Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation awarded Spinal Injury Model System grant

Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, in partnership with Mary Free Bed, has been awarded a Spinal Cord Injury Model System (SCIMS) grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR).  

The SCIMS addresses the broad range of care for spinal cord injury from emergency care to community integration. Michigan is one of 18 SCIMS around the country. 

A major focus of the work is gathering data on individuals with SCI from the acute care setting and then over time – along with collaborating with other centers to do powerful studies that change care and outcomes. 

Michigan’s SCIMS will focus on a few different areas, including:

• A site-specific project to develop and test the reliability, predictive validity and clinical utility of an SCI Hospitalization Risk Index. This Risk index will use information from the electronic health record to develop algorithms to predict hospitalization for adults with chronic SCI using machine learning.
• The development of an interdepartmental Spinal Cord Injury Clinical Quality Board which will review, discuss and integrate best practices for clinical care for people with SCI, thereby reducing the health care disparities they often face due to the lack of information about their care needs.  
• Developing a specific collaborative model with one or more other SCIMS.
• Conducting dissemination activities.

PM&R looks forward to the great benefit of sharing knowledge and skills with Mary Free Bed on the west side of the state to improve the lives of people with SCI.