National Implementation Research Network (NIRN)

The National Implementation Research Network coordinated through the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, helps bridge the “science to services” gap through identification of effective implementation strategies for behavioral health interventions and the development of the science of implementation.  With funding from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration - Center for Mental Health Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, and Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration, NIRN-generated implementation knowledge is being applied in several state and national projects. The NIRN website (to visit click here) provides a wide range of information describing fundamentals of implementation approaches, research findings, literature reviews, and a searchable database of the implementation literature. Major initiatives include:

• A qualitative study of program developers’ efforts to take their programs “to scale” with a focus on access, strategies, and impacts. 
• The development of a database of implementation science literature and a database of evidence-based programs and practices across domains (e.g. mental health, education, violence prevention).
• Development and testing of measures of implementation.
• Development of a training curriculum and coaching model for “systems coaches” to assist with change management and the uptake of evidence-based programs and practices.
• Development of a mentorship model to assist new evidence-based programs and practices in going to scale.
• Creation of a national network and learning communities of program developers, researchers, state and local communities, technical assistance providers, federal partners, consumers and family members, and diverse communities.

Consultation is ongoing with Florida’s substance abuse intervention and prevention efforts, the Agency for Health Care Administration, the Florida Department of Children and Families mental health transformation efforts, and New Mexico’s mental health systems transformation efforts to name a few.  

Dissemination of monographs available on line includes:

• “Implementation Research: A Synthesis of the Literature”,  
• “Knowledge Transfer and Implementation of Evidence-Based Practices in Children’s Mental Health”
• ldquo;Consensus Statement Evidence-Based Programs and Cultural Competence.”

Evaluation of the Florida Behavioral Health System Redesign

This multi-year evaluation for the Florida Legislature examines the impact of new administrative and financing strategies for public behavioral health services in two demonstration sites (Pensacola and Ft. Myers). These strategies are designed to improve the integration of mental health and substance abuse services provided by the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) and Medicaid and to improve outcomes for people who use these services.

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State Medicaid Program Studies – 2005-2006

With funding from Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA), Department faculty have participated in the evaluation of an important expansion of Medicaid managed care to cover mental health services, including enrollees with disabilities. In collaboration with the Policy and Services Research Data Center (PSRDC), faculty engage in multiple studies that include qualitative implementation analysis, administrative data analysis, and a population-based mail survey of prepaid mental health plans; examination of racial and ethnic disparities in health outcomes; and examination of special targeted issues that have yielded important findings for researchers and policy makers in Florida and nationally.

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State Medicaid Program Studies – 2004-2005

With funding from Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA), Department faculty have participated in the evaluation of an important expansion of Medicaid managed care to cover mental health services, including enrollees with disabilities. In collaboration with the Policy and Services Research Data Center (PSRDC), faculty engage in multiple studies that include qualitative implementation analysis, administrative data analysis, and a population-based mail survey of prepaid mental health plans; examination of racial and ethnic disparities in health outcomes; and examination of special targeted issues that have yielded important findings for researchers and policy makers in Florida and nationally.

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State Medicaid Program Studies – 2003-2004

This contract combined a number of projects including the on-going evaluation of the Medicaid prepaid mental health program, and several other Medicaid studies.

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