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Health Informatics

Study Examples | Key Publications | Intro

Information technology (IT) has been hailed as a way to improve the quality, safety, and efficiency of health care. But can IT deliver on its promise? The health informatics research program at Group Health Center for Health Studies (CHS) seeks to find the answer.

The program’s research to date indicates that when IT is focused on patients’ needs and preferences, it holds particular promise in helping to transform health care. Web portals for patients (such as MyGroupHealth at www.ghc.org) are one example in which technology may enable more continuous and timely care through access to online medical records, secure messaging with providers, and other services. Advanced clinical information systems may also help provider teams function more safely and effectively in meeting patients’ needs.

Because Group Health is an acknowledged leader in developing and implementing patient-centered health IT, it is a good place to seek answers to the critical questions of value that surround health IT. This environment, combined with Group Health’s defined patient population, is also an excellent place to study the role of health information technology in a real-world health care setting. CHS investigators are involved in patient-centered health information technology research in collaboration with institutions outside of Group Health, including the University of Washington (UW).

In addition, CHS investigators and staff are supporting the expansion of the information technology infrastructure of the HMO Research Network. Currently active multisite research programs in the HMO Research Network include the Cancer Research Network (CRN), Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD), the HMO Center for Education, Research and Therapeutics (CERT), and, most recently, the Coordinated Clinical Studies Network (CCSN). The CCSN is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)’s initiative to re-engineer the clinical research process by enhancing the productivity and efficiency of clinical research in the United States. Expanding and integrating the work of the CRN, the CCSN aims to establish a powerful, shared informatics platform, supporting clinical research into a defined population of more than 10 million people (nearly 4 percent of the U.S. population) enrolled in 12 health plans of the HMO Research Network. The CCSN will conduct translational research, exploring how health care innovations work in real practice among large populations.

Study Examples | Key Publications | Intro

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