Kaiser, partners plan to boost learning network with focus on data standards, governance

Kaiser Permanente and its partners will expand their efforts to provide a learning health system through patient-centered outcomes research focused on cancer, obesity and heart diseases.

The project will focus on data standards, incorporating patient-reported data more systematically, implementing multisite data governance procedures and integrating the PCORnet PopMedNet platform across the partners' research centers.

The Oakland, California nonprofit received a $7 million grant for The Kaiser Permanente & Strategic Partners Patient Outcomes Research To Advance Learning (PORTAL) project, one of 29 clinical data research networks that received funding from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI).

The organization in December announced $93.5 million in funding for the projects that will make up PCORnet, a "network of networks" focused on comparative effectiveness research.

Kaiser's partners include Group Health Cooperative, HealthPartners and Denver Health. Although Kaiser has been involved in such research for years, the PORTAL network will expand its capabilities, according to the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (JAMIA).

The Kaiser project is one of several articles on the project featured in this month's JAMIA, including one from PCORI on the launch of the network, as wlel as stories about networks in New York City and Chicago and a national pediatric learning system.

In addition to improving the speed and efficiency of research, the PCORnet project aims to make research more patient-centered. Eleven clinical data research networks and 18 patient-powered research networks, which focus on a particular condition, received funding for their efforts. In addition to standardizing data, the projects focus on security and data-sharing capabilities.

To learn more:
- read the JAMIA article about Kaiser
- here's the PCORI piece
- find the New York City story
- read about the Chicago efforts
- check out the pediatric network article