Section of General Internal Medicine
Robert Nocon, MHS conducts research that focuses on cost and organization of care in safety net settings. His current projects include an evaluation of a patient-centered medical home implementation in safety net clinics, an analysis of the cost of care provided in federally-funded health centers using Medicaid claims data, and a cost assessment of a community-based quality improvement collaborative on the South Side of Chicago. Prior to his time at The University of Chicago, Mr. Nocon served as a health care management consultant to academic medical centers and large integrated delivery systems. Mr. Nocon holds a master’s degree in Health Policy from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a bachelor’s degree in the History of Science from Harvard College.
Recent News Stories
Three CCDTR studies of the patient centered medical home are featured in Medical Care
October 16, 2014 – The journal Medical Care recently announced a special supplement issue focused on the Safety Net Medical Home Initiative (SNMHI), a five year effort to transform safety net primary care providers in five states into high functioning patient centered medical homes (PCMHs). The PCMH is widely-advocated new model of primary care and […]
UCM’s mobile texting project featured in newly released Health Affairs video on patient engagement
September 9, 2014 – Yesterday, the journal Health Affairs released videos about patient engagement that they produced in partnership with the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). The three videos describe ways in which patients and practitioners make health care decisions in a patient-engaged manner. UCM’s mobile texting program, developed by a team of investigators including […]
CCDTR investigator Robert Nocon and his team win the best research poster at the 2014 Midwest SGIM regional meeting
September 8, 2014 – Last Thursday and Friday, CCDTR investigators attended the annual Midwest Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM) meeting at Navy Pier in Chicago, IL. At the meeting on Friday, Robert Nocon presented and won an award for a poster about the Patient-Centered Medical Home project entitled “Developing a Short-Form Version of the […]
CCDTR’s Text-Messaging Program Featured in Newsletter of The Alliance to Reduce Disparities in Diabetes
May 13, 2014 – The South Side Diabetes project’s text-messaging program was featured in Volume 13 of this year’s newsletters by The Alliance to Reduce Disparities in Diabetes. The newsletter was entitled “Using Cell Phone Technology to Improve Diabetes Care and Outcomes in Chicago.” Download the newsletter here. Access the Health Affairs publication mentioned in […]
Neda Laiteerapong and other CCDTR investigators publish important article in the high-profile journal Health Services Research
April 28, 2014 – CCDTR Investigator Neda Laiteerapong and other CCDTR investigators co-authored a paper that was published today in the journal Health Services Research. Their two-year study found that patients who seek care at federally funded health centers in the U.S. utilize the health care system less than patients who get their primary care […]
Media coverage of CCDTR research on the Medical Home and Clinic Operating Costs
July 2012 – A CCDTR study showed that clinics that function as a patient-centered medical home (PCMH) face higher operating costs. While primary care practices across the country are being asked to implement the PCMH model, little research had shown how the model would affect clinic costs and the limited existing research showed mixed results. […]
Media coverage of CCDTR research on the Medical Home and Clinic Morale
March 2012 – AAFP News highlights CCDTR study results showing that the patient-centered medical home is associated with higher morale and job satisfaction, but also risk of provider burnout. The study is from the Transforming Safety Net Clinics into Patient-Centered Medical Homes Evaluation Project (PI: Dr. Marshall Chin) and was published in the journal Archives […]
Recent CCDTR Publications
Tung EL, Gao Y, Peek ME, Nocon RS, Gunter KE, Lee SM, and Chin MH. Patient experience of chronic illness care and medical home transformation in safety net clinics. Health Serv Res. 2017 May 30. doi: 10.1111/1475-6773.12608.
Gao Y, Nocon RS, Gunter KE, Sharma R, Ngo-Metzger Q, Casalino LP, Chin MH. Characteristics Associated with Patient-Centered Medical Home Capability in Health Centers: A Cross-Sectional Analysis. J Gen Intern Med. 2016 Sep;31(9):1041-51. doi: 10.1007/s11606-016-3729-8. Epub 2016 May 23. PubMed PMID: 27216480; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4978681.
Nocon RS, Lee SM, Sharma R, Ngo-Metzger Q, Mukamel DB, Gao Y, White LM, Shi L, Chin MH, Laiteerapong N, Huang ES. Health Care Use and Spending for Medicaid Enrollees in Federally Qualified Health Centers Versus Other Primary Care Settings. Am J Public Health. 2016 Nov;106(11):1981-1989. Epub 2016 Sep 15. PubMed PMID: 27631748; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5055764.
Mukamel DB, White LM, Nocon RS, Huang ES, Sharma R, Shi L, Ngo-Metzger Q. Comparing the Cost of Caring for Medicare Beneficiaries in Federally Funded Health Centers to Other Care Settings. Health Serv Res. 2016 Apr;51(2):625-44. doi: 10.1111/1475-6773.12339. Epub 2015 Jul 26. PubMed PMID: 26213167; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4799905.
Gao YN, Nocon RS, Sharma R, Huang ES. What Factors Are Associated With Medicaid Patients’ Use of Health Centers? J Prim Care Community Health. 2017 Jan 1:2150131916687919. doi: 10.1177/2150131916687919. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 28142316. [Epub ahead of print]
Gunter KE, Nocon RS, Gao Y, Casalino LP, Chin MH. Medical Home Characteristics and Quality of Diabetes Care in Safety Net Clinics. J Community Health. 2017 Apr;42(2):303-311. doi: 10.1007/s10900-016-0256-9. PubMed PMID: 27659297; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5337437.
Sathe NA, Nocon RS, Hughes B, Peek ME, Chin MH, Huang ES. The costs of participating in a diabetes quality improvement collaborative: variation among 5 clinics.Joint Comm J Quality Safety. Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf. 2016 Jan; 42(1): 18–25. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4861630
Shi L, Lock DC, Lee DC, Lebrun-Harris LA, Chin MH, Chidambaran P, Nocon RS, Zhu J,Sripipatana A. Patient-centered Medical Home capability and clinical performance in HRSA-supported health centers. Med Care. 2015 May;53(5):389-95. PubMed PMID: 25793267. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4530496
Nocon RS, Gao Y, Gunter KE, Jin J, Casalino LP, Quinn MT, Derrett S, Summerfelt WT, Huang ES, Lee SM, Chin MH. Associations between medical home characteristics and support for patient activation in the safety net: understanding differences by race,ethnicity, and health status. Med Care. 2014 Nov;52(11 Suppl 4):S48-55. PubMed PMID: 25310638; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4232369
Burnet D, Gunter KE, Nocon RS, Gao Y, Jin J, Fairchild P, Chin MH. Medical home characteristics and the pediatric patient experience. Med Care. 2014 Nov;52(11 Suppl4):S56-63. PubMed PMID: 25310639; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4197078.
Nundy S, Dick JJ, Chou CH, Nocon RS, Chin MH, Peek ME. Mobile phone diabetes project led to improved glycemic control and net savings for Chicago plan participants.Health Aff (Millwood). 2014 Feb;33(2):265-72. PubMed PMID: 24493770; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4034376
Clarke AR, Goddu AP, Nocon RS, Stock NW, Chyr LC, Akuoko JA, Chin MH. Thirty years of disparities intervention research: what are we doing to close racial and ethnic gaps in health care?. Med Care. 2013 Nov;51(11):1020-6. PubMed PMID: 24128746;PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3826431
Laiteerapong N, Kirby J, Gao Y, Yu TC, Sharma R, Nocon R, Lee SM, Chin MH, Nathan AG, Ngo-Metzger Q, Huang ES. Health care utilization and receipt of preventive care for patients seen at federally funded health centers compared to other sites of primary care. Health Serv Res. 2014 Apr 30. PMID: 24779670. PMCID: PMC4177342 [Available on 2015-10-01]
Quinn MT, Gunter KE, Nocon RS, Lewis SE, Vable AM, Tang H, Park SY, Casalino LP, Huang ES, Birnberg J, Burnet DL, Summerfelt WT, Chin MH. Undergoing transformation to the patient-centered medical home in safety net health centers: Perspectives from the front lines. Ethn Dis. 2013 Summer; 23(3): 356–362. PMCID: PMC3740439
Cook SC, Goddu AP, Clarke AR, Nocon RS, McCullough KW, Chin MH. Lessons for reducing disparities in regional quality improvement efforts. Am J Manag Care. 2012 Sep; 18(6 Suppl): s102-5. PMCID: PMC3732453
Chin MH, Clarke AR, Nocon RS, Casey AA, Goddu AP, Keesecker NM, Cook SC. A roadmap and best practices for organizations to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in health care. J Gen Intern Med. 2012 Aug; 27(8): 992–1000. PMCID: PMC3403142
Nocon RS, Sharma R, Birnberg JM, Ngo-Metzger Q, Lee SM, Chin MH. Association between patient-centered medical home rating and operating cost at federally funded health centers. JAMA. 2012 Jul 4; 308(1): 60-6. PMCID: PMC3740269
Peek ME, Wilkes AE, Roberson TS, Goddu AP, Nocon RS, Tang H, Quinn MT, Bordenave KK, Huang ES, Chin MH. Early lessons from an initiative on Chicago’s south side to reduce disparities in diabetes care and outcomes. Health Aff (Millwood). 2012 Jan; 31(1): 177-86. PMCID: PMC3697906
Lewis SE, Nocon RS, Tang H, Park SY, Vable AM, Casalino LP, Huang ES, Quinn MT, Burnet DL, Summerfelt WT, Birnberg JM, Chin MH. Patient-centered medical home characteristics and staff morale in safety net clinics. Arch Intern Med. 2012 Jan 9; 172(1): 23-31. PMCID: PMC3752653 [The first and second authors made equal contributions to the research]