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ABOUT PPOC

Research & Analysis Program

Program Goals

The PPOC created a primary care-focused research program in 2008 to further advance the science of pediatric primary care medicine.

Key focuses of this program include:

• Quality Analytics: Analyzing and producing organizational and practice-level reports on quality measures and initiatives
• Population Health Management with Epic: Creating and maintaining tools within Epic to help practices identify and manage their patient populations
• Learning Community Evaluation: Monitoring and analyzing key improvement metrics and informing learning community planning through understanding of current state
• Utilization Patterns and Trends: Analyzing and understanding utilization trends over time, including claims data analyses
• Variability Analyses: Evaluating practice and provider variability to identify best practices and areas for improvement
• Academic Output: Publishing manuscripts on internally-generated research and quality improvement studies, presenting findings at national conferences, and collaborating with external research counterparts to contribute to the pediatric primary care literature

Research and Analysis Team

Louis Vernacchio, MD, MSc Director of Research
Jon Hatoun, MD, MPH, MS Director of Analytics for Research and Quality
Naveed Rabbani, MD Director of Clinical Informatics
Emily Trudell Correa, MPH, MS Senior Biostatistician
Laura Patane, MPH Biostatistician
Jane Bittner Gould, MPH Senior Project Manager

Research Studies

Most recent publications:

Improving Short Course Treatment of Pediatric Infections: A Randomized Quality Improvement Trial. Pediatrics. doi:10.1542/peds.2023-063691

Patterns and Predictors of Health Care Utilization After Pediatric Concussion: A Retrospective Cohort Study. Acad Pediatr. doi:10.1016/j.acap.2023.04.010

Benchmarking of Outpatient Pediatric Antibiotic Prescribing: Results of a Multicenter Collaborative. J Pediatric Infect Dis Soc. doi:10.1093/jpids/piad039

Pediatric Primary-Care Integrated Behavioral Health: A Framework for Reducing Inequities in Behavioral Health Care and Outcomes for Children. Pediatr Clin North Am. doi:10.1016/j.pcl.2023.04.004

Hatoun J, Barrieau DJ, Bryson EA, Bhaumik U, Woods ER. Primary care provider perceptions of an asthma home visiting program. J Asthma. doi:10.1080/02770903.2023.2206899

Click here to view additional PPOC publications in pubmed.

External Study Collaboration

In addition to our internal studies, the program fosters collaboration between the PPOC and research counterparts, especially those from Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, allowing researchers access to the PPOC’s extensive base of patients and electronic health record data, and solidifying the PPOC's commitment to innovation and constant improvement in the quality of care for children. If you are interested in working with the PPOC Research and Analysis team, please complete the following form and submit it to us by email: Research Collaboration Request Form.

Contact us

PPOCResearch@childrens.harvard.edu