Managing research and medical data

HealthPartners Institute provides full-service data coordination and research implementation expertise. We work in a multidisciplinary environment and manage a large number of active research studies.

Areas of expertise

• Application Development focuses on developing and maintaining Institute and study-related applications and websites. Team members have extensive expertise in backend database and agile software development.
• Research Informatics works with researchers to identify and analyze information, answer research questions and help with proposal development. They use technologies to analyze data and create a comprehensive record for research.
• The Research Project Management Office coordinates services for all aspects of a research project. Most project managers are masters-level researchers with project management certification or training.
• The Research Methodologies Group provides statistical support. The group’s PhD- and master’s-level methodologists offer study design, data source and statistical expertise. They have educational backgrounds in biostatistics, epidemiology, quantitative psychology, econometrics and demography.
• The Survey Research Center is led by a PhD-trained health services researcher and survey methodologist. The team conducts surveys and recruits patients and members into epidemiological research and clinical trials. Nurse chart abstractors are members of the team who work with our patient electronic medical records.

Technology

Our state-of-the-art technology platform includes a collaboration suite. This is a core data capture system that stores all the data in a relational database, with robust reporting capabilities and role-based security across all these systems. We can accept data in a variety of formats and interface with many other systems using industry standards like HL7 in real-time and batch environments.

Our engineers design and build custom data capture, processing and dissemination systems for studies that do not fit the traditional framework. To achieve this, we use the latest available technologies, like big data platforms, Natural Language Processing (NLP) frameworks and in-memory business analytics.

We have a robust infrastructure hosted by a secure data center with failover capabilities and disaster recovery preparedness to maximize uptime. Our primary focus is on data security, confidentiality and integrity, ensured through the joint efforts of employees and collaborating organizations.

To learn more about our data coordination services and how to work with us, please contact Jeanette Ziegenfuss, PhD, or Deepa Appana.