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
Mohr DC, Bauer MS, Penfold RB. Changes in VA psychiatrists' attitudes about work environment and turnover during mental health service enhancement. Psychiatr Serv. 2013 Jun 1;64(6):563-9. doi: 10.1176/appi.ps.201200337. Epub 2013 Mar 15. PubMed
Bajor LA, Lai Z, Goodrich DE, Miller CJ, Penfold RB, Kim HM, Bauer MS, Kilbourne AM. Posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and health-related quality of life in patients with bipolar disorder: review and new data from a multi-site community clinic sample. J Affect Disord. 2013 Feb 20;145(2):232-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2012.08.005. Epub 2012 Sep 27. PubMed
Penfold RB, Kilbourne AM, Mohr DC, Lai Z, Nealon Seibert M, Bauer MS. Heterogeneity in aripiprazole diffusion for bipolar disorder treatment in the Veterans Health Administration. Psychiatr Serv. 2012 Dec;63(12):1178-85. Epub 2012 Oct 1. PubMed
Andrade SE, Lo JC, Roblin D, Fouayzi H, Connor DF, Penfold RB, Chandra M, Reed G, Gurwitz JH. Antipsychotic medication use among children and risk of diabetes mellitus. Pediatrics. 2011;128(6):1135-41. Epub 2011 Nov 21. PubMed
Penfold RB, Rusinak D, Lieu TA, Shefer A, Messonnier M, Lee GM. Financing and systems barriers to seasonal influenza vaccine delivery in community settings. Vaccine. 2011 Dec 6;29(52):9632-9. Epub 2011 Oct 25. 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.