Health informatics

Information technology (IT) has been hailed as a way to improve the quality, safety, and efficiency of health care. But is IT delivering on its promise? The health informatics research program at Group Health Research Institute (GHRI) 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. Secure Web sites for patients (such as MyGroupHealth at www.ghc.org) show how IT can enable more continuous and timely care through services, including access to online medical records and secure messaging with providers. In recent GHRI research, advanced clinical information systems have helped clinical teams function more safely and effectively in improving care by meeting the needs of patients, particularly those who have chronic diseases such as hypertension or diabetes.

"Group Health is ahead of many other health care organizations in developing and implementing a patient-centered, integrated health IT system that gives individual patients and their doctors online access to the same information from the patient's medical record," said James D. Ralston, MD, MPH, associate investigator at GHRI. "So it's a great place to seek answers to the critical questions that surround health IT." With its defined patient population, Group Health is also an excellent place to study the role of health IT in a real-world health care setting.

GHRI investigators are involved in patient-centered health IT research in collaboration with institutions outside of Group Health, including the University of Washington.

GHRI investigators and staff are also supporting the expansion of the IT infrastructure of the HMO Research Network, exploring how health care innovations work in real practice among large populations. Currently active multisite research programs in the HMO Research Network include the Cancer Research Network (CRN), Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD), and the HMO Center for Education, Research and Therapeutics (CERT).

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Researchers in health informatics

GHRI

Affiliate researchers

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Recent publications on health informatics

2008

Reid RJ, Wagner EH.Strengthening primary care with better transfer of information. CMAJ. 2008;179(10):987-8. PubMed

Mador RL, Shaw NT, Cheetham S, Reid RJ. Whose record is it anyway? Putting patients' interests at the heart of the implementation and use of electronic medical records. Electronic Healthcare. 2008;7(2):90-2.

Tufano JT, Ralston JD, Martin DP. Providers' experience with an organizational redesign initiative to promote patient-centered access: a qualitative study. J Gen Intern Med. 2008 Sep 4. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed

Green BB, Cook AJ, Ralston JD, Fishman PA, Catz SL, Carlson J, Carrell D, Tyll L, Larson EB, Thompson RS. Effectiveness of home blood pressure monitoring, Web communication, and pharmacist care on hypertension control: a randomized controlled trial. JAMA. 2008;299(24):2857-67. PubMed

Strecher VJ, McClure JB, Alexander GL, Chakraborty B, Nair VN, Konkel JM, Greene SM, Collins LM, Carlier CC, Wiese CJ, Little RJ, Pomerleau CS, Pomerleau OF. Web-based smoking-cessation programs: results of a randomized trial. Am J Prev Med. 2008;34(5):373-81. PubMed

Alexander G, Divine G, Couper M, McClure JB, Stopponi M, Fortman K, Tolsma D, Strecher V, Johnson C. Effect of incentives and mailing features on online health program enrollment. Am J Prev Med. 2008;34(5):382-388. PubMed

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Our major research interests

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