Robert Penfold, PhD, is a health services research and health policy expert whose work focuses on developing and testing strategies to optimize behavioral health care delivery and patient outcomes—particularly in children and adolescents. His research addresses practical issues, such as how to reduce unnecessary use of antipsychotic medications in youth. He also studies the effects of cost-control policies on how clinicians deliver care, how people use care, and how those changes can promote or worsen their health.
Dr. Penfold is a co-investigator in the Mental Health Research Network (MHRN), a resource for studies on mental health conditions ranging from autism to postnatal depression. He leads the MHRN’s child and adolescent scientific interest group. He is also investigating reasons why similar patients receive different mental health treatment, such as different medications, depending on where they live or receive care.
His other recent and ongoing projects include:
Dr. Penfold has extensive experience gathering and analyzing information from large health databases, including those of Medicare, Medicaid, and the Health Care Systems Research Network’s Virtual Data Warehouse. These data and analyses allow rapid information sharing among Kaiser Permanente Washington and participating sites, which improves patient safety and timely access to effective, cutting-edge therapies.
He has also conducted several novel pragmatic clinical trials using the Epic electronic health record system.
Before joining KPWHRI in 2010, Dr. Penfold held research and teaching positions at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio; the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority; the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy; and most recently, at Harvard Medical School in the Department of Population Medicine and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute.
Children and adolescents; anti-psychotics and anti-depressants; bipolar disorder, and depression
Comparative effectiveness; consumer-directed health plans; patient outcomes; costs of chronic illnesses; Medicare and Medicaid
Space-time surveillance; interrupted time series analysis
Simon GE, Shortreed SM, Johnson E, Beck A, Coleman KJ, Rossom RC, Whiteside US, Operskalski BH, Penfold RB. Between-visit changes in suicidal ideation and risk of subsequent suicide attempt. Depress Anxiety. 2017 Sep;34(9):794-800. doi: 10.1002/da.22623. Epub 2017 Apr 25. PubMed
Wu JJ, Penfold RB, Primatesta P, Fox TK, Stewart C, Reddy SP, Egeberg A, Liu J, Simon G. The risk of depression, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempt in patients with psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, or ankylosing spondylitis. Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2017 Jul;31(7):1168-1175. doi: 10.1111/jdv.14175. Epub 2017 Apr 21. PubMed
Barclay RP, Penfold RB, Sullivan D, Boydston L, Wignall J, Hilt RJ. Decrease in statewide antipsychotic prescribing after implementation of child and adolescent psychiatry consultation services. Health Serv Res. 2017 Apr;52(2):561-578. doi: 10.1111/1475-6773.12539. PubMed
Penfold RB, Stewart C, Simon GE, Shortreed SM, Johnson E, Rossom RC, Operskalski B, Beck A. Antidepressant use by youth with minimal or mild depression: evidence from 3 health systems. Pediatr Qual Saf. 2017;2(2). pii: e017. Epub 2017 Mar 22. PubMed
Penfold RB, Burgess JF Jr, Lee AF, Li M, Miller CJ, Nealon Seibert M, Semla TP, Mohr DC, Kazis LE, Bauer MS. Space-time cluster analysis to detect innovative clinical practices: a case study of aripiprazole in the Department of Veterans Affairs. Health Serv Res. 2016 Dec 22. doi: 10.1111/1475-6773.12639. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Maggie Ramirez, PhD, and Robert Penfold, PhD, culturally adapt an online program.
KPWHRI researchers are contributing to better mental health care for people nationwide.
Models that are easier to explain, use could have better uptake in health care settings.
The HCSRN conference is a venue for collaborative work to improve health and health care.