The primary objective is to create the PaTH Network IPF Clinician-Patient Partnership Cohort, which will allow the conduct of patient-centered observational studies on IPF across the multiple institutions (Hershey Penn State, University of Pittsburgh, Temple University) of the PaTH network. Creating the IPF Clinician-Patient Partnership Cohort will involve:
1. Recruiting patients with IPF to participate in the PaTH Network IPF Clinician-Patient Partnership Cohort
2. Administering surveys to the IPF Clinician-Patient Partnership Cohort approximately every 3 months to collect patient reported outcomes (PROs)
3. Merging individual patient health record data into the IPF Clinician-Patient Partnership Cohort database
4. Tracking whether the patient participant has biospecimens in a PaTH site biorepository and prepare for possible sharing of biospecimens in future studies.
5. Determining if an automated procedure for identifying duplicate patients across PaTH institutions without the use of protected health information (PHI) is valid compared to a manual matching procedure using PHI.
6. Identifying potential participants for future research studies.
The secondary objectives are to use the PaTH Network IPF Clinician-Patient Partnership Cohort to answer patient-centered research questions including:
1. What is the prevalence of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) in IPF, and what effect does GERD and its treatment have on IPF disease progression, quality of life, and survival?
2. What is the association of oxygen use with survival, quality of life, exercise tolerance, neurocognitive function, and dyspnea?
3. How often do IPF patients have advance directives, how often are advance directives documented in the electronic health record, and does having an advance directive influence how/where IPF patients die, their health care utilization, satisfaction with care, and quality of life?
