Quality and Informatics Lab (QUIL)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The mission of the Quality and Informatics Lab (QUIL) at UCSF is to improve patient outcomes; we use EHR data to develop and test measures of quality and medication safety. The lab is part of the Division of Rheumatology in the Department of Medicine at UCSF, and is funded by the Agency for Research and Healthcare Quality (AHRQ), the National Institutes of Health (NIAMS), and the Rosalind Russell/Ephraim P. Engleman Rheumatology Research Center. We have offices across several campuses of UCSF, including ZSFG, Mission Bay, and the SF VA Hospital.

We are hiring! 

Post-doctoral Research Fellow

 

ResEARCH DATA ANALYST ii

 

Grants

AHRQ – "ASPIRE"

The ASPIRE project aims to improve patient safety for individuals using high-risk immunosuppressive medications. The proposed research will contribute novel information about emerging patient safety errors, rigorously evaluate a registry-based healthcare quality measurement program, and create the first toolkit to address ambulatory patient safety for immune-mediated diseases.

 

​AHRQ – "PACT"

Incorporating PRO Data into RA Clinical Encounters using Health-IT (PACT). The goal of this project is to develop and test an electronic dashboard that displays patient reported outcomes for patients with rheumatoid arthritis. We will then perform an interrupted time series trial to evaluate these tools and to see if they improve the use of disease activity measures and a treat-to-target strategy for patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

 

AHRQ – "RISE-PRO"

Rheumatology Informatics System for Effectiveness Patient-Reported Outcome Dissemination Project. The aim of this project is to use the novel health IT platform of the American College of Rheumatology’s RISE patient registry to scale, spread and evaluate the collection of patient-reported outcomes across a nationwide network of rheumatology practices. 

 

NIAMS – “QORA"

Impact of Registry Use on Quality and Outcomes in Rheumatology. The RISE national patient registry has broken new ground in connecting rheumatology practices around the country in a large data network, measuring quality, and providing continuous feedback on clinical performance. In this study we will use audit logs to examine registry dashboard use patterns and perform qualitative studies with practice personnel. We hypothesize that more intensive use of the dashboard will be associated with larger improvements in clinical outcomes and quality of care.

 

PREMIER Center – NIAMS P30

The Clinical Data and Informatics Core (CDI) Core will provide researchers with access to a full range of services to facilitate successful use of clinical data for basic, clinical and translational research studies in rheumatic diseases. The Core will streamline clinical research infrastructure, including study design, research ethics consultation, patient recruitment, clinical informatics and disease expertise, to advance precision medicine in rheumatic disease.

 

California Lupus Epidemiology Study (CLUES) – CDC U01

The longitudinal California Lupus Epidemiology Study (CLUES) cohort is derived from the California Lupus Surveillance Project (CLSP), a CDC-funded population-based registry. Clinical data, biologic specimens, and patient-reported outcomes are collected to advance our understanding of lupus biology, epidemiology and outcomes.

 

VA HSR&D Measurement Science QUERI at the SFVA
This center aims to implement evidence based practices across the VA Healthcare System. The goal of our project is to build and implement dashboards for audit and feedback to prescribers around medication safety for disease modifying agents.

 

Lab Members 

Abimbola Fadairo-Azinge, MBBS, MPH, MBA

Abimola Fadairo-Azinge, MD 

Rheumatology Fellow

Alicia Hamblin, BS

Clinical Research Coordinator

Augusto Garcia Agundez Garcia, PhD

Postdoctoral Scholar

Cathy Nasrallah, MPH

Qualitative Research Lead 

Cherish Wilson, BA

Clinical Research Coordinator

Christine Hariz, BS

Clinical Research Coordinator

 

Cinthia Blat, MPH

Senior Data Manager/Research Data Analyst

 

Emma Kersey, MPH

Research Data Analyst

Eric Roberts, PhD MPH

Research Specialist

Jennifer Reihm, MPA

Research Program Manager

Jessica Fitzpatrick, PhD MPH

Research Data Analyst

Jing Li, MPH

Senior Research Data Analyst

Milena Gianfrancesco, PhD MPH

Adjunct Assistant Professor

Rahaf Baker, MD MPH

Rheumatology Fellow

Sharon Abada, MD MPH

Rheumatology Fellow

Zara Izadi, PharmD PhD

Adjunct Assistant Professor

QUIL Holiday Party

 

2023

2022 

 

2021

2020 

 

2019

2018 

 

Papers, Presentations, & Press

2016

Schmajuk G, Tonner C, Miao Y, Yazdany J, Gannon J, Boscardin WJ, Daikh DI, Steinman MA. Folic Acid Supplementation Is Suboptimal in a National Cohort of Older Veterans Receiving Low Dose Oral Methotrexate. PLoS One. 2016;11(12):e0168369. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0168369. PMID: 27977768; PMCID: PMC5158188.

 

Yazdany J, Bansback N, Clowse M, Collier D, Law K, Liao KP, Michaud K, Morgan EM, Oates JC, Orozco C, Reimold A, Simard JF, Myslinski R, Kazi S. Rheumatology Informatics System for Effectiveness: A National Informatics-Enabled Registry for Quality Improvement. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2016 Dec;68(12):1866-73. https://doi.org/10.1002/acr.23089. PMID: 27696755; PMCID: PMC5125872.

 

Qu H, Shewchuk RM, Alarcon G, Fraenkel L, Leong A, Dall'Era M, Yazdany J, Singh JA. Mapping Perceptions of Lupus Medication Decision-Making Facilitators: The Importance of Patient Context. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2016 Dec;68(12):1787-94. https://doi.org/10.1002/acr.22904. PMID: 27059939.

 

Yazdany J, Robbins M, Schmajuk G, Desai S, Lacaille D, Neogi T, Singh JA, Genovese M, Myslinski R, Fisk N, Francisco M, Newman E. Development of the American College of Rheumatology's Rheumatoid Arthritis Electronic Clinical Quality Measures. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2016 Nov;68(11):1579-90. https://doi.org/10.1002/acr.22984. PMID: 27564778; PMCID: PMC5550019.

 

Tseng CW, Lin GA, Davis J, Taira DA, Yazdany J, He Q, Chen R, Imamura A, Dudley RA. Giving formulary and drug cost information to providers and impact on medication cost and use: a longitudinal non-randomized study. BMC Health Serv Res. 2016 Sep 21;16(1):499. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-016-1752-4. PMID: 27654857; PMCID: PMC5031286.

 

Yazdany J, Myslinski R, Miller A, Francisco M, Desai S, Schmajuk G, Lacaille D, Barber CE, Orozco C, Bunyard M, Bergman MJ, Passo M, Matteson EL, Olson R, Silverman S, Warren R, Nola K, Robbins M. Methods for Developing the American College of Rheumatology's Electronic Clinical Quality Measures. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2016 Oct;68(10):1402-9. https://doi.org/10.1002/acr.22985. PMID: 27390129.

 

Suter LG, Barber CE, Herrin J, Leong A, Losina E, Miller A, Newman E, Robbins M, Tory H, Yazdany J. American College of Rheumatology White Paper on Performance Outcome Measures in Rheumatology. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2016 Oct;68(10):1390-401. https://doi.org/10.1002/acr.22936. PMID: 27159835; PMCID: PMC5550018.

 

Bays A, Wahl E, Daikh DI, Yazdany J, Schmajuk G. Implementation of disease activity measurement for rheumatoid arthritis patients in an academic rheumatology clinic. BMC Health Serv Res. 2016 Aug 15;16(a):384. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-016-1633-x. PMID: 27527720; PMCID: PMC4986364.

 

Katz PP, Barton J, Trupin L, Schmajuk G, Yazdany J, Ruiz PJ, Yelin E. Poverty, Depression, or Lost in Translation? Ethnic and Language Variation in Patient-Reported Outcomes in Rheumatoid Arthritis. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2016 May;68(5):621-8. https://doi.org/10.1002/acr.22748. PMID: 26414775; PMCID: PMC4809778.

 

Wahl ER, Yazdany J. Challenges and Opportunities in Using Patient-reported Outcomes in Quality Measurement in Rheumatology. Rheum Dis Clin North Am. 2016 May;42(2):363-75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rdc.2016.01.008. PMID: 27133495; PMCID: PMC4853760.

 

Murray SG, Schmajuk G, Trupin L, Gensler L, Katz PP, Yelin EH, Gansky SA, Yazdany J. National Lupus Hospitalization Trends Reveal Rising Rates of Herpes Zoster and Declines in Pneumocystis Pneumonia. PLoS One. 2016;11(1):e0144918. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0144918. PMID: 26731012; PMCID: PMC4701172.

 

Katz P, Margaretten M, Trupin L, Schmajuk G, Yazdany J, Yelin E. Role of Sleep Disturbance, Depression, Obesity, and Physical Inactivity in Fatigue in Rheumatoid Arthritis. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2016 Jan;68(1):81-90. https://doi.org/10.1002/acr.22577. PMID: 25779719; PMCID: PMC6083443.

 

Schmajuk G, Tonner C, Yazdany J. Factors associated with access to rheumatologists for Medicare patients. Semin Arthritis Rheum. 2016 Feb;45(4):511-8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.semarthrit.2015.07.007. PMID: 26319646; PMCID: PMC4561995.

 

Ferguson S, Trupin L, Yazdany J, Yelin E, Barton J, Katz P. Who receives contraception counseling when starting new lupus medications? The potential roles of race, ethnicity, disease activity, and quality of communication. Lupus. 2016 Jan;25(1):12-7. https://doi.org/10.1177/0961203315596079. PMID: 26190169; PMCID: PMC4679523.

 

 

 

 

QUIL Alumni

Alfredo Aguirre, MD

Anna Montgomery, MPH

Andriko Palmowski, MD

Baljeet Rai, MD

Cammie Young, BA

Christine Anastasiou, MD 

Clairissa Ja

David Ying, MD

Ishita Aggarwal, MD

Jeremy Sullivan, MD

Julia Kay

Julie de Fonss Gandrup, MD

​Kim DeQuattro, MD

Laura Trupin, MPH

Lindsay Jacobsohn, BA

Lucy Liu, MD

Meera Subash, MD

Michael Evans

Nathan Karp, MD 

Nevin Hammam, MD PhD

Rachael Stovall, MD 

Sarah Patterson, MD

Tiffany Taylor, MPH MS