INNOVATION

Automated Seizure Detection in Ambulatory EEG

Biswajit Maharathi, UI College of Medicine
Huan Huynh, OSF HealthCare

Ambulatory EEG is a powerful tool to evaluate seizure propensity in epileptic patients within natural community settings and residential environments. Solutions like Ambulatory EEG can immensely improve the quality of care and outcome measures. Through this project, PIs will build a semiautomated seizure screening system using modern machine learning-based computational approaches to significantly reduce the physician’s time evaluating these events by providing faster and more accurate screening methods and improving the patient care experience.

BRIDGeS (Building Resourceful Interactions Despite Grief and Stress)

Carolyn Dickens, UIC College of Nursing
Eileen Knightly, OSF HealthCare/Nursing

The purpose of the Phase 0 BRIDGeS proposal is to address the problem of growing violence and incivility occurring in the community, and by extension, into the hospital setting which can negatively impact the delivery of patient care. By better understanding the root causes of conflict between nurses and patients/families, the proposal aims to construct a targeted educational campaign to affect behavioral change among the nurses and patients/families post the COVID-19 pandemic at LCMMC.

Developing New Tools to Empower Patient Understanding, Manage, and Comm. of Condition

Michael J. Scott, UIC College of Engineering
Jonathan Handler, OSF HealthCare

This project will focus on social determinants of health (SDoH) and consider solutions that empower the            patient to track and communicate their conditions before they reach the reactive state more accurately. The PIs approach is to change the way patients engage with their health-related data and provide better tools to convey this information to their care provider.

Harnessing Mobile Technology to Diagnose Migraine in Rural Communities

Yelena Nersesyan, UI College of Medicine
Hrachya Nersesyan, OSF HealthCare

Through this proposal, the MiGRO app is designed to reduce medical costs and improve patient outcomes by improving the accuracy and efficiency of migraine diagnosis and treatment in rural settings. The app’s intuitive interface and comprehensive set of features enable providers to quickly and accurately diagnose and treat migraines, resulting in better health outcomes and improved patient satisfaction. The app also streamlines the referral process, allowing providers to quickly refer patients to migraine specialists, reducing medical costs and improving access to care in rural areas.

Improving Cancer Screening in Underserved High-Risk Populations

Elizabeth Papautsky, UIC Applied Health Sciences
Lisa Barker, OSF HealthCare

This project seeks to characterize the current barriers to completion of screening recommendations among patients at high risk for breast cancer, then use that data to create and pilot test an “intervention bundle” to optimize rates of breast MRI completion for eligible high-risk patients. With attention to the underserved communities within the OSF service population, this project will contribute to reduced health disparities by reducing barriers to care in the context of timely breast cancer diagnosis.

UI Health Pancreatic Cancer Screening Initiative

Paul Grippo, UIC Community Health Science
Justin Bill, OSF HealthCare

The objective of the project is to develop an infrastructure of early community engagement with clinical trials for all types of cancer. A proper healthcare protocol must be developed to address the increasing technological development in screening modalities but simultaneously widening gap in morbidity rates of cancer within underserved communities. Currently, the PIs are working on new detection modalities in conjunction with NovoScan which has shown promising results in pancreatic cancer detection. The proposal aims to create early buy-in for the clinical trial of this device in underserved communities, as accessibility to clinical trials in these communities is difficult while Pancreatic Cancer continues to disproportionately affect African Americans. 

UIC-OSF Metaverse Sponsorship

John Vozenilek, OSF Healthcare
Donald Bergh, UIC Innovation Center

UIC will focus on the use of metaverse for topic areas where the metaverse has the potential to revolutionize the way we think about healthcare and health equity. OSF wishes to explore the full range of research ideas and permit ideation. OSF will contribute as one of a few corporate participating partners. Currently, Bosch and Caterpillar are two industrial sponsors.

AI in Education – Training 21st Century Health Care Providers

Linda Chang, UI College of Medicine
Dawn Mosher, OSF HealthCare

Technological advancement such as Artificial intelligence is “disrupting” many societal infrastructures including the health care system. Studies have demonstrated the potential of AI in medicine and impacts on image/data analysis, disease prognosis, treatment strategies, and patient care monitoring. Artificial Intelligence, or, the creation of machines that work and react like humans can improve on what humans can do and perform actions that humans cannot do as in the role of machine learning in pathology and radiology. AI technology is not without limitations, its major potential malfunction is “dataset shift.”AI algorithms are based on data and evidence that is available to the defined specific patient population. Inappropriate data or change of data from the original algorithm can be detrimental to patient care outcomes especially when the data does not apply to patient.

Attending to Behaviors: An Innovative Needs Analysis Approach for Improving Healthcare

Brenikki Floyd, UIC School of Public Health
Lisa Barker, OSF HealthCare

Addressing disparities, among other challenges within the system of healthcare, often require behavior changes on the part of the clinical care team. Performance Improvement initiatives may often fail when behavioral drivers are not adequately identified and intentionally targeted. Well-known change management models such as Kotter’s “Leading Change” framework focus on action steps for implementing identified change, bypassing the step of understanding the drivers of current state. This project will broadly support healthcare change efforts by creating and testing an innovative framework for needs  analysis. As a case study for this work, the first target will be patient experience in an urban emergency department. Emergency Departments (ED) across the country often serve as a healthcare safety net for the nations’ most vulnerable populations.

Solutions for Facilitating Communication with Children and Adult Patients with Special Needs

Jessica Hanks, UI College of Medicine Peoria
Matthew Mischler, OSF HealthCare

Children and young adults with special health care needs (CYSHCN) are a heterogenous population of patients at increased risk for chronic physical, developmental, behavioral, or emotional conditions. They also require medical services beyond that required by children generally, which often continues into adulthood. Often, when patients and caregivers access care, they face numerous barriers due to the complexity of their health care needs and inflexibility of the health care system that isn’t built around the unique needs of this population. These barriers include bidirectional gaps in communication that heavily impact the experience of the patient, caregiver, and health care team, which impacts the level of care the patient receives.

Applying artificial intelligence-based technology for diabetic retinopathy screening in underserved Chicago communities

Deepak Edward, UI College of Medicine 
Scott Barrows, OSF HealthCare

Racial and ethnic minorities are two to three times more likely to develop significant visual complications from diabetes. Groups of color are less likely to undergo screening for diabetic retinopathy than white patients. Latinx individuals developed the highest rate of visual impairment and blindness of any ethnic group in the United States, with 25% of diabetes patients exhibiting signs of retinopathy on their first exam.

OSF Workforce Development Project: Building a Pipeline to Practice

Susan Stirling, UIC Innovation Center
Ann Willemsen-Dunlap, OSF HealthCare

Hospitals have been challenged by the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many hospital systems reported that they were not always able to maintain adequate staffing levels or offer staff adequate support. Hospital administrators expressed concern that fear, and uncertainty were taking an emotional toll on staff, both professionally and personally1. The purpose of this project is to better understand the challenges involved in attracting and retaining entry-level positions at OSF/LCM, specifically the patient care technician (PCT) position. The research team will explore the needs and challenges of individuals currently in this role at OSF/LCM and investigate factors that might motivate them to stay and move up in the organization. With insights from this research, OSF/LCM has the potential to adapt their hiring and mentoring process, resulting in improved job performance and employee satisfaction.

OSF Digital Card Sort Project

Mark Hallenbeck, UIC College of Engineering
Ann Willemsen-Dunlap, OSF HealthCare

The Innovation Center is using a Card Sort tool in a variety of projects that require
insight into patient and community needs. Card Sort is an excellent conversation tool that enables deep insight into SDoH issues, primarily because it allows participants to lead the conversation. Since it happens in a “game-like” setting, it eases barriers that can exist in a traditional interview setting.  This tool shifts the power from the interviewer to the interviewee by allowing the participant to interpret the cards from their own perspective, determine the order and hierarchy of the discussion topics, and do so in a way that eases the dynamic between researcher and participant. The tool is flexible in its application. While it works well in SDoH matters, it also works well in understanding employer/employee relationships.

Advancing Innovations in Health Professions Pipeline Education

Kal Pasupathy, UIC Applied Health Sciences
Spencer McDaniel, OSF HealthCare

This project will combine the robust infrastructure of the National Center for Rural
Health Professions (NCRHP) with the technology capabilities of OSF HealthCare.
This project develops innovative solutions in addressing disparities among underserved communities. The proposed project advances the work of pipeline programs that can reduce the impact of social, economic and educational determinants to create opportunities for underserved students to have accessible and meaningful support in career exploration starting in jr. high school. By creating an equalized opportunity to experience and explore health careers through a technology work projects, along with regionalized support, we can established a fully realized pathway to health careers with the goal of encouraging underserved students to one day practice in their health profession of choice in an area similar to where they are from; thus creating a pipeline of culturally and socially aware professionals who are more likely to be recruited to these underserved communities.

Project PLANT: Developing and testing an intervention to promote awhole food plant-based diet (WFPBD) tailored to African American men at risk for prostate cancer

Christine Jovanovic, UI College of Medicine
Robert Ryan Riech, OSF HealthCare

Adopting a whole food plant-based diet may be an important and under-utilized treatment for African American men with localized prostate cancer. However, no evidence based whole food plant-based diet promotion programs tailored to African American men exist, and few African American men report consuming a whole food plant-based diet after localized prostate cancer diagnosis.  We propose a Phase 1b study to develop and test PLANT (Plant-Based Diet for Prostate Cancer
Prevention and Treatment), an intervention to promote a whole food plant-based diet for African American men at risk for prostate cancer.

Interdisciplinary Oral and Primary Health Care for Patients with Disabilities

Sodabeh Etminan, UIC College of Dentistry
Matthew Mischler, OSF HealthCare

The Mile Square Health Center (MSHC) is provides holistic, quality health services in the midst of an underserved, urban community. The concept of holistic services includes actions to restore health and to prevent disease, promote healthy lifestyles and provide personalized support to individuals and families. At the dental department at Mile Square, access is provided to to patients that may have challenges navigating the healthcare system. The partnership between UIH/MSHC and OSF is a continuation of the overarching goal with a focus on individuals with lifelong pediatric and congenital onset potentially disabling conditions, a population that has historically had issues accessing oral health care due to lack of clinical resources and trained providers. MSHC clinics are designed to be fully accessible and offer nitrous sedation to assist us in treating a population that may need additional support.

Exploring opportunities to design and implement interventions to increase health literacy in the African American, Medicaid population

Brenikki Floyd, UIC School of Public Health
Kevin Garcia, UIC School of Public Health
Julie Traenkenschuh, OSF HealthCare

Individuals with low health literacy often struggle to understand instructions given to them by their doctors, making it difficult to adhere to healthy practices. This leads to poor health outcomes and high health care costs. Traditional health literacy interventions used by health care systems are not always effective for all patient populations, contributing to health inequities in minority populations. A team of UIC and OSF researchers will work with patients and health care providers to better understand the effectiveness of established intervention strategies. Using this information, the team will recommend evidence-based practices for developing new, innovative health literacy intervention design strategies for health care systems that reduce health inequities among minority populations.

Telehealth to address health care disparities

Linda Chang, UI College of Medicine Rockford
Paul Chastain, UI  College of Medicine Rockford
Ananya Gangopadhyaya, UI College of Medicine
Radhika Sreedhar, UI College of Medicine
Yovia Xu, UI College of Medicine Rockford
Dawn Mosher, OSF HealthCare

The exponential growth of technology in the health care setting is leading to a shift in how healthcare is delivered. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the advantages of telehealth in improving access to care, decreasing costs, and reducing exposure to disease. Telehealth is now an option for most practices in various health professions but few studies have examined the effectiveness of education and training programs to prepare clinicians for the broader use of telehealth practices. This 3-phase community-based project will identify the characteristics of effective telehealth visits, develop a set competencies for telehealth providers, and evaluate existing curriculum with the goal of increasing the effectiveness of virtual clinical interactions.

Analytics and artificial intelligence for cardio-oncology

Jacob Krive, UIC Applied Health Sciences
Christopher Gans, UI College of Medicine
Natalie Parde, UIC College of Engineering
Arash Jalali, UI Cancer Center
Sandeep Kataria, UI Cancer Center
Karl Kochendorfer, UI Health
Ravishankar Iyer, UIUC College of Engineering
Chetan Bhardwaj, OSF HealthCare
Roopa Foulger, OSF HealthCare
Marianna Krive, Advocate Aurora Health

Recent improvements in cancer therapies are extending the lives of cancer patients but are having an unforeseen impact on cardiovascular health. Cardio-oncology is a new medical subspecialty that focuses on the detection, monitoring, and treatment of cardiovascular disease occurring as a side effect of cancer treatments. As a new field, cardio-oncology lacks sufficient analytical support. Researchers will use artificial intelligence to identify patients eligible for referral to cardio-oncologists and predict their risk for cardiovascular complications, improving access to care and enabling the discovery of new cardiotoxicities.

Does providing free education on Medicare benefits improve health outcomes in working class communities?

Sarah Donohue, UIC College of Medicine Peoria
Uchechi Mitchell, UIC School of Public Health
Ben Shaw, UIC College of Medicine Peoria
Nathan Pritzker, OSF HealthCare

A lack of primary care utilization can leave many chronic conditions such as diabetes and hypertension unmanaged. This can lead to poor outcomes, including premature mortality. One reason for not going to see the doctor on a regular basis is the fear of the cost, and not understanding what insurance may cover. By empowering individuals ages 65 and older with the knowledge of what Medicare can cover, this project will help to promote the use of primary care, ultimately leading to better health outcomes.

Using a community-based approach to improve health literacy and cancer screening rates in minority populations

Sarah Donohue, UI College of Medicine Peoria
Stephen Brown, UI College of Medicine
Michael Browne, UIC Colleges of Engineering and Medicine
Scott Barrows, OSF HealthCare
Mary Stapel, OSF HealthCare

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the United States, but with early detection, cancers such as colon and cervical cancers can be successfully treated. However, minority populations are getting screened less often and when cancer is detected, it is often found at a later stage. Educating people on when to get screened and what screening entails can start to break down the barriers to screening. Focusing on minority communities living in the South Side of Chicago, researchers will develop a comprehensive survey tool to measure health literacy and barriers to colon and cervical cancer screening and develop community-based interventions specifically targeted to the barriers identified.

Pediatric mental health model and application development in connection with the school’s information management system

Ugo Buy, UIC College of Engineering
Mark Hallenbeck, UIC College of Engineering
Kyle Boerke, OSF HealthCare
Sister M. Pieta Keller, OSF HealthCare

Mental illness and the demand for mental health care is at an all time high – especially among children. The ability to predict the the onset of mental and emotional issues in children would allow for earlier diagnosis and treatment. Researchers are developing a predictive algorighm that correlates academic performance of middle school and high students with mental health indications, enabling earlier diagnosis and treatment. A platform will be developed within the school’s information management system to identify and connect students in need with the appropriate mental and emotional health resources.

Creating human-centered decision support archetypes for CliniPane: a “Third Paradigm” in clinical decision support

Kal Pasupathy, UIC Applied Health Sciences
Elizabeth Lerner Papautsky, UIC Applied Health Sciences
Jonathan Handler, OSF HealthCare
Scott Barrows, OSF HealthCare
Roopa Foulger, OSF HealthCare
Spencer McDaniel, OSF HealthCare

Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems provide real-time medical information to health care providers and offer evidence-based tools that providers can use to make decisions about a patient’s care. Clinical decision support is often “pushed” to clinicians via EHR alerts, which can disrupt workflow and lead to errors. Researchers will design a user experience for a clinical “heads-up display” that is used alongside the EHR that pushes clinically relevant content in a manner that doesn’t interrupt workflow, resulting in a higher quality of care and improved patient outcomes.

Telerehabilitation disparities for patients with limited proficiency

Mansha Mirza, UIC Applied Health Sciences
Courtney Pilat, OSF HealthCare

The use of virtual rehabilitation services, or telerehabilitation, has rapidly grown yet little is known on how this has impacted existing health inequities. Researchers will investigate disparities in outpatient telereabilitation delivery for patients with Limited English Proficiency (LEP), a group that is particularly vulnerable to the challenges of telehealth, and identify barriers to equitable telerehabilitation. The results will inform technology solutions and workflow optimization to improve communication and reduce no-shows and unsuccessful telerehabilitation visits.

A text messaging based educational intervention aimed at improving outcomes in myasthenia gravis

Pritikanta Paul, UI College of Medicine
Biswajit Maharathi, UI College of Medicine
Dilip Pandey, UI College of Medicine
Jorge Kattah, OSF HealthCare

Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an autoimmune disease that causes weakness and rapid fatigue of voluntary muscles. MG can cause double vision, difficulties with speech and swallowing, and impact limb strength. Although incurable, patients can function normally if the disease is properly treated. Managing MG, however, involves extensive symptom monitoring and individualized treatment plans. Many patients in medically underserved communities are unable to keep up due to lack of disease education and inadequate access to health care providers. Researchers will develop a bilingual text-message based intervention to educate MG patients on the disease and provide reminders to improve treatment adherence and improve health outcomes.

OSF Little Company of Mary Medical Center Community Engagement Project

Susan Stirling, UIC School of Design
Earl Power-Murphy, OSF HealthCare

Hospitals often face challenges engaging with the communities they serve. This project showcased findings from a year-long investigation into authentic community engagement, a process where hospital leaders do less leading and more listening in order to build health care offerings that better fit the community. Project team members created an interactive exhibit and roadmap to help facilitate the process of authentic community engagement that involves all stakeholders, such as hospital leaders, clinicians, and staff, as well as community leaders and residents. The solution provides a framework for critical conversations and action, resulting in a meaningful, long-lasting partnerships that leads to improved health outcomes for the community.

Leveraging Community Resources to Screen for Social and Structural Determinants of Health to Promote Coordinated Community Interventions

Mark Hallenbeck, UIC Innovation Center
Maddie Demo, UIC School of Public Health
Emina Hadzic, UIC Graduate College
Mikealy Thomas, UIC Graduate College
Earl Power-Murphy, OSF HealthCare

Health systems have started screening for social determinants of health, but there is a significant proportion of the population that does not interact with the healthcare system. This segment of the population is often at high risk for health-related problems, making it vital to understand their needs. The project explored the use of a facilitated card sorting exercise as a way for community resource workers to gather information and discuss social determinants of health with clients. Project team members developed a new card sorting tool that uses appropriate iconography based on community demographics.

Exploring Alternative Care Models for Primary Care Focused on ACSC in Low-Income, South Side Chicago Communities

Michael Scott, UIC Innovation Center
Katie Carow, UIC School of Public Health
Samantha Melchori, UIC Innovation Center
Marco Susani, UIC School of Design
Kyle Formella, OSF HealthCare
Earl Power-Murphy, OSF HealthCare

Current methods of primary care delivery in underserved low-income areas lead to high rates of Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions (ACSC). These conditions contribute to increasing hospital expenditures and are a major load on health care systems. Traditional medical approaches address symptoms of ACSC, but do not address the root societal causes. This project focused on identifying ways to address the root causes of ACSC while improving overall outcomes by using sustainable business models. After performing a review of existing solutions, trends, and emerging technologies, project team members recommended new ways to look at primary care to better engage with an underserved audience.

IPE Patient Discharge Curriculum

Dawn Mosher, OSF HealthCare
Linda Chang, UI College of Medicine Rockford
Paul Chastain, UI College of Medicine Rockford
Martin MacDowell, UIC College of Pharmacy
Radhika Sreedhar, UI College of Medicine

Patients are often unable to self-manage and unaware of whom to contact after discharge from the hospital. This project developed a standardized simulation of patient discharge that allows hospital team members to work collaboratively to improve  engagement with patients and provide educational materials at the time of discharge with the goal of reducing readmission.

Autism Caregiver Telehealth Training

Emily Gregori, UIC College of Education
Amanda Estes, OSF HealthCare
Holly Swearingian, Autism Collective

Adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) display deficits in academics, communication, functional skills, and social behaviors. These deficits lead to problematic behaviors that require intensive, individualized assessment and intervention to remediate. However, there is a critical shortage of high-quality intervention services for adolescents and adults with ASD. This project proposed using telehealth technology as a method for increasing access to essential applied behavioral health services. Project team members developed an innovative telehealth model that provides coordinated and comprehensive applied behavioral assessment and intervention to adolescents and adults with autism.

Social Determinants of Health Care Utilization: A Big Data Predictive Modeling Approach

Sage Kim, UIC School of Public Health
Karl Kochendorfer, UI Health
Arash Jalali, UIC Graduate College
Sarah Stewart de Ramirez, OSF HealthCare

The role of social and structural factors is often ignored when addressing health inequities, particularly among racial/ethnic minority communities. Community organizations often link residents in resource-poor communities to a wider network of services and resources. However, hospital catchment areas are often dependent on where patients live rather than what their specific community needs are. Coordinated and organized plans for hospitals in a region can promote equitable hospital coverage. This project generated data to support the community health needs assessments of Chicago’s hospitals to help inform proactive plans to address the social determinants of health needs of individual communities.

Bridging the Health Care Gap for the Homeless through Telemedicine

Faria Munir, UIC College of Pharmacy
Scott Barrows, OSF HealthCare
Mary Stapel, OSF HealthCare

There have been very few telemedicine studies done in the homeless population. This project evaluated the impact of targeted telemedicine interventions in Chicago homeless shelters on access to health care. The goal of the project was to address social determinants of health by providing consistent, quality health care in an easy to access location in an effort to reduce the use of emergency and urgent care services.

Does Providing Free Transportation To Primary Care Visits Improve Outcomes? A Pilot Program in Chicago’s Washington Heights Neighborhood

Sarah Donohue, UI College of Medicine Peoria
Betsy Cliff, UIC School of Public Health
Jennifer Kwok, UIC School of Public Health
Uchechi Mitchell, UIC School of Public Health
Naoko Muramatsu, UIC School of Public Health
Benjamin Shaw, UIC School of Public Health
Emily Stiehl, UIC School of Public Health
Nathan Pritzker, OSF HealthCare

OSF HealthCare is committed to achieving better health outcomes for the populations in the Washington Heights, where the population is largely older, socioeconomically disadvantaged, and primary care is underutilized. This project studied the impact of increasing access to primary and preventative care, by eliminating the barrier of transportation. Project team members evaluated whether providing free transport to and from primary care offices sites encouraged the use of primary care services over emergency services and the impact on health outcomes.