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Center for Health Information Technology

The mission of Westat’s Center for Health Information Technology is to support our clients in transforming health care through the appropriate use of health information technology (HIT) by assisting our clients in:

  • Understanding and leveraging technologies to deliver safe, efficient, effective, compassionate, and quality care; and
  • Accelerating innovation by linking bench research to the home and bedside.

Staff

The Center is led by Helga Rippen, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., Westat Vice President and Chief Health Information Officer, a nationally known leader in HIT.

Dr. Rippen brings more than 20 years of experience in all aspects of HIT and health care. She has designed and implemented electronic health records (EHRs) and electronic medical records (EMRs) for one of the nation’s largest health systems of hospitals, physician offices, imaging centers, and outpatient surgical centers.

Scott Finley, M.D., M.P.H., is a senior physician informaticist at Westat. He is an expert in computerized provider order entry (CPOE), e-prescribing, clinical decision support software applications, EHRs, and clinical trials management systems.

The Center for Health Information Technology is staffed by the highly regarded Westat team of health services researchers, health policy analysts, economists, and epidemiologists, as well as experts in health communications, human factors engineering, web-based development, and survey operations.

Technologies

The Center for Health Information Technology offers expertise with a variety of HIT technologies and applications across all provider settings. These include primary and specialty care physician offices, hospitals, integrated delivery systems, mental health providers, community health centers, and long-term care facilities. Our expertise can be applied to a variety of technologies and applications:

  • Personal health records (PHRs)
  • EHRs and EMRs
  • Clinical decision support applications
  • Telemedicine and remote monitoring
  • E-prescribing and CPOE
  • Health information exchange, interoperability, and privacy and security standards
  • Bioinformatics and clinical data management studies for registries, clinical trials, and comparative effectiveness studies

Informing Policy for Successful Implementation

Westat’s Center for Health Information Technology can perform the following:

  • Identify best practices for EHR implementation, including vendor selection, contracting, and other planning and implementation activities
  • Redesign workflow based on human factors evaluation and HIT best practices
  • Design and implement transformational change, including training, publications and education
  • Evaluate and support clinical system design and implementation
  • Design and administer surveys to assess culture change, clinician and consumer experience
  • Develop tools to assess and reduce impacts of HIT on disparities of care
  • Assist in translating knowledge and research findings into action
  • Conduct research on how meaningful use metrics affect HIT adoption
  • Identify emerging issues in HIT
  • Assist in the design of clinical data across multiple systems (semantic transformation, standards for data extraction)
  • Review and assess state statutes and regulations to expedite HIT adoption (licensing, e-prescribing, security and privacy provisions)

Capabilities

Westat’s Center for Health Information Technology brings a unique set of capabilities that can be applied to empower HIT projects for our clients, including the following:

  • Study design, implementation support, and assessment—small- and large-scale pilot studies, proof of concept studies, demonstration projects
  • Evaluation—formative and summative evaluation studies, impact studies (quasi-experimental design, random assignment, intent-to-treat)
  • Policy analysis—review and synthesis of the extant literature, convene national experts, develop policy-relevant white papers
  • Usability testing and workflow studies—usability, workflow analysis, readiness assessments
  • Strategic planning—governance structure and policies, stakeholder management, sustainability strategies
  • Communication—audience segmentation messaging, toolkit design, cultural competence studies
  • Dissemination—development and management of resource centers, learning networks
  • Data management, acquisition, and transformation—clinical data management, data extraction and exchange (electronic and paper)
  • Data collection—clinician and consumer surveys, focus groups, key informant and executive interviews
  • Analytics—statistical analysis, data mining, modeling

Study Examples

  • Consumer Use of Personal Health Care Information

    Westat has conducted several projects for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) examining how consumers use personal health information. These projects include consumers’ preferred methods of accessing their health information, use of PHRs, and affects on health care utilization and medication adherence.

  • HIT Adoption Measurement

    Under contract with the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), Westat conducted an extensive review of the literature to identify and evaluate measures pertaining to the level of adoption of HIT in the United States. The project resulted in a methodological review of valid and cost-effective measures of HIT adoption and recommendations for HIT adoption measures.

  • Health IT Technical Assistance, Content Development, and Program-Related Projects

    Westat was awarded an indefinite delivery task order contract to provide AHRQ with support to the Health Information Technology Resource Center. The first task order supports AHRQ’s Clinical Decision Support Demonstration projects. It focuses on the development, adoption, implementation, and evaluation of clinical decision support in the broad provider community.

  • Public Health Disease Surveillance

    For the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Westat evaluated existing laboratory information systems for their ability to transmit electronic HL7 messages to public health agencies in a timely and standardized fashion in order to improve the quality, efficiency, and timeliness of public health disease surveillance. Detailed cost estimates were developed for adding HL7 functionality to vendors’ products, including the costs of the software development life cycle and national implementation.

For more information about the Center for Health Information Technology, please send us a message.

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