Coastal Research Group Self-Finances Policy Research

Last Updated on April 16, 2022 by Lee Burnett, DO, FAAFP

The Coastal Research Group’s major research activities include the National Projects on the Community Impact of Family Medicine Residency Programs, the Outcomes of Family Medicine Residency Training, the Financing of Family and Community Medicine in the 21st Century, and the Heritage and Legacy of Family Medicine.

Although as a non-profit corporation, contributions of which are deemed tax-deductible by the Internal Revenue Service, it could attempt to obtain grant funding from other organizations for its research projects, the Coastal Research Group has self-financed most of its activities.

Its principal revenue streams are the dues paid by institutional members of the Coastal Research Group (most of whom are family medicine residency programs or academic departments of family medicine), and income from registrations for the National Conferences on Primary Health Care Access and the National Workshops on the Community Benefits of Family Medicine Residency Programs.

The Coastal Research Group maintains a data base of family medicine residency graduates from 1970 on for all California residency programs past and present, as well as programs in Oregon.  It also monitors a sample of 2005 through 2008 graduating residents from profiled family medicine residency programs throughout the country, as part of its National Project on Community Impact of FMRPs.

It is involved in forefront of applying Geographic Information Systems technology in analyzing the distribution of current services and of residency program graduates for each profiled residency program, which provides a powerful display of a residency program’s impact for institutional and public policy makers.

Institutional membership is modest, $375 annually for each institution, which permits each institution to name five members of the Coastal Research Group.  Such members having voting privileges, and receive discounts for the National Workshops.  In addition all  residency programs  that are current institutional members are automatically enrolled as 2008-09 Profiled Residency Programs in the National Community Impact Project.

The Coastal Research Group employs a “just do it” philosophy in regards to research.  The costs of developing applications for funding from other agencies is often far greater than the actual amounts received from such activity.   With a significant number of Coastal Research Group members supporting its research activities through their institutional dues and their support of the National Conferences and National Workshops, the revenues generated provide the means to meet many of the organization’s research objectives.