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, Beck A, Rossom R, Richards J, Kirlin B, King D, Shulman L, Ludman EJ, Penfold R, Shortreed SM, Whiteside U. Population-based outreach versus care as usual to prevent suicide attempt: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Trials. 2016 Sep 15;17(1):452. doi: 10.1186/s13063-016-1566-z. PubMed
Simon GE, Rossom RC, Beck A, Waitzfelder BE, Coleman KJ, Stewart C, Operskalski B, Penfold RB, Shortreed SM. Antidepressants are not overprescribed for mild depression. J Clin Psychiatry. 2015 Dec;76(12):1627-32. doi: 10.4088/JCP.14m09162. PubMed
Miller CJ, Li M, Penfold RB, Lee AF, Smith EG, Nordberg SS, Osser DN, Bajor L, Zhang F, Bauer MS. The ascendancy of second-generation antipsychotics as frontline antimanic agents. J Clin Psychopharmacol. 2015 Oct 20. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Simon GE, Coleman KJ, Waitzfelder BE, Beck A, Rossom RC, Stewart C, Penfold RB. Adjusting antidepressant quality measures for race and ethnicity. JAMA Psychiatry. 2015 Sep 9:1-2. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2015.1437. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Hacker KA, Penfold RB, Arsenault LN, Zhang F, Soumerai SB, Wissow LS. Effect of pediatric behavioral health screening and colocated services on ambulatory and inpatient utilization. Psychiatr Serv. 2015 Jul 1:appips201400315. [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.