Providers in a "rapid learning health system" can use health IT to apply research into the practice of patient care in real time, according to a new article published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The authors, from Seattle-based Group Health Cooperative, use a six-phase approach to leverage the data in their health IT to quickly implement innovations, such as shared decision making on patient treatment, deployment of patient centered medical homes, and more judicious prescribing of long-term opioids. Abstract