The Evidence-Based Practice, Outcomes and Impact Center (EPIC) at the University of Kansas Medical Center is one of approximately 10 centers nationwide to receive designation by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality as an Evidence-Based Practice Center.

Researchers in EPIC use comprehensive and advanced health research qualitative and quantitative methods to conduct systematic reviews, meta-analysis, meta-regression and meta-narrative synthesis in order to inform policy makers and guideline panels. We collaborate with federal and state agencies, professional associations and societies, and foundations. Our reviews synthesize the evidence from research studies and assess the quality of that evidence for clinicians, patients, guideline developers, policymakers, purchasers, payors, researchers, and other health care decision-makers and stakeholders.

Living reviews and recommendations

Diagnostic Test Accuracy Reviews

Network Meta-analysis

Progonostic Reviews

Guideline adaptation methods and application

Dealing with Scarce Evidence

Qualitative Research and Patient Engagement

Advancements in statistical analysis

About Our Research

Our team is equipped to review all relevant scientific literature on a wide spectrum of clinical and health services topics to produce various types of evidence reports. These reports include systematic reviews, scoping reviews, rapid reviews, living reviews and evidence maps. The reports can be used for informing and developing clinical and public health guidelines, policies, coverage decisions, quality measures, research agendas, educational materials and tools. Our center also conducts research on methodology of evidence synthesis and identifies solutions to challenges in this field.

Areas of Expertise and Service

• Evidence syntheses that provide the least biased and most precise results for specific questions and lead to evidence-based practice, public health and policy decisions. Evidence syntheses also ensure that resources are not wasted pursuing questions that have already been answered and will create future research agendas by identifying knowledge gaps.
• Natural experiment design and complex data analyses that allow the unbiased estimation of the effect of a program or policy using administrative claims or survey data. This is achieved by the application of a wide variety of statistical methods (instrumental variables, difference-in-differences, panel data analysis, regression discontinuity, synthetic controls) to approximate natural experiments.
• Decision analyses that allow for a systematic, quantitative and visual approach to addressing and evaluating the important choices that different groups in health care systems face.
• Advise on study methods, including randomized controlled trials, observational studies, surveys and qualitative research.
• Support for the educational goals of different graduate medical education and graduate education programs by offering research electives and practicum experience.