Biomedical Informatics

Public Health Informatics

The sector integrates public health with information technology for the systematic application of information and computer sciences to public health practice, research, and learning. The development of this field and dissemination of informatics knowledge and expertise to public health professionals is the key to unlocking the potential of information systems to improve the health of the nation. Current Center for Health Information & Research (CHIR) research projects focus on the development and application of community wide health information systems.

Faculty Contact: William Johnson

Project Title:
Quality of Care

Research is being conducted by CHIR on a number of evaluations of quality of care fronts and looking for opportunities to enhance patient safety, specifically by tracking adverse events. In 2006, the Center was selected as one of six national demonstration sites to test and evaluate health care outcome measures for Medicare beneficiaries.

Quality of Care includes topics such as better quality information, patient safety and consumer involvement in quality.

Researcher: William Johnson
For more information: http://chir.asu.edu/research/index.php

Project Title:
Health Care Workforce

CHIR, in continuing partnership with the Arizona Medical Education Consortium (AzMEC) at the University of Arizona, created and maintains a longitudinal database on licensed practicing physicians in Arizona, through which researchers developed a model to forecast physician and nurse needs. The Center also conducts surveys of all physicians that are completed during their application for license and license renewal.

Health Care Workforce researches and tracks health care institutes, physicians and other health professions.

Researcher: William Johnson
For more information: http://chir.asu.edu/research/index.php

Project Title:
Health Care Informatics

In 1999 CHIR began developing Arizona HealthQuery (AZHQ), a community health data system that stores comprehensive health information for the entire population of Arizona. The AZHQ data system is unequalled in its ability to provide vast amounts of routinely updated health care information linking patients across health care providers and systems over time.

Health Care Informatics involves health data systems like Arizona HealthQuery and other data mining applications.

Researcher: William Johnson
For more information: http://chir.asu.edu/research/index.php

Project Title:
Community Health Issues

Community reports are produced at the request of the Center’s internal and external stakeholders and are designed to delve into issues relevant to the community and provide actionable information. CHIR focuses much of its efforts on research that puts understandable and actionable information into the hands of policymakers and the public.

Community Health Issues includes topics such as emergency department utilization, the environment’s impact on health, health care disparities and patterns of the uninsured.

Researcher: William Johnson
For more information: http://chir.asu.edu/research/index.php

Project Title:
Health Information Technology

CHIR is involved on several fronts demonstrating the importance of using Health Information Technology to improve the population health. Research focuses on medical trading areas and collaborating with the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System.

Researcher: William Johnson
For more information: http://chir.asu.edu/research/index.php