Better together: Integrating biomedical informatics and healthcare IT operations to create a learning health system during the COVID‐19 pandemic

Abstract

The growing availability of multi‐scale biomedical data sources that can be used to enable research and improve healthcare delivery has brought about what can be described as a healthcare “data age.” This new era is defined by the explosive growth in bio‐molecular, clinical, and population‐level data that can be readily accessed by researchers, clinicians, and decision‐makers, and utilized for systems‐level approaches to hypothesis generation and testing as well as operational decision‐making. However, taking full advantage of these unprecedented opportunities presents an opportunity to revisit the alignment between traditionally academic biomedical informatics (BMI) and operational healthcare information technology (HIT) personnel and activities in academic health systems. While the history of the academic field of BMI includes active engagement in the delivery of operational HIT platforms, in many contemporary settings these efforts have grown distinct. Recent experiences during the COVID‐19 pandemic have demonstrated greater coordination of BMI and HIT activities that have allowed organizations to respond to pandemic‐related changes more effectively, with demonstrable and positive impact as a result. In this position paper, we discuss the challenges and opportunities associated with driving alignment between BMI and HIT, as viewed from the perspective of a learning healthcare system. In doing so, we hope to illustrate the benefits of coordination between BMI and HIT in terms of the quality, safety, and outcomes of care provided to patients and populations, demonstrating that these two groups can be “better together.”

The IHI Rochester Report 2022 on Healthcare Informatics Research: Resuming After the CoViD-19

“…Dash et al have created such a pipeline that could be effective in responding in an agile and rapid way to events like the CoViD-19 pandemic [ 110 ]. Payne et al make a strong case for the integration of informatics and healthcare IT in establishing a robust LHS for coordinating the surveillance of and response to the CoViD-19 pandemic and other public health emergencies [ 111 ].…”

Developing ahighly‐reliablelearning health system

“…This intentional transformation involves deliberate coordination among clinical operations, electronic health record and informatics support, and clinical research infrastructure to analyze rapidly different types of data to generate new knowledge and efficiently incorporate it into care processes. This work is predicated on core tenets of sharing data within our organization, translating these data to actionable knowledge and efficiently feeding this knowledge back to our patients and care teams, and has been adopted at other organizations as well 4,5 . We credit this systematic approach and the resulting culture for the success our organization has had preserving our high‐quality care despite a national backslide in quality outcomes during the COVID‐19 pandemic 6 .…”

“…This work is predicated on core tenets of sharing data within our organization, translating these data to actionable knowledge and efficiently feeding this knowledge back to our patients and care teams, and has been adopted at other organizations as well. 4,5 We credit this systematic approach and the resulting culture for the success our organization has had preserving our high-quality care despite a national backslide in quality outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic. 6 Continual mining of data from our electronic health record is generating real-world evidence that informs local healthcare practices and influences national policies.…”

“…15 These examples of our efforts to engineer a highly-reliable, learning health system were enabled by a set of intentional decisions about the organizational structure. 4 To better connect our data science and researchers to the decision-making and operational needs of the health system, an academic biomedical informatics group established over a decade ago has become the academic home for health system leaders such as the Chief Medical Officer, Clinical Research Information Officer, Chief Medical Information Officer, and others. As a result, research faculty with expertise in the use of clinical data for modeling and implementing predictive algorithms are key partners with our operational teams.…”

Integrating clinical research into electronic health record workflows to support a learning health system

“…To adapt to this environment, utilizing a highly reliable LHS’s resources, particularly informatics resources, efficiently and effectively becomes vital. 6–11 It is here where integration and alignment of research trial and clinical activities through the EHR are not only novel and invaluable, but also necessary.…”