Kathryn H. Bowles

Throughout her career, Dr. Bowles' research has focused on the use of information technology and health informatics to improve healthcare for at-risk older adults and support healthcare providers' efforts to improve planning and provide transitional care following hospital discharge, thereby reducing hospital readmissions. Her ongoing studies, funded primarily by NIH, include the development of decision support tools to determine the best site of care for those needing post-discharge services; telehealth technology applications; the effect of home care and post-acute referrals on patient outcomes; and evaluation of electronic health records. Currently Dr. Bowles leads I-TRANSFER (Improving Transitions and Outcomes for Sepsis Survivors), an NINR-funded, multi-site study to implement an evidence-based protocol of timely home health and outpatient care for sepsis survivors (2R01NR016014-07). This work involves 5 health systems (16 hospitals) and 5 affiliated home health agencies. Significant results to date include the approval from the CDC for a new ICD-10 code for sepsis survivors, Z51.A Encounter for Sepsis Aftercare. The research demonstrated poor communication of sepsis survivorship in care transitions and the inability to code sepsis care in post-acute care settings. The new code will help clinicians flag sepsis survivors, improve communication, trigger timely interventions, and track outcomes over time.

Sang E, Quinn R, Stawnychy MA, Song J, Hirschman KB, You SB, Pitcher KS, Hodgson NA, Garren P, O'Connor M, Oh S and Bowles KH (2024) Organizational readiness for change towards implementing a sepsis survivor hospital to home transition-in-care protocol. Front. Health Serv. 4:1436375. doi: 10.3389/frhs.2024.1436375 Oh, S., Sang, E., Stawnychy, M. A., Garren, P., You, S. B., O'Connor, M., Hirschman, K. B., Hodgson, N., Cranston, T., Jablonski, J., O'Brien, K., Newcomb, M., Spahr, M., & Bowles, K. H. (2024). Application of a Human Factors and Systems Engineering Approach to Explore Care Transitions of Sepsis Survivors From Hospital to Home Health Care. Human Factors, 66(11), 2468-2484. https://doi.org/10.1177/00187208231222399