Utilizing National and Regional Databases: A Feasible Strategy to Promote Hospital Medicine Research-Slides

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This article by Segon, Bhandari, and Dugani discusses the current state and potential strategies to advance hospital medicine (HM) research through the use of national and regional databases. A survey among hospital medicine leaders revealed a paucity of clinician investigators, with over half of programs reporting none, impacting academic credibility and career advancement within HM.<br /><br />The study highlights the growth in research output and funding over recent years but notes significant variability among institutions. Key data sources for HM research include electronic health records (EHRs) like Epic, national inpatient databases such as the Healthcare Cost & Utilization Project National Inpatient Sample (HCUP-NIS), and large-scale surveys such as the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS).<br /><br />Epic’s datasets, including Epic Slicer Dicer and Epic Clarity, offer extensive patient-level clinical data enabling preliminary and detailed research. Epic Cosmos aggregates data from over 230 hospitals and 231 million patients, presenting a powerful resource for broad analyses. HCUP-NIS provides a nationally representative sample of inpatient stays with detailed demographic, clinical, and outcomes data, while MEPS offers comprehensive healthcare expenditure and utilization information for the non-institutionalized U.S. population.<br /><br />The article also emphasizes the importance of social determinants of health (SDOH) in understanding patient outcomes and points to resources such as the CDC’s County Health Rankings and Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) for SDOH data. Integrating data from multiple sources can enable richer insights into health patterns and disparities.<br /><br />The authors conclude that hospital medicine research is at a pivotal point, necessitating improved evidence to inform evolving care delivery. Utilizing large, publicly available datasets—often free and well-curated—alongside local EHR data, while building collaborative multidisciplinary teams, will be essential. They encourage starting with manageable projects, seeking partnerships, and leveraging conferences to develop expertise in data-driven HM research.

Keywords

hospital medicine research

national databases

regional databases

electronic health records

Epic Slicer Dicer

HCUP-NIS

Medical Expenditure Panel Survey

social determinants of health

collaborative multidisciplinary teams

data-driven research