Research on health informatics at Kaiser Permanente Washington focuses on developing and using health information technology (IT) to transform health care delivery. By testing new paradigms of care that provide more opportunities to engage patients, this research is supplying valuable evidence that is helping shape federal policy and guiding innovative redesign of health care.
“We’re working to understand how to make health IT practical so patients and care teams find it useful and engaging,” explained Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI) Senior Investigator James Ralston, MD, MPH. “We want to find ways to use information technologies to support patients and providers together, both inside and outside the office.”
Integral to this support is designing technologies that are user-friendly and meet the needs of both patients and providers. By applying human-centered methods that focus on needs, use, and usability, KPWHRI researchers inform the design of health IT with direct participation from users.
Groundbreaking methodological work by KPWHRI health informatics researchers includes developing natural language processing (NLP) to analyze text such as notes and written reports in electronic health records (EHRs). Assistant Investigator David Carrell, PhD, leads in the area of using NLP and machine learning to identify patient phenotypes, or specific health characteristics such as possible heart disease, risk of opioid overdose, or suggestion of colon cancer. This information can assist researchers in studying how genetics and other factors influence disease.
Other examples of KPWHRI health informatics research include projects using EHRs and secure electronic communications such as:
Examples of KPWHRI research in mobile health (mHealth) and user-centered design include:
“Our studies on using health IT to improve care are showing that we can achieve better outcomes when we shift care from the doctor’s office to where people live: in their homes—and online,” said Senior Investigator Beverly B. Green, MD, MPH.
Jackson SL, Mejilla R, Darer JD, Oster NV, Ralston JD, Leveille SG, Walker J, Delbanco T, Elmore JG. Patients who share transparent visit notes with others: characteristics, risks, and benefits. J Med Internet Res. 2014 Nov 12;16(11):e247. doi: 10.2196/jmir.3363. PubMed
Parks ML, Hebert-Beirne J, Rojas M, Tuzzio L, Nelson CL, Boutin-Foster C. A qualitative study of factors underlying decision making for joint replacement among African Americans and Latinos with osteoarthritis. J Long Term Eff Med Implants. 2014;24(2-3):205-12.
Jackson ML, Henrikson NB, Grossman DC. Evaluating Washington State’s Immunization Information System as a research tool. Academ Pediatr. 2014 Jan 1;14(1):71-6. doi: 10.1016/j.acap.2013.10.002.
Mosely JD, Van Driest SL, Larkin EK, Weeke PE, Witte JS, Wells QS, Karnes JH, Guo Y, Bastarache L, Olson LM, McCarty CA, Pacheco JA, Jarvik GP, Carrell DS, Larson EB, Crosslin DR, Kullo IJ, Tromp G, Kuivaniemi H, Carey DJ, Ritchie MD, Denny JC, Roden DM. Mechanistic phenotypes: an aggregative phenotyping strategy to identify disease mechanisms using GWAS data. PLoS ONE. 2013 Dec 12;8(12):e81503. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0081503. PubMed
Denny JC, Bastarache L, Ritchie MD, Carroll RJ, Zink R, Mosley JD, Field JR, Pulley JM, Ramirez AH, Bowton E, Basford MA, Carrell DS, Peissig PL, Kho AN, Pacheco JA, Rasmussen LV, Crosslin DR, Crane PK, Pathak J, Bielinski SJ, Pendergrass SA, Xu H, Hindorff LA, Li R, Manolio TA, Chute CG, Chisholm RL, Larson EB, Jarvik GP, Brilliant MH, McCarty CA, Kullo IJ, Haines JL, Crawford DC, Masys DR, Roden DM. Systematic comparison of phenome-wide association study of electronic medical record data and genome-wide association study data. Nat Biotechnol. 2013 Dec;31(12):1102-10. doi: 10.1038/nbt.2749. Epub 2013 Nov 24. PubMed
![]() James D. Ralston, MD, MPHSenior Investigator |
![]() Jennifer B. McClure, PhDDirector, Investigative Science |
![]() Beverly B. Green, MD, MPHSenior Investigator |
![]() Katharine A. Bradley, MD, MPHSenior Investigator |
![]() Paula Lozano, MD, MPHSenior Investigator; Director, ACT Center |
![]() Yates Coley, PhDAssociate Biostatistics Investigator |
![]() Brian D. Williamson, PhDAssistant Biostatistics Investigator |
![]() Annie Hoopes, MD, MPHActing Assistant Investigator |
![]() Claire Allen, MPHManager, Collaborative Science |
![]() Annie Piccorelli, PhDSenior Collaborative Biostatistician |