SEEK grew out of two research projects at the Center for Health Research in Portland, Oregon. The first is the Social HMO Medicare demonstration project (operating since 1985). The second was a study on the effects of antihypertensive medications on rates of depression and functioning among the elderly, funded by the National Institute on Aging. Eventually, the CHR was funded by the Garfield Memorial Fund to use the extensive home and community-based long-term care resources of the Social HMO databases to build the prediction model that eventually became SEEK (Screen Every Elder in Kaiser). The project has been so successful it has now gone beyond screening every elder in Kaiser to screening elders throughout the nation.

SEEK questionnaires have been used in every region of Kaiser Permanente, several U.S. Air Force bases, and in a number of federally funded research projects outside of Kaiser.

Research results have been shared at Congressional hearings, Institute of Medicine, HMO Research Network, National Alzheimer’s Association, national scientific meetings (AAHP, AHSR, GSA, ASA, APHA), peer-reviewed journals, and broadly within Kaiser Permanente. The SEEK Health Status Questionnaire and classification model are now the standard for all Kaiser Permanente regions.

Links to pulications:

Brody, Kathleen K., Johnson, Richard E., Ried, L. Douglas, Carder, Paula C. & Perrin, Nancy A Comparison of Two Methods for Identifying Frail Medicare-Aged Persons. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 50 (3), 562-569. doi: 10.1046/j.1532-5415.2002.50127.x

Brody, KK, Johnson, RE, Douglas Ried, L Evaluation of a self-report screening instrument to predict frailty outcomes in aging populations Gerontologist 1997 37: 182-191