Practice-based Research Networks

Our department is home to a number of practice-based research networks:

SNOCAP - an affiliation of PBRNs that work together to improve communication, facilitate joint research projects, and combine research staff and other resources
BIGHORN - a network of private primary care practices in Colorado
CaReNet - a network of practices that care for disadvantaged populations
HPRN - a geographically-based network of health care providers in rural eastern Colorado

Practice-based research networks (PBRNs) are networks of clinicians or practices that work together to develop research questions and design and conduct studies. The networks provide an infrastructure for the research enterprise that unites practice and research and reflects the social setting of primary care practice.

PBRNs can take into account issues like practice organization, patient population, and the community—factors that are critical to enhancing the generalizability of research findings.

PBRNs allow researchers to study unselected health problems, the effects of continuity of care, individual disease prevention strategies, care of families, and the implications of providing care with respect to individual and sociocultural norms and values.

University of Colorado Denver:

Practice-based Research Networks

Further Reading on PBRNs