Peter Embí, M.D., M.S., president and chief executive officer of Regenstrief Institute, has been named to the National Advisory Council for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). The appointment gives Dr. Embí a unique opportunity to help guide research priorities on a national level.
AHRQ is an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that is charged with improving the safety and quality of America’s healthcare system. The National Advisory Council provides advice and recommendations to the AHRQ director and the secretary of HHS on priorities for a national health services research agenda.
Dr. Embí is a nationally recognized leader in the field of clinical and translational research informatics, with a particular interest in learning health systems. In a learning health system, internal data and experience are systemically combined with external evidence, then that knowledge is put into practice, evaluated, and new evidence is generated to create a continuous learning cycle.
“As a nation, we are faced with a constant barrage of healthcare challenges – from delivering better, more efficient and effective, evidence-based care, to addressing the needs of an aging population with often multiple and complex conditions,” said Dr. Embí. “Success requires that we not only make optimal use of knowledge and tools that help us take excellent care of individuals at lower costs, but that we also innovate and study ways to most effectively and appropriately transform and improve healthcare in an increasingly data-driven and technology-enabled world. Prioritizing the type of research and development efforts that only agencies like AHRQ can enable has never been more important. I relish the opportunity to work with this talented advisory group, adding my and Regenstrief’s considerable experience – including the institute’s 50 years of discovery and innovation — to help shape the future of research and development efforts that will improve the health and quality of life for all.”
AHRQ is working to help health care delivery systems evolve into learning health systems. One example of such work is a program supported by AHRQ and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to train the next generation of learning health system leaders. As it happens, and independent of Dr. Embí’s appointment to the advisory committee, a partnership between Indiana University School of Medicine and the Regenstrief Institute was one of 11 sites selected to receive such a grant.
The advisory panel currently includes 19 national experts from the public, private and non-profit sectors who contribute different perspectives on the health care system. Each member is selected by the HHS secretary and serves a three-year term. Dr. Embí and his fellow councilors will help identify the most important questions that AHRQ’s research should address in order to promote improvements in the quality, outcomes and cost-effectiveness of clinical practice.
Dr. Embí was one of eight new members who joined the council during the July 24 meeting.
Other new members include Gregory L. Alexander, PhD, R.N., University of Missouri; Christine A. Goeschel, ScD, MPA, MPS, R.N., MedStar Institute for Quality and Safety, and MedStar Health; Rahul Gupta, M.D., MPH, MBA, March of Dimes; Charles N. Kahn III, MPH, Federation of American Hospitals; George Kerwin, MBA, Bellin Health; Edmondo J. Robinson, M.D., MBA, M.S., Christiana Care-Wilmington; and Yanling Yu, PhD, Washington Advocates for Patient Safety.
In addition to his role at Regenstrief, Dr. Embí is also the Leonard Betley Professor of Medicine and associate dean for informatics and health services research at Indiana University School of Medicine. He also serves as the associate director of informatics at Indiana Clinical and Translational Science Institute and the vice president for learning health systems at Indiana University Health.
