Improving care through research
The Care Improvement Research Team is a groundbreaking partnership in Kaiser Permanente Southern California, bringing researchers and clinicians together to improve health care quality and affordability for Kaiser Permanente members and people throughout the world. Through CIRT, research scientists ...
Featured News
Annual report shows Kaiser Permanente Southern California research stretching the frontier of health
The growing need for solutions to important health questions requires innovative thinking beyond what experts know today. The Department of Research & Evaluation’s 2019 Annual Report, “Stretching ...
Few pregnant women admitted for delivery have COVID-19
New research shows that few women admitted to Kaiser Permanente Southern California hospitals to give birth this spring tested positive for COVID-19. Those who did were asymptomatic, and none passed ...
Patient advisors revolutionize research
Fifteen years ago when Matt Owen was a freshman psychology major in college, he had a “psychotic break from reality.” “I started having hallucinations that altered my mind in a way that dealing ...
English and non-English speakers get equal treatment in emergency departments
May 17, 2020Kaiser Permanente Southern California researchers set out to understand the importance of emergency department patients and physicians speaking the same language by looking at the health outcomes and quality of care for patients with chest pain. They hypothesized that patients speaking a different language than their physician may have worse outcomes. They were happy to find ...Read more...COVID-19 grant award for urgently needed cardiovascular research
May 1, 2020Investigators from Kaiser Permanente Southern California, led by Jaejin An, PhD, are among 12 scientific teams selected by the American Heart Association to fast-track research on heart and brain health related to COVID-19. The team will study the risks associated with taking antihypertensive medications in patients with confirmed COVID-19 infection and high blood pressure. “In conversations with ...Read more...New rapid-cycle research projects seek actionable insights on COVID-19
April 30, 2020The Kaiser Permanente Southern California Regional Research Committee and the Care Improvement Research Team recently initiated 4 new rapid-cycle research projects that will help answer questions regarding prognosis for patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19Read more...Declines in heart attacks greater among men than women
February 18, 2020In a study published in the American Heart Association scientific journal Circulation, Kaiser Permanente research scientists report a steady decline in heart attacks for both men and women enrolled in the health system from 2000 to 2014, although that rate of decline slowed among women in the last 5 years of the study. “The study points ...Read more...Resident research improves patient care
January 29, 2020Over recent years, patient care at Kaiser Permanente Southern California has improved in many ways due to what might be considered an unlikely source: our residents’ research. In the Pediatrics Department at the Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center, resident research has led to better booking of follow-up appointments and fewer unexpected intubations among newborns. It ...Read more...5 questions for … Dr. Steven Jacobsen
January 29, 2020As the senior director of research for Kaiser Permanente in Southern California, Steven Jacobsen, MD, PhD, leads dedicated scientists and clinicians who use information collected during doctor and hospital visits to determine what really works — and what doesn’t work — in health care. They then use those findings to improve health and health care ...Read more...Meet our new clinician investigators
January 29, 2020Three physicians recently joined Southern California Permanente Medical Group’s Clinician Investigator Program: urogynecologist Kimberly Ferrante, MD, MAS; pulmonologist Dennis Hwang, MD; and cardiologist Mingsum Lee, MD, PhD. The Clinician Investigator Program is a formal pathway that allows physicians to integrate research into their clinical careers. Physicians selected for the highly competitive program receive additional time to ...Read more...Dr. Brian Lim named SCPMG Physician Researcher of the Year
December 18, 2019Physicians and researchers gathered for a celebratory dinner in Pasadena on Thursday, December 12, to recognize Southern California Permanente Medical Group physician researchers. Capping off the evening was the presentation of the 2019 Physician Researcher of the Year award, which went to Brian Lim, MD, MS, MAS (Clinical Research), a gastroenterologist from the Riverside Medical ...Read more...Cancer Clinical Trials office opens in Ontario
December 18, 2019The Kaiser Permanente Southern California Cancer Clinical Trials Access Program (CCTAP) opened a new office at the Kaiser Permanente Ontario Medical Center with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday, December 17. “Cancer patients in Ontario will now have easier access to cutting-edge clinical trials and many of the promising new drugs not otherwise available,” said Han A. ...Read more...Online physician ratings may not be accurate
September 17, 2019The physician ratings that patients see online may be inaccurate when compared to ratings compiled from surveys conducted internally by health care organizations, according to new research published today (Sept. 17, 2019) in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. “We know that patients often rely on online ratings when choosing doctors,” said Kanu Okike, MD, MPH, ...Read more...