# Avoidable Acute Care Use among Patients with Lupus

> **NIH NIH K23** · BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL · 2021 · $178,195

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Candidate: Dr. Candace Feldman is an Instructor in Medicine in the Division of Rheumatology, Immunology
and Allergy and the Section of Clinical Sciences (SCS) at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH). Dr. Feldman
has a longstanding passion to understand and reduce disparities in rheumatic diseases. Her research focuses
on racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in prevalence, access and outcomes among patients with
systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Her 14 peer-reviewed original publications, 8 first author, and 2 early
career development grants exemplify her track record and her commitment to this field. She holds a MPH
degree and is pursuing a doctorate in social epidemiology from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
(HSPH). Her immediate goals are to learn and apply advanced health services research and qualitative
methods to understand SLE-related avoidable acute care use to inform a future intervention. She will be
guided by Dr. Costenbader, an established SLE epidemiologist, and an expert mentoring team. Dr. Feldman
strives to apply rigorous methods to redesign healthcare delivery for vulnerable rheumatology patients.
Environment: Dr. Feldman’s Division Chief ensures that >75% of her time will be protected for research and
career development for the 5-year duration of this K23 award. She has financial support to supplement her
salary and project-related expenses from the Division, the SCS, and her primary mentor’s funding. The BWH
Lupus Center, co-directed by Dr. Costenbader, is the largest in New England. The research infrastructure
established as part of the Center will enable Dr. Feldman to recruit patients. In addition, the SCS has extensive
research infrastructure, which will continue to support her work. Dr. Feldman has access to Medicaid data
under Dr. Costenbader’s Data Use Agreement with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and to
Partners HealthCare electronic health records linked to claims data through the explicit support of Population
Health Management. For her training, she will have access to courses and mentorship at HSPH, where she is
a doctoral student, and through Harvard Medical School and the Harvard Catalyst Program.
Research: Dr. Feldman will rigorously define SLE-related conditions that may result in avoidable acute care
use (e.g. emergency department visits and hospitalizations). She will then examine rates and predictors of
potentially avoidable use, and associated mortality and costs in two large, diverse datasets. She will learn and
apply qualitative methods, including Photovoice, which will empower SLE patients to photograph their homes
and communities, to explore the contribution of social determinants to avoidable care use. Dr. Feldman will
hold focus groups of SLE patients, providers and administrators to design a rheumatology-based intervention
to improve healthcare delivery for these high-utilizing, vulnerable SLE patients. Dr. Feldman will develop skills
in rig...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10137787
- **Project number:** 5K23AR071500-05
- **Recipient organization:** BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** Candace Hillary Feldman
- **Activity code:** K23 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $178,195
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-03-05 → 2022-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10137787

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10137787, Avoidable Acute Care Use among Patients with Lupus (5K23AR071500-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10137787. Licensed CC0.

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