Cohort Builder for Healthcare Quality Assurance and Comparative Health Effectiveness Research

We propose to carry out a three-phase R & D project leading to a scalable, easy-to-use Cohort Builder software tool making it possible for clinical practitioners and quality assurance personnel to carry out comparative health research studies quickly and effectively, without the need for in-depth data or analytics expertise. In Phase I, we will investigate strategic, operational, and technical issues that must be resolved to develop a suitable cohort building and analysis tool for MHS, and we will create and assess a prototype tool design. This work will include assessments of a number of current GOTS or COTS products, with the joint aims of determining (a) the degree to which they have required cohort-building capabilities, (b) the feasibility and difficulty of integrating them with the varied array of MHS data system frameworks, and (c) the feasibility and difficulty of integrating them with suitable modules for data analytics. Based on our investigations and on consultations with MHS personnel, we will develop a detailed architectural design for a scalable, easy-to-use cohort builder/analytics tool that would meet the needs of MHS and be consistent with the MHS"s current and planned transactional, data-mart, registry, and data-warehouse systems.