Biomedical Informatics Research Center
About Us
The Biomedical Informatics Research Center (BIRC) is Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation's newest research center. Resources from several Clinic and Research Foundation areas were joined to create BIRC and will provide research support in programming, information systems support, biostatistics and data management.
Mission and Goals
The mission of the Biomedical Informatics Research Center is to accelerate improvements in human health and well being through informatics research while providing integrated tools, services and reliable management of information assets in support of Marshfield Clinic missions.
The Institute of Medicine identified information technology as a key to transforming the health care system during the 21st century. To accelerate this transformation, in August 2005 Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation (MCRF), in collaboration with the Marshfield Clinic Information Systems Department, created the Biomedical Informatics Research Center (BIRC). Beginning in 2008, the BIRC will be housed in the Laird Center for Medical Research.
Bioinformatics researchers study how to better apply information technology to health care and biomedical research. Marshfield Clinic has a wealth of assets to support bioinformatics research and provide a solid foundation for building a world-class research center. These assets include a sophisticated electronic medical record, the Personalized Medicine Research Database, and the Marshfield Epidemiologic Study Area. BIRC will develop new algorithms and tools to help researchers determine the genetic basis of disease, improve efficacy of medications, and reduce adverse drug reactions.
Marshfield Clinic a leader
Marshfield Clinic has also been a leader in using medical informatics in improving public health. Its Regional Early Childhood Immunization Network (RECIN) is serving as a state and national model. It has won national awards from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Academy of Pediatrics, as well as a Wisconsin State Assembly Citation for Excellence in Protecting Wisconsin’s Children. MCRF’s use of medical informatics has been critical in supporting public health research as well.
For example, in 2004 the Marshfield Epidemiology Research Center received a $1 million award from CDC to study in real time the effectiveness of influenza vaccine, a study that utilized the sophisticated medical informatics system at Marshfield Clinic to develop state-of-the-art enrollment procedures that are not yet possible at most other health care facilities. Also, a Marshfield Clinic physician investigator received a $150,000 award from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) in 2004 to plan a rural Wisconsin prescription network, launching a major safety initiative of the type called for in the Institute of Medicine report.
History
Marshfield Clinic has a long history of discovery and clinical excellence in the field of medical informatics. Marshfield Clinic is the perfect laboratory to develop new tools for physicians and their staff.
- Marshfield Clinic physicians have been routinely using computers as a part of every patient encounter for over a decade. Marshfield Clinic develops much of its own clinical software, allowing new ideas to be implemented quickly.
- With the introduction of hand-held wireless tablet PCs, Marshfield Clinic is among the first health care providers in the country to put our electronic medical record truly at the source of health care decisions - in physicians’ hands.
- With diagnoses, hospital information, imaging studies such as X-rays, prescription information, as well as potential drug interactions all available at the touch of a button, Marshfield Clinic physicians have in their hands the information needed to make the best medical decisions while with their patients and are able to ask questions.
- When the Weston Regional Medical Center campus opened in October of 2005, it became be one of the most technologically advanced facilities in Wisconsin. It is an extension of decades of tradition in which our physicians have been early adopters of new information technology for clinical care and research.