The Essentia Institute of Rural Health was admitted to one of the country’s most prestigious research groups – the HMO Research Network (HMORN), a consortium of 19 U.S. medical research organizations.

Last year, the EIRH was accepted as an associate member to the organization, which includes Health Partners, Kaiser Permanente, and Harvard Pilgrim (part of the Harvard Medical School). The HMORN Board of Directors was so impressed with EIRH’s work that it invited the Institute to join as a full member in October 2012. “The Board (is) impressed by the commitment, progress and diligence EIRH has demonstrated over the past year,” wrote Board Chair Eric B. Larson, MD, MPH.

As part of the network, EIRH now has access to the health information of more than 15 million people, including 600,000 patients from Essentia Health. All data is “scrubbed” to eliminate any personal information, and then used to study the effectiveness of everything from new heart drugs to diabetes education programs.

Researchers say it’s becoming increasingly important to have access to large amounts of information. Because Essentia covers a predominantly rural region, the data it brings adds diversity to the predominantly urban patient database.

“The type of research we need today can’t be done by one institution anymore. We need a network of large institutions working together to find answers to pressing health issues, like diabetes or obesity,” says EIRH Executive Director Tom Elliott, MD. “For the first time, we will be able to discover if a drug or treatment that showed promise in a research setting works for patients in the everyday world.”

These real-world studies can help Essentia Health physicians and other clinicians make more informed choices about treatment options for a wide range of diseases. Working together, EIRH research scientists and Essentia physicians have the power to transform health care, not only for local patients but for patients everywhere.

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