Rita Mangione-Smith, MD, MPH

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“Doing research in integrated health systems like ours gives us a 360-degree view of care, allowing us to comprehensively assess quality and work toward better health outcomes.” 

Rita Mangione-Smith, MD, MPH

Vice President, Research and Health Care Innovation, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Washington
Executive Director and Senior Investigator, Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute
Professor, Department of Health Systems Science, Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine
Affiliate Professor, Department of Health Systems and Population Health, University of Washington School of Public Health

Biography

Rita Mangione-Smith, MD, MPH, was appointed vice president for research and health care innovation at Kaiser Permanente Washington and executive director of Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI) in August 2019. She is also a senior investigator at the institute, pursuing research on improving care for children and others throughout the life course.

A pediatrician, Dr. Mangione-Smith’s research to date has focused primarily on assessing quality of care and then developing, evaluating, and implementing quality improvement interventions in areas such as transitions between sites of care and hospital-based care for respiratory illness and mental health.

She has also conducted extensive research on doctor-parent communication, studying how interactions influence the decision to prescribe antibiotics for acute respiratory illness in pediatric outpatient settings. Based on this work, she has developed a multifaceted quality improvement intervention for outpatient providers called Dialogue Around Respiratory Illness treatment (DART).

Dr. Mangione-Smith has a passion for developing learning health systems where scientists and clinicians collaborate on research programs that can drive the improvement of health care delivery, quality, and cost.

Before her work at Kaiser Permanente Washington, Dr. Mangione-Smith served as an investigator in the Center for Child Health, Behavior, and Development at Seattle Children’s Research Institute and chief of the Division of General Pediatrics and Hospital Medicine in the University of Washington (UW) Department of Pediatrics. She was also director of the Quality Improvement Scholars Program at the UW Department of Pediatrics and Seattle Children’s Hospital.

An accomplished organizational leader, Dr. Mangione-Smith is recognized for her work as an active teacher and mentor. Since joining KPWHRI in 2019, she has established an institute-wide mentorship program for faculty that has been highly successful. She also worked collaboratively with all institute members in 2020 to refresh the KPWHRI Mission and Vision statements and to develop a 5-year strategic plan based on the institute’s mission and vision.

In 2018, AcademyHealth, the nation’s premiere health services association, honored Dr. Mangione-Smith with its “Child Health Interest Group Life Time Achievement Award,” recognizing her significant and lasting contributions to child health services research. She also received the 2017 Academic Pediatric Association Research Award, the organization’s highest award for research excellence and achievement.

Dr. Mangione-Smith is also a professor in the Department of Health System Science at Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine.​​​​​​

RESEARCH INTERESTS AND EXPERIENCE

Publications

Van Cleve WC, Hagan P, Lozano P, Mangione-Smith R. Investigating a pediatric hospital’s response to an inpatient census surge during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic. Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf. 2011 Aug;37(8):376-82. PubMed

Opel DJ, Taylor JA, Mangione-Smith R, Solomon C, Zhao C, Catz S, Martin D. Validity and reliability of a survey to identify vaccine-hesitant parents.  Vaccine. 2011 Sep 2;29(38):6598-605. Epub 2011 Jul 16. PubMed

Wilkins V, Elliott MN, Richardson A, Lozano P, Mangione-Smith R. The association between care experiences and parent ratings of care for different racial, ethnic, and language groups in a Medicaid population. Health Serv Res. 2011 Jun;46(3):821-39. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6773.2010.01234.x. Epub 2011 Jan 28. PubMed

Opel DJ, Mangione-Smith R, Taylor JA, Korfiatis C, Wiese C, Catz S, Martin DP. Development of a survey to identify vaccine-hesitant parents: the parent attitudes about childhood vaccines survey. Hum Vaccin. 2011 Apr 1;7(4);419-25. PubMed

Foster CC, Fuentes MM, Wadlington LA, Jacob-Files E, Desai AD, Simon TD, Mangione-Smith R. Caregiver and provider experiences of home healthcare quality for children with medical complexity.  Home Healthc Now. 2020;38(3):138-146. doi: 10.1097/NHH.0000000000000857.  PubMed

 

Research

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Some adolescents are more likely to use patient portal than others

A new study aims to understand trends in digital care communication among teens.

Healthy findings blog

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For Women's History Month: Q&A with scientific leaders

KPWHRI’s executive director and scientific division leaders share their career paths, advice.

Pediatric research

A Physician Examining Her Patient

Improving child health and care with quality measures

KPWHRI Executive Director Rita Mangione-Smith, MD, MPH, talks about her research to advance pediatric care

KPWHRI In the Media

When does your child need antibiotics?

How do I know if my kid needs antibiotics?

New York Times, Apr 17, 2020