# Transforming residential palliative care for persons with dementia through behavioral economics and data science

> **NIH NIH P30** · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · 2020 · $758,973

## Abstract

The central goal of this proposed Roybal Center is to develop, test, and implement novel interventions that
bridge the dramatic gap between the supply of and need for palliative care services among persons with
dementia (PWD) living in long-term services and support (LTSS) facilities, as well as their family caregivers.
Several innovative aspects of this proposed Center position us to succeed in this challenging but increasingly
important space. First, we have assembled a team comprising more 50 investigators and staff from 5 schools
within the University of Pennsylvania, and the most accomplished investigators of palliative approaches to care
for PWD from 11 peer institutions. These investigators possess content knowledge and tremendous expertise
in leading all Stages of behavioral intervention development as defined by the NIH Stage Model.
Second, we will support these behavioral scientists by linking them with Center faculty with expertise in several
key methodologic areas including behavioral economics, data science, statistics, qualitative methods, health
policy and economics, and implementation science. Our focus on translating behavioral economic insights to
change the behaviors of clinicians and caregivers involved in the care of PWD builds on our recent success
using similar approaches to improve palliative care delivery in outpatient and hospital settings. Our focus on
using machine learning, natural language processing, and network methods will enable us to (a) identify
mechanisms of clinician behavior that account for aggressive care for PWD, (b) identify PWD with the greatest
unmet palliative care needs so as to sustainably target intervention delivery, and (c) more efficiently measure
person-centered outcomes in the context of large, pragmatic trials of the most promising interventions.
Third, this Center is being launched in partnership with Genesis HealthCare, the nation's largest owner of
LTSS facilities, with 401 nursing homes and assisted living facilities across the U.S. These facilities provide
ideal settings within which to develop and test interventions that will be effective and sustainable in the real
world. Further, by developing and testing the interventions in these settings, while continually increasing our
collaborations with other owners of LTSS facilities, we will be ideally positioned to implement effective
interventions in the places in which the majority of Americans with dementia are cared for near the end of life.
This Center will be directed by a Steering Committee, and will include a Management and Administrative Core
housed within Penn's existing Palliative and Advanced Illness Research (PAIR) Center. A Pilot Core will select,
guide, and monitor pilot projects chosen for funding each year. We propose two pilots for funding in the first
year: a Stage I study that seeks to adapt a web-based advance care planning platform for use among PWD
and their caregivers in LTSS settings, and a Stage 0 study that will us...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10017845
- **Project number:** 5P30AG064105-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Scott D Halpern
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $758,973
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-15 → 2024-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10017845

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10017845, Transforming residential palliative care for persons with dementia through behavioral economics and data science (5P30AG064105-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10017845. Licensed CC0.

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