UNYNET is the Upstate New York Practice Based Research Network. It includes 75 clinicians practicing at 49 Family Medicine sites, including Pediatric Medicine, Internal Medicine in the 8 counties of Western New York.

Our sites cover the spectrum from inner-city urban to suburban to small-city to rural. In terms of patient population, practice sites range from solo practices of less than 600 patients to large off-campus extension clinics of tertiary care centers of nearly 20,000.

The total patient population of the Network is 309,281 of which an estimated 40% are residents of rural areas and 28% are members of racial or ethnic minority groups experiencing disparities in health outcomes.

We are currently involved in translation of research projects PEAS: another name for Practice Facilitators are used on most projects. We are testing means to improve care at the doctors’ office level. focusing on topics such as: Asthma, Cardiovascular Risk Reduction, Chronic Kidney Disease, Diabetes Mellitus and Patient Safety.

A Primary Care Practice Based Research Network (PBRN) is a collaborative of at least 5 practices that have come together to study issues of importance to primary care practice. They all have a representative governance structure that exists beyond the needs of a single study and will have completed at least one study.

For the past thirty years, primary care practice-based research networks (PBRNs) have engaged in the scientific study of primary care. A PBRN is a group of ambulatory practices, consisting of both academic and community-based practices devoted principally to the primary care of patients. PBRNs are often affiliated with each other, and often with academic or professional organizations. Their primary role is to investigate questions related to community-based primary care practice. Typically, PBRNs draw on the experience and insight of practicing clinicians to identify and frame research questions whose answers can improve the practice of primary care. By linking these questions with rigorous research methods, the PBRN can produce research findings that are immediately relevant to the clinician and, in theory, can be more easily translated into everyday practice.