Sarah J. Shoemaker-Hunt, Ph.D., Pharm.D.

Sarah J. Shoemaker-Hunt has more than 15 years of experience as a health services researcher and implementation scientist. As an experienced pharmacist, she brings a practice-informed lens to her role conducting mixed-methods studies and evaluations and delivering technical assistance and quality improvement projects for federal health agencies. They include the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Clients also include non-governmental organizations. Sarah is the Abt client account lead for AHRQ.

Shoemaker-Hunt’s work focuses on studying opioid prescribing and management, opioid misuse, medication management and safety, care-delivery models, primary-care and practice transformation, quality improvement (QI), and health literacy. She leads an Opioid QI Collaborative of healthcare systems implementing the CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain. She also evaluates the effects of opioid prescribing policies on chronic pain management practices, opioid prescribing, and medication-assisted treatment. Shoemaker-Hunt also leads and advises on AHRQ projects implementing opioid management in primary care practices using the Six Building Blocks and addressing opioid use in older adults.

Shoemaker-Hunt has led dozens of studies, including projects to implement and evaluate opioid prescribing practices in health systems and primary care. She led development of 16 QI measures aligned to the CDC opioid guideline, which were released with implementation guidance for health systems in Quality Improvement and Care Coordination: Implementing the CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain. She has developed other evidence-based resources for health-care professionals and systems. She has published and presented extensively on her work and serves on the editorial advisory boards of several journals and has been a guest editor for journal supplements on implementation science and primary-care practice improvement. 

Expertise

• Opioid prescribing and management strategies
• Opioid misuse and overdose
• Medication management and safety
• Primary-care and care-delivery models
• Practice transformation and QI
• Implementation science

Key Projects

• Technical Assistance to and Evaluation of Grant Initiative to Develop State-level Capacity for Dissemination and Implementation of Patient-Centered Outcomes Research into Primary Care, AHRQ (2020 – 2023)
• Understanding Chronic Pain Management including Opioid Prescribing in the Context of Clinical Practice Guidelines and Policies, CDC. (2019 – 2022)
• Evaluating and Implementing the Six Building Blocks Team Approach to Improve Opioid Management in Primary Care, and Identifying and Testing Strategies for Opioid Use, Misuse and Abuse in Older Adults, and AHRQ. (2019 – 2023)
• Evaluation of the CDC Overdose Data to Action (OD2A) Program, CDC. (2019 – 2022).
• Develop, Implement and Evaluate CDC Opioid Quality Improvement Measures in Clinical Settings and Support a Opioid QI Collaborative of Health Care Systems, CDC (2016 – 2020)

Select Publications

• Shoemaker-Hunt SJ, Evans L, Swan H, Bacon O, Ike B, Baldwin LM, Parchman ML. Study protocol for evaluating Six Building Blocks for opioid management implementation in primary care practices. Implementation Science Communications. 2020. Volume 1, Article #16. Available at: https://rdcu.be/b2bDd.
• Shoemaker-Hunt SJ.  (December 16, 2019). Implementation Research to Understand Effective Approaches to Opioid Management in Health Systems. AcademyHealth Issue Brief.
• Shoemaker-Hunt SJ.  (April 15, 2020). Improving Care of Patients with Chronic Pain on Opioids: Findings and Insights from Health Systems’ Quality Improvement Initiatives. Panel Presentation at Rx Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit.
• Shoemaker SJ, McNellis RJ, DeWalt DA.  The Capacity of Primary Care for Improving Evidence-Based Care: Early Findings From AHRQ’s EvidenceNOW.  Ann Fam Med April 2018 16:S2-S4; doi:10.1370/afm.2227. 
• Shoemaker SJ, Curran GM, Swan H, Teeter BS, Thomas J. Application of the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research to Community Pharmacy: A Framework for Implementation Research on Pharmacy Services. Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy. (2017). Sep - Oct;13(5):905-913