A message from GHRI's executive director
One my greatest satisfactions in working at Group Health Research Institute (GHRI) is that I'm surrounded by colleagues who are so dedicated to our mission of improving health and health care for all. Through our research, innovation, and dissemination, we've committed to finding solutions to the nation's health care crisis. Our confidence comes not only from hard work and scientific rigor, but also from the population "laboratory" where we do our work. We conduct much of our research in the Group Health integrated care-delivery system, which combines health care delivery with coverage. The advantage? We're based in the ideal setting to explore quality and access, while keeping an eye on cost.
Group Health has always valued and encouraged research. The organization formalized this commitment to scientific discovery in 1983 with the creation of GHRI's predecessor, Group Health Center for Health Studies (CHS). After 25 years of demonstrated scientific excellence, CHS embarked on a journey to better define and articulate our mission and identity. This process reaffirmed what we already knew to be one of our greatest strengths: our relationship to Group Health members, their care providers, and their health.
Thus, on September 8, 2009, CHS became Group Health Research Institute—a change that better reflects our important place within Group Health and our pledge to continue pursuing nonproprietary, leading-edge research in the interest of public health. And as our nation's struggle to provide high-quality, affordable health care to all Americans intensifies, so does our commitment to scientific discovery and innovation.
I recently worked with the Institute of Medicine's Roundtable on Evidence-Based Medicine, which was exploring ways to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of American medical care by changing how evidence is developed and used in the health care system. Doctors and other providers too often lack the scientific evidence they need to guide sound clinical decision making. And even when they have evidence, systemic problems often keep doctors from applying what they know in ways that are most efficient or effective.
The panel recommended the development of "learning health care systems"—where research is more closely aligned to clinical practice; where comprehensive electronic medical records are at hand that can be linked and mined for research; and where there's a strong notion of clinical data as a public good. In other words, they recommended more real-world research environments like the one we have at Group Health.
Through the years, GHRI's partnership with the Group Health care-delivery system has spawned many prac-
tical innovations, using the best available evidence to design models of care for Group Health members. Examples include establishing one of the nation's first risk-based breast cancer screening programs in the 1980s; pioneering the Chronic Care Model in the late 1990s; and in the past few years, assisting in the development of Web-based health information tools that are tied to a sophisticated electronic medical record system that can be used for research. Most recently, GHRI researchers have collaborated with Group Health administrators and doctors to design and evaluate the patient-centered Medical Home at Group Health's Factoria Medical Center.
By strengthening this partnership between GHRI and the care-delivery system, we're creating a reciprocal flow of knowledge between Group Health's research arm and its clinical experience. We work together to design clinical demonstrations, gather data, analyze it, and then feed it back to the system as a source for further innovation.
We have also continued to look for efficient and effective ways to prevent, treat, and manage the most common health problems—chronic conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, asthma, and depression—and serious illnesses such as cancer and heart disease. And because we're a non-proprietary, public-interest research center, we work to dissemi-
nate our findings and models of care beyond Group Health, influencing health care nationally and internationally.
At the same time, we provide leadership to national consortia such as the HMO Research Network (HMORN), a group of 16 research institutions based in large health plans like ours. By collaborating with our partners in the HMORN, we expand the diversity and statistical power of our study populations, which collectively include more than 10 million people. Through recent efforts to strengthen its infrastructure, the HMORN is becoming a model for multisite collaboration in real-world health care settings.
As the Institute completes the celebration of its quarter century of scientific excellence, we're looking forward to continuing successful collaborations with HMORN and our research partners at other institutions nationwide, especially our local affiliate investigators at the University of Washington and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
We also recognize that credit for the Institute's success over the past 25 years goes to our talented group of health scientists, our staff, our collaborators, and the funding organizations that sustain our efforts. Thanks also go to Group Health leaders, members, and health care providers who continue to support the Institute in our timely and crucial mission. And, of course, we acknowledge the invaluable contributions of the many individuals who have participated in research conducted at Group Health through the years.
| Eric B. Larson, MD, MPH Executive Director Group Health Research Institute |