"Implementation of Information Technology Solutions in Health Systems"
François Sainfort, Ph.D,
William W. George Professor of Health Systems, Professor of Industrial & Systems Engineering, Georgia Tech

12:00 Noon on Thursday, January 19, 2006
TSRB 132

He will talk about health systems and present some preliminary results from his study of the implementation of information technology solutions at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and their impact on patient safety.

Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (http://www.choa.org/), one of the leading pediatric healthcare systems in the country, is a not-for-profit organization that benefits from the generous philanthropic and volunteer support of our community. With 430 licensed beds in two hospitals and more than 450,000 annual patient visits, Children's is nationally recognized for excellence in cancer, cardiac, neonatal, orthopedic and transplant care, as well as in many other pediatric specialties. Child magazine ranks Children's as one of the top 10 children's hospitals nationwide and Children's is among U.S. News & World Report's top pediatric hospitals.

Professor Sainfort joined the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech in Fall 2000 as a Professor and Director of the Health Systems Research Center. Prior to his arrival at Georgia Tech, he was a Professor of Industrial Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with joint appointments in the Departments of Preventive Medicine and Biomedical Engineering. During that time, he was also Center Director for the Center for Quality and Productivity Improvement and Program Director for the Health Systems Engineering graduate program.

Professor Sainfort's research interests focus on consumer and medical decision making, health care informatics, quality assessment and management in health care, and evaluation of medical technologies. Dr. Sainfort has received research funding from the federal government - the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Health Care Financing Administration, the National Institute of Aging, the National Library of Medicine, the Centers for Disease Control, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Defense - as well as funding from industry. He served as principal investigator on more than $6 million in contracts and grants.

Dr. Sainfort has published more than 75 refereed publications that have appeared in health care journals such as Health Services Research, Medical Care and Medical Decision Making. His research has also appeared in industrial engineering journals such as International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, Journal of Society for Health Systems and Industrial Engineering Research.

Dr. Sainfort is a current or past editorial board member for several leading journals. He has served on numerous conference scientific committees and reviews research proposals for the National Science Foundation, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the Department of Defense. He routinely serves on national research panels in the United States, Canada and France.

Dr. Sainfort is an expert consultant for the health care industry. His clients include health care delivery organizations, medical devices companies, clinical laboratories and pharmaceutical companies.