Brigit Adamus Hatch MD, MPH

As a physician, Brigit practices at a rural health center where she provides care for individuals and families of all ages and serves patients regardless of their ability to pay. As a clinician-researcher, she brings experience leading health care research at multiple levels—from big data research using EHR, to pragmatic clinical trials, to mixed methods national dissemination and implementation projects. Her research explores the impact of individual, clinic, and community factors that impact health outcomes among medically underserved populations, particularly women and children. Since 2012, she has partnered with national practice-based research networks to pioneer the use of electronic health record (EHR) data to conduct patient-centered outcomes research and implement novel tools for health care improvement.

Timely receipt of preventive services is critical to maintaining health and avoiding illness like influenza, HPV, and cancer. Patients who are low-income and lack health insurance experience significant disparities in needed preventive care. Community health centers are leading a charge to reduce these disparities through innovative health information technology tools and new patient-centered delivery structures. Brigit has extensive experience leading and partnering on projects to improve preventive care from the perspective of researcher and clinician.

Substantial disparities exist in health, and these disparities can be traced meaningfully to social drivers of health as well as disparities in health care access and utilization. Brigit’s work has examined how specific policies—including the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, the 2008 “Oregon Experiment,” and the Affordable Care Act—impact disparities in health among vulnerable populations. Using novel and combined data sources, she has evaluated the immediate and long-term impacts of public policies on medically underserved populations. She and her teams have pioneered ground-breaking methods, and this work has demonstrated the critical role of health insurance as well as social drivers of health in access to health care services, receipt of needed health care, and measurable health outcomes.

Electronic health records and health information technology are revolutionizing our ability to study the impact of policies and practices in real time and have opened unmatched opportunities to systematically improve the delivery of health care. These data and the stories they tell allow us to support patients in achieving better health and further our understanding of how changes within the health system impact patient care. Through work with OCHIN and OHSU, Brigit has demonstrated and validated creative methods for using electronic health record data sources and combined datasets for large-scale population research as well as community-based interventions. She has also created, implemented, and evaluated HIT tools and systematically reviewed telehealth interventions. Through longstanding community partnerships, she and her teams have partnered with community health centers to develop and evaluate novel health information technology tools to reduce health disparities and maximize access to care.