Regenstrief Institute faculty members Shaun Grannis, M.D., M.S., and Josh Vest, PhD, traveled to Texas to share the latest research from Regenstrief and offer advice to medical leaders as they prepare to launch a regional health information exchange (HIE).
Dr. Grannis and Dr. Vest gave a presentation at the Health Informatics Grand Rounds at the University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School. The event was hosted by the school’s Department of Population Health.
Dr. Grannis presented an overview of the historical research and accomplishments of Regenstrief, including how HIEs have been leveraged to improve population and global health through OpenMRS and OpenHIE. He also spoke about how Regenstrief has been able to bring more sources of data together to improve the practice of precision health.
Dr. Vest gave a specific example of that innovation and research by presenting his team’s work on “Uppstroms,” an initiative using machine learning and data from a number of sources to identify patients in need of wraparound services outside of the doctor’s office. The program is currently in use in nine primary care clinics in the Eskenazi Health system. The app won the BioCrossroads Indiana Inject Tech Challenge and the American Medical Informatics Association’s Pitch IT competition.
Dr. Grannis and Dr. Vest were invited to speak by William Tierney, M.D., who founded the Department of Population Health at the Dell Medical School. Dr. Tierney, formerly president and chief executive officer of Regenstrief, is working to build a health data sharing community for the Austin area. Drs. Grannis and Vest have been sharing their expertise and experiences with Dr. Tierney and his colleagues.
Following their Grand Rounds presentation, the Regenstrief faculty met with the Texas State Health department officials as well as leaders of local health systems to discuss strategies for creating an HIE and its uses.
