Senior Investigator Paula Lozano, MD, MPH, is a pediatrician and medical director for research and translation at the Washington Permanente Medical Group. She also co-directs the Center for Accelerating Care Transformation (ACT Center) at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI). Dr. Lozano’s work focuses on helping Kaiser Permanente Washington succeed as a learning health system, where research informs practice and practice informs research.
“The challenges facing health care are so complex,” she said. “The learning health system seems like the best way to deliver on our promise to provide the highest quality, patient-centered, effective, and affordable care to Kaiser Permanente Washington members.”
Dr. Lozano founded Kaiser Permanente Washington’s Learning Health System (LHS) Program in 2017 and continues to lead the organization’s learning health system work through the ACT Center. Established in 2021, the ACT Center brought the LHS Program together with the MacColl Center for Health Care Innovation to help health systems nationwide accelerate care transformation and achieve lasting, equitable improvements in care delivery.
The ACT Center’s learning health system work represents Kaiser Permanente Washington’s investment in the use of rigorous evidence and research methods ─ in partnership with frontline clinicians, leaders, and patients ─ to promote a culture of continuous learning. Deploying the advanced scientific methods available at KPWHRI, the ACT Center helps Kaiser Permanente Washington improve health, make care more affordable, and provide a good patient experience. Dr. Lozano currently leads the Care Management for Chronic Pain program, which aims to promote opioid safety and whole-person pain care.
As former co-director of the CATALyST Learning Health Systems Scholars K12 Training Program, Dr. Lozano trained and mentored multidisciplinary junior faculty at KPWHRI, University of Washington (UW), and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Since January 2024, Dr. Lozano has co-led the Washington Learning Health System Embedded Scientist and Training Research Center (LHS E-STAR Center), which aims to simultaneously train a diverse set of scholars while working in partnership with safety net clinics to transform primary care. Washington LHS E-STAR Center is a collaboration between KPWHRI, UW, VA, and primary care organizations. This work is funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI).
Dr. Lozano's other research interests have included health behavior-change, obesity, self-management of chronic conditions, and health disparities. Ongoing projects include an evaluation of Vayu Health, a value-based payment ecosystem for Medicaid beneficiaries living with type 1 and type 2 diabetes, and the Rural Health Laboratory, an initiative to identify and address health insecurities faced by rural communities.
Dr. Lozano’s work has focused on improving health care quality through changing the delivery system, supporting clinical decision-making by providers, and supporting patients and parents in health behavior change. She has also served as an investigator for several U.S. Preventive Services Task Force evidence reviews conducted by the Kaiser Permanente Research Affiliates Evidence-based Practice Center.
Dr. Lozano practiced general pediatrics at Harborview Medical Center and Seattle Children's Hospital while on the faculty at the UW Department of Pediatrics, where she taught residents and medical students. She also served as director of the UW Primary Care Research Fellowship, funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), to provide research training in the primary care disciplines of internal medicine, family medicine, and pediatrics. She is an adjunct professor of health systems and population health at the UW School of Public Health.
Brief behavioral interventions; co-morbid conditions; motivational interviewing; problems-solving therapy; self-management support
Asthma; anxiety and depression; Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD); chronic illness management; disadvantaged children's health care services; Medicaid managed care
Child and adolescent health; collaborative approaches to transforming health care systems; patient/family self-management of chronic conditions; self-care
Childhood obesity prevention and control
Lieu TA, Finkelstein JA, Lozano P, Capra AM, Chi FW, Jensvold N, Quesenberry CP, Farber HJ. Cultural competence policies and other predictors of asthma care quality for Medicaid-insured children. Pediatrics. 2004;114(1):e102-10. PubMed
Katon WJ, Richardson L, Lozano P, McCauley E. The relationship of asthma and anxiety disorders. Psychosom Med. 2004;66(3):349-55. PubMed
Fuhlbrigge A, Carey VJ, Adams RJ, Finkelstein JA, Lozano P, Weiss ST, Weiss KB. Evaluation of asthma prescription measures and health system performance based on emergency department utilization. Med Care. 2004;42(5):465-71. PubMed
Farber HJ, Chi FW, Capra A, Jensvold NG, Finkelstein JA, Lozano P, Quesenberry CP Jr, Lieu TA. Use of asthma medication dispensing patterns to predict risk of adverse health outcomes: a study of Medicaid-insured children in managed care programs. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2004;92(3):319-28. PubMed
Lozano P, Grothaus LC, Finkelstein JA, Hecht J, Farber HJ, Lieu TA. Variability in asthma care and services for low-income populations among practice sites in managed Medicaid systems. Health Serv Res. 2003;38(6 Pt 1):1563-78. PubMed
Gendo K, Sullivan SD, Lozano P, Finkelstein JA, Fuhlbrigge A, Weiss KB. Resource costs for asthma-related care among pediatric patients in managed care. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2003;91(3):251-7. PubMed
Christakis D, Lozano P. Continuity of care associated with early and consistent treatment of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder during a single school year. J Clin Outcome Manag. 2003;10(7):371-5. PubMed
Curry SJ, Ludman EJ, Graham E, Stout J, Grothaus L, Lozano P. Pediatric-based smoking cessation intervention for low-income women: a randomized trial. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2003;157(3):295-302. PubMed
Farber HJ, Capra AM, Finkelstein JA, Lozano P, Quesenberry CP, Jensvold NG, Chi FW, Lieu TA. Misunderstanding of asthma controller medications: association with nonadherence. J Asthma. 2003;40(1):17-25. PubMed
Lozano P, Finkelstein JA, Hecht J, Shulruff R, Weiss KB. Asthma medication use and disease burden in children in a primary care population. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2003;157(1):81-8. PubMed
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