Establishing Research Infrastructure in the Community Hospital

UPMC McKeesport is one of six community hospitals nationwide funded by the National Cancer Institute, Cancer Disparities Research Partnership (CDRP), with the primary aim to reduce health disparities in underserved communities. This unique funding structure awarded the grant directly to the community hospital,, presenting challenges to an environment without a prior research culture or infrastructure. For example, the hospital had to implement policies establishing research integrity review mechanisms that required the cooperation of senior medical staff and administration. The negotiation of an indirect cost rate, grant accounting and federal reporting mechanisms had to be quickly established within a traditional hospital fiscal department. Most importantly, our fiduciary responsibilities required formalization of our many “partnerships”, which include an constellation of four academic institutions, several community agencies, four health systems, a number of consultants and casual status hourly staff. The complexity of these collaborations is unique within the CDRP-funded institutions. Ultimately, UPMC McKeesport managed to translate letters of support and mutual trust into formal, structured legally binding contracts. Our experiences can provide a key lesson for establishing research infrastructure in a community hospital from “groundbreaking” point up.