Health Services and Informatics Research

Health Services and Informatics Research (HSIR) at Parkview Health was founded in 2014 – bringing concrete solutions to problems that patients, healthcare providers, the community, and the health care system face through traditional research studies, pilot studies, and program evaluation.

Led by Tammy Toscos, Director of Health Services and Informatics Research, the team researches how to use technology to impact patient behaviors and engagement to improve health outcomes and workflow for providers. Projects focus on social-behavioral, cardiology, public health, data science, and health informatics that are sponsored internally by Parkview Health or externally funded through federal or private grants. The team collaborates with Parkview clinicians, patients, and community partners to conduct research and quality improvement projects ranging from focus groups and online surveys to workflow and technology evaluation, supported by their in-house User Experience lab.

The HSIR team also hosts student interns throughout the year who work directly with research scientists on private and federally funded studies. In this internship program, students gain experience in a variety of aspects of the research process, such as research ethics, the daily management of research studies, observational coding, qualitative coding, data analysis, and the presentation of research findings.