Clarissa Hsu, PhD

“I want to empower individuals and communities by ensuring they have the information and support from health care systems to make decisions and take action to improve their health and well-being. This means directly involving them in the design and testing of health care processes and interventions.”

Clarissa Hsu, PhD

Associate Investigator, Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute

Clarissa.W.Hsu@kp.org
206-287-4276

Curriculum vitae (CV)

Biography

Medical anthropologist Clarissa Hsu, PhD, has been doing Kaiser Permanente research since 2001, and became an official member of the faculty in 2011. She conducts research using a holistic approach that unites the cultural, social, and political factors that shape health and health care. Dr. Hsu was one of the first researchers to receive funding from the national Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), which supports studies on issues that are a high priority for patients, caregivers, and clinicians. PCORI-funded research follows an innovative model, including patient input at all steps in the research process. Dr. Hsu and her team christened her PCORI project LINCC: Learning to Integrate Neighborhoods and Clinical Care.

The LINCC project designed, piloted, and evaluated a new primary care role: connecting patients to community resources. This new community resource specialist role was spread throughout Kaiser Permanente Washington, with a robust evaluation and implementation support co-led by Dr. Hsu through KPWHRI’s Center for Accelerating Care Transformation. LINCC also resulted in the creation of valuable health care resources, including an article on having patients as co-investigators, as well as a guide and set of care-design templates for engaging a cohort of patients in co-designing care.

Dr. Hsu is also at the forefront of other prevalent health issues, working to document, design, evaluate, and disseminate new approaches and best practices. She seeks to help chronic pain patients taper off and find alternatives to opioids. She also works to improve how care delivery systems interact with patients and family members around sensitive and complex topics such as dementia diagnoses, use of antipsychotics in youth, blood pressure diagnosis and control, cannabis use, and childhood vaccinations.

Dr. Hsu is an affiliate professor at the University of Washington School of Public Health.

Research interests and experience

Clinical Quality Improvement
Primary care; ambulatory care; preventive medicine; health care design and workforce issues; addressing social determinants of health
Patient-Centered Outcomes Research/Patient-Centered Care
Patient engagement and partnership; shared decision making
Chronic Pain
Using safe and effective methods to treat pain, supporting patients to minimize opioid use, cannabis use, communication about pain
Addressing Social Risks in Clinical Settings

Screening and providing support for patients with social needs
Complementary & Integrative Health

Patient experiences with complementary and alternative medicine
Evaluation Science and Implementation and Dissemination Science

Qualitative and mixed-methods approaches

Healthy Communities

Clinic-community linkages; preventive medicine; addressing social determinants of health
Addictions

Prevention and treatment
Social Determinants of Health
Chronic Illness Management
Vaccines & Infectious Diseases

Recent publications

Paige S, Bourcier E, Cahill C, Kabel C, Hsu C. Evaluating the Kaiser Permanente Community Fund’s Social Determinants of Health portfolio. Found Rev. 2012 April (4);1:68-80. PubMed

Hsu C, Cherkin DC, Hoffmeyer S, Sherman KJ, Phillips WR. Patient and clinician openness to including a broader range of healing options in primary care. Ann Fam Med. 2011 Sep-Oct;9(5):447-53. PubMed

Jones M, Hsu C, Pearson D, Wolford D, Labby D. An alternative to pay-for-performance: one health plan's approach to quality improvement. J Healthc Qual. 2011;33(1):22-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1945-1474.2010.00100.x. PubMed

Chubak J, Hsu C, Tuzzio L, Kirlin B, Nekhlyudov L. C-a4-01: providing care for cancer survivors in integrated delivery systems: an assessment of current practices and future opportunities. Clin Med Res. 2010;8(3-4):182. PubMed

Reid RJ, Coleman K, Johnson EA, Fishman PA, Hsu C, Soman MP, Trescott CE, Erikson M, Larson EB. The Group Health medical home at year two: cost savings, higher patient satisfaction, and less burnout for providers. Health Aff (Millwood). 2010;29(5):835-43. PubMed

Hsu C, Bluespruce J, Sherman K, Cherkin D. Unanticipated benefits of CAM therapies for back pain: an exploration of patient experiences. J Altern Complement Med. 2010;16(2):157-63. PubMed

Coleman K, Reid RJ, Johnson E, Hsu C, Ross TR, Fishman P, Larson E. Implications of reassigning patients for the medical home: a case study. Ann Fam Med. 2010;8(6):493-8. PubMed

Hsu C, Pearson D, Maynard R, Cahill C, Cheadle A. The potential of partnerships for health advocacy and policy change: the legacy of the Partnership for the Public's Health initiative. The Foundation Review. 2009;1(3):43-59. PubMed

Hsu C, Phillips WR, Sherman KJ, Hawkes R, Cherkin DC. Healing in primary care: a vision shared by patients, physicians, nurses, and clinical staff. Ann Fam Med. 2008;6(4):307-14. PubMed

Cheadle A, Hsu C, Schwartz PM, Pearson D, Greenwald HP, Beery WL, Flores G, Casey MC. Involving local health departments in community health partnerships: evaluation results from the partnership for the public's health initiative. J Urban Health. 2008;85(2):162-77. Epub 2008 Feb 8. PubMed