About SALT-Net

The Studying-Acting-Learning & Teaching Network

SALT-Net, the Studying-Acting-Learning & Teaching Network, began with seed funding from the American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation, and has conducted or participated in several projects with partial or complete funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), including:

• Four completed survey projects:
• A survey of primary care physician opinions regarding obesity (published in the journal BMC Research Notes)
• A factorial study of social characteristics on ADHD diagnostic and treatment decision-making in primary care (published in the journal BMC Family Practice)
• A multi-method study of the effects of public reporting on the rates of MRSA testing in the Central New York Region (published in the journal Public Health Practice & Management)
• A survey on provider participation in public health influenza surveillance (presented as a poster at the North American Primary Care Research Group annual meeting in 2011)

• Supplementary recruitment for a joint Family Medicine/Psychiatry project recruiting cases and controls for the largest genetic case-control cohort study of schizophrenia ever conducted

• A completed card study of prior authorization costs in primary care offices, a topic identified by SALT-Net community members as one that needed exploration, and funded in part by the New York State Academy of Family Physicians. the results of this study have been presented at several national conferences (including NAPCRG 2011), and published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.

• An intervention on Vitamin D Deficiency screening and treatment norms in the region, currently in progress. This topic was also identified by SALT-Net community members as one that needed exploration.

An additional component of SALT-Net is the dissemination of knowledge and training gained from collaborative activities, and the Department of Pediatrics has been a key partner in this endeavor. Together, we have developed a large CME series focused upon youth and young adults (aged 14-25) with developmental disabilities who are transitioning from pediatric to adult care settings. The CME module will instruct primary care providers on best practices in managing guardianship determination and documentation during the transition between provider types. See http://healthytransitionsny.org/ for more information.

SALT-Net consists of both core and general members. Core members are those who are directly involved with the planning of and/or participation in network studies. There are presently 15 practices that qualify as core members. General members consist of our population of volunteer community faculty, who are invited to participate in all studies, surveys, and educational activities. This broad network consists of roughly 200 physicians spread across a broad region of upstate New York, and dispersed among a variety of practice types. Primary Care Physicians in the Central New York region who are interested in hearing more about this network may contact either John Epling, MD, MSEd, FAAFP (eplingj@upstate.edu) or Christopher P. Morley, PhD, MA, CAS (morleycp@upstate.edu), to discuss your questions and interests.