisinger is among Pennsylvania's largest employers with an estimated economic impact of $15 billion to the state's economy. On March 31, 2024, Geisinger became the first member of Risant Health, a new nonprofit charitable organization created to expand and accelerate value-based care across the country. Learn more at geisinger.org or follow on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X.