Julie A. Schmittdiel, PhD

People

Kaiser Permanente Division of Research
2000 Broadway
Oakland, CA 94612

(510) 891-3872 (phone)
julie.a.schmittdiel@kp.org
Kaiser Permanente Researcher Profiles

Julie A. Schmittdiel, PhD, MA, is the Associate Director of Health Care Delivery and Policy and a Research Scientist at the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research. She holds a bachelor's degree in Mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MA in Biostatistics and a PhD in Health Services and Policy Analysis from the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Schmittdiel's career focuses on stakeholder engagement and translational research in diabetes and diabetes prevention, with a particular focus on improving medication adherence and cardiovascular disease risk factor control in diabetes patients. She has been principal or co-investigator on more than 40 delivery science and health policy research studies, and has published more than 160 papers in peer-reviewed journals. She serves as the co-Director of the National Institutes of Health-funded Diabetes Research for Equity through Advanced Multilevel Science Center for Diabetes Translational Research (DREAMS-CDTR). She also serves as the Co-Director of the T32 Training Program in Diabetes Translational Research and is the Associate Director of the Kaiser Permanente Delivery Science Fellowship Program. She is currently the Chair of the AcademyHealth National Education Council.

Current Position(s):

Research Scientist III, Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California
Co-Director, T32 Diabetes Fellowship
Associate Director, Delivery Science Fellowship Program

Section Affiliations:

Associate Director, Health Care Delivery and Policy

Primary Research Interests:

Health services research
Primary care re-design
Chronic conditions management
Quality measurement

Related Website(s):

Center for Diabetes Translational Research

Studies

Diabetes Research for Equity through Advanced Multilevel Science Center for Diabetes Translational Research (DREAMS-CDTR)

The Diabetes Research for Equity through Advanced Multilevel Science Center for Diabetes Translational Research(DREAMS-CDTR) supports diabetes translational research through mentoring and supporting junior faculty, and by fostering collaborations between investigators and health care systems. This is an infrastructure and training grant, and does not directly fund research studies.
Investigator: Schmittdiel, Julie
Funder: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

The Delivery Science Targeted Analysis Program: A Partnership between the Division of Research and The Permanente Medical Group-Project 3

The Delivery Science Rapid Analysis Program will create a mechanism to solicit, prioritize, and address rapidly researchable analytic questions with high value to TPMG's quality improvement initiatives and DOR's research agenda. The program will focus on short-term observational data analyses that can be completed within 6 months and the findings will be disseminated widely within Kaiser Permanente and externally.
Investigator: Schmittdiel, Julie
Funder: TPMG Delivery Science Projects Program

Understanding Housing Insecurity and Risk for Homelessness in the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Member Population

This project will examine patient and community-level correlates of housing instability and homelessness using observational data sources. These formative analyses will develop variables to operationalize housing instability using administrative and clinical data, and explore potential predictors of housing stability and homelessness within the Kaiser Permanente Northern California member population. Sensitivity analyses will attempt to identify populations and geographic areas with greater risk that can be used to target future pilot interventions to prevent homelessness in Kaiser Permanente members.
Investigator: Schmittdiel, Julie
Funder: Northern California Community Benefit Programs

T32 Training Program in Diabetes Translational Research

Diabetes remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality, and it is a significant burden to the U.S. health care system, patients, and their families. The knowledge and skills necessary to overcome the final translational block from evidence into practice require unique training in the area of delivery science, which includes health services research, translational research, and dissemination and implementation methods. To meet this need, the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research has created the Diabetes Delivery Science Training Program. This new program will directly address the need to augment the current research workforce by focusing on the skills needed to identify and overcome barriers to effective diabetes care within existing large-scale health care delivery systems. Two post-doctoral scientists will be enrolled per year for a two-year training program.
Investigator: Grant, Richard; Schmittdiel, Julie
Funder: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

Supplement to T32 Training Program in Diabetes Translational Research

This administrative supplement solicited by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) will provide two to six medical students with summer training opportunities in translational research. This supplement allows the existing T32 program based at the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research to host students who are participating in a broader NIDDK-administered program for introducing medical students to research in diabetes and diabetes prevention.
Investigator: Grant, Richard; Schmittdiel, Julie
Funder: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

Predicting Successful Onboarding in the Medi-Cal Population

The purpose of this project is to examine quality indicators for key chronic conditions such as diabetes and asthma for the Medi-Cal population served by Kaiser Permanente Northern California and to see how these indicators vary by different population definitions/denominators. Key predictors will include patient characteristics and socioeconomic indicators at the census block level, as well as elements of the Medi-Cal onboarding process across the region.
Investigator: Schmittdiel, Julie
Funder: Kaiser Foundation Hospitals

Using Peer Support To Aid in PRevention and Treatment in Prediabetes (UPSTART)

This intervention trial has three specific aims: 1) To implement and test the effectiveness of a peer support model to initiate and sustain healthy diabetes-prevention behaviors in a lower-income, diverse population of prediabetes patients across three different care settings (Kaiser Permanente Northern California, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and a Federally Qualified Health Center); 2) To examine the patient, provider, and system-level mediators and moderators of the effectiveness of the peer support model across the three intervention sites; and 3) To examine the cost-effectiveness of the peer support model, and assess other factors related to the barriers and facilitators to adoption and spread, using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research.
Investigator: Schmittdiel, Julie
Funder: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

The Safety and Effectiveness of Diabetes Quality Metrics in Elderly Patients

Improving health care quality for seniors with complex chronic conditions is a critical issue for health services and health policy research. Widely-used quality metrics for patients with chronic illness put forth by agencies such as HEDIS and CMS are often based on clinical trials evidence of reduced risk for clinical outcomes in younger study populations with fewer comorbidities, and may not be generalizable or appropriate for elderly patients. The primary goal of this study is to compare the effectiveness of meeting standard national quality metrics for diabetes medication adherence for specific medications, and to meeting HbA1c targets, on preventing adverse events, hospitalizations, and ED visits in elderly patients with diabetes.
Investigator: Schmittdiel, Julie
Funder: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

Delivery Science Rapid Analysis Program II

The purpose of the Delivery Science Rapid Analysis Program is to create a mechanism that will solicit, prioritize and address rapidly-researchable analytic questions with high-value to both TPMG''s quality improvement initiatives and DOR''s research agenda. The Rapid Analysis program will specifically focus on short-term observational data analyses that can be completed within 6 months. The Delivery Science Rapid Analysis Program will provide timely, strategic data for quality improvement efforts at QOS and TPMG, and disseminate its findings widely both within Kaiser and externally.
Investigator: Schmittdiel, Julie
Funder: The Permanente Medical Group

Diabetes Screening and Care Received by the Mentally Ill in an Integrated System

This observational study will examine the level of fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and A1c testing in patients with severe mental illness, and examine patient-level predictors of testing and FPG/A1c values.
Investigator: Schmittdiel, Julie
Funder: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

Encouraging Mail Order Pharmacy Use to Improve Outcomes and Reduce Disparities

Previous research has shown that mail order pharmacy use is associated with improved adherence to cardiometabolic medications, and better LDL-C control in new statin users. In addition, mail order use is more common among white patients and those with higher SES. The purpose of this dissemination and implementation study is to conduct a randomized encouragement trial to test the effectiveness of strategies to encourage mail order pharmacy use in the overall population and among groups at risk for disparities in health outcomes, and to see if increased mail order use results in improved adherence and intermediate CVD risk factor outcomes.
Investigator: Schmittdiel, Julie
Funder: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

Cardiovascular Benefits and Safety of Glucose-Lowering Therapies in Adults with Diabetes

Cardiovascular (CV) events are the most common cause of death among adults with type 2 diabetes. While the benefits and safety of commonly used blood pressure and cholesterol medications are well established, much less is known about the CV benefits and safety of many commonly used therapies to control glucose. In this project, we carefully assess the impact of specific glucose-lowering strategies on CV events (myocardial infarction and stroke) and on mortality, in order to identify whether some glucose-lowering strategies confer more CV benefit or risks than others. To address this important clinical and public health concern, we will test several specific comparative effectiveness hypotheses, in an electronic medical record-linked Health Care Systems Research Network-based registry of over 650,000 adults with diabetes receiving care in 4 large U.S. health care systems.
Investigator: Schmittdiel, Julie
Funder: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Highlighted Publications

The impact of telephonic wellness coaching on weight loss: A "Natural Experiments for Translation in Diabetes (NEXT-D)" study

Author(s): Schmittdiel JA; Adams SR; Goler N; Sanna RS; Boccio M; Bellamy DJ; Brown SD; Neugebauer RS; Ferrara A

Obesity (Silver Spring). 2017 Feb;25(2):352-356.

Current Position(s):

Section Affiliations:

Primary Research Interests:

Related Website(s):

Studies

Diabetes Research for Equity through Advanced Multilevel Science Center for Diabetes Translational Research (DREAMS-CDTR)

The Delivery Science Targeted Analysis Program: A Partnership between the Division of Research and The Permanente Medical Group-Project 3

Understanding Housing Insecurity and Risk for Homelessness in the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Member Population

T32 Training Program in Diabetes Translational Research

Supplement to T32 Training Program in Diabetes Translational Research

Predicting Successful Onboarding in the Medi-Cal Population

Using Peer Support To Aid in PRevention and Treatment in Prediabetes (UPSTART)

The Safety and Effectiveness of Diabetes Quality Metrics in Elderly Patients

Delivery Science Rapid Analysis Program II

Diabetes Screening and Care Received by the Mentally Ill in an Integrated System

Encouraging Mail Order Pharmacy Use to Improve Outcomes and Reduce Disparities

Cardiovascular Benefits and Safety of Glucose-Lowering Therapies in Adults with Diabetes

Highlighted Publications

The impact of telephonic wellness coaching on weight loss: A "Natural Experiments for Translation in Diabetes (NEXT-D)" study

Health Care System-level Factors Associated With Performance on Medicare STAR Adherence Metrics in a Large, Integrated Delivery System

Novel Use and Utility of Integrated Electronic Health Records to Assess Rates of Prediabetes Recognition and Treatment: Brief Report From an Integrated Electronic Health Records Pilot Study

System-based participatory research in health care: an approach for sustainable translational research and quality improvement

Publications

Association of Surgical Timing with Outcomes in Early Stage Lung Cancer

Effects of COVID-19 shelter-in-place confinement on diabetes prevention health behaviors among US adults with prediabetes: A cross-sectional survey

Identifying Predictors of Homelessness Among Adults in a Large Integrated Health System in Northern California

Using Peer Support to Prevent Diabetes: Results of a Pragmatic RCT

Incidence and Medical Hospitalization Rates of Patients With Pediatric Eating Disorders

Association Between Vaccination Against COVID-19 and Postmenopausal Bleeding

Address Changes Are Associated With Unmet Glycemic Targets: Opportunities to Improve Processes and Outcomes of Care Among People With Type 2 Diabetes

Psychosocial and diabetes risk factors among racially/ethnically diverse adults with prediabetes

Comment on Dunne et al. The Women's Leadership Gap in Diabetes: A Call for Equity and Excellence. Diabetes Care 2021;44:1734-1743

Prior Immunosuppressive Therapy and Severe Illness Among Patients Diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2: a Community-Based Study

Association of Cardiovascular Outcomes and Mortality With Sustained Long-Acting Insulin Only vs Long-Acting Plus Short-Acting Insulin Treatment

Association of chronic anticoagulant and antiplatelet use on disease severity in SARS-COV-2 infected patients

The effect of mail order pharmacy outreach on older patients with diabetes

Incidence of 30-Day Venous Thromboembolism in Adults Tested for SARS-CoV-2 Infection in an Integrated Health Care System in Northern California

Is Shelter-in-Place Policy Related to Mail Order Pharmacy Use and Racial/Ethnic Disparities for Patients With Diabetes?

SARS-CoV-2 Clinical Outcomes in Patients with Cancer in a Large Integrated Health Care System in Northern California

Smoking cessation treatment for individuals with comorbid diabetes and serious mental illness in an integrated health care delivery system

Association of anticoagulation use with SARS-CoV2 detection

A Randomized Encouragement Trial to Increase Mail Order Pharmacy Use and Medication Adherence in Patients with Diabetes

Outpatient Mastectomy: Factors Influencing Patient Selection and Predictors of Return to Care

Smoking cessation treatment for individuals with comorbid diabetes and serious mental illness in an integrated health care delivery system

Endometrial Cancer Detection During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic

Study protocol: Using peer support to aid in prevention and treatment in prediabetes (UPSTART)

Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Diabetes Care Quality among Women of Reproductive Age in an Integrated Delivery System

Exploiting nonsystematic covariate monitoring to broaden the scope of evidence about the causal effects of adaptive treatment strategies

Comparison of Mortality and Major Cardiovascular Events Among Adults With Type 2 Diabetes Using Human vs Analogue Insulins

Comorbid Diabetes and Severe Mental Illness: Outcomes in an Integrated Health Care Delivery System

Identifying Common Predictors of Multiple Adverse Outcomes Among Elderly Adults With Type-2 Diabetes

Considerations for Identifying Social Needs in Health Care Systems: A Commentary on the Role of Predictive Models in Supporting a Comprehensive Social Needs Strategy

Preventing Diabetes in High-Risk Patients: Time for a System-Level Approach to Disease Prevention

Targeted learning with daily EHR data

Opportunities to encourage mail order pharmacy delivery service use for diabetes prescriptions: a qualitative study

Prompting Patients with Poorly Controlled Diabetes to Identify Visit Priorities Before Primary Care Visits: a Pragmatic Cluster Randomized Trial

Building Toward a Population-Based Approach to Diabetes Screening and Prevention for US Adults

Pill, patch, or ring? A mixed methods analysis of provider counseling about combined hormonal contraception

Automated symptom and treatment side effect monitoring for improved quality of life among adults with diabetic peripheral neuropathy in primary care: a pragmatic, cluster, randomized, controlled trial

Advancing Health Policy and Program Research in Diabetes: Findings from the Natural Experiments for Translation in Diabetes (NEXT-D) Network

The Implementation of Performance Management Systems in U.S. Physician Organizations

Review of Metformin Use for Type 2 Diabetes Prevention

The Effect of Age and Comorbidities on the Association Between the Medicare STAR Oral Antihyperglycemic Adherence Metric and Glycemic Control

The Relationship Between Prescription Copayments and Contraceptive Adherence in a New-user Cohort

Diabetes and Prediabetes Prevalence by Race and Ethnicity Among People With Severe Mental Illness

Influence of a New Diabetes Diagnosis on the Health Behaviors of the Patient's Partner

A Two-Step Method to Identify Positive Deviant Physician Organizations of Accountable Care Organizations with Robust Performance Management Systems

Add-On Antihypertensive Medications to Angiotensin-Aldosterone System Blockers in Diabetes: A Comparative Effectiveness Study

Crossing the Research to Quality Chasm: A Checklist for Researchers and Clinical Leadership Partners

Diabetes Screening among Antipsychotic-Treated Adults with Severe Mental Illness in an Integrated Delivery System: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Using Neighborhood-Level Census Data to Predict Diabetes Progression in Patients with Laboratory-Defined Prediabetes

Opportunities to Reduce Diabetes Risk in Women of Reproductive Age: Assessment and Treatment of Prediabetes within a Large Integrated Delivery System

The Delivery Science Rapid Analysis Program: A Research and Operational Partnership at Kaiser Permanente Northern California

Incidence of diabetes after a partner's diagnosis

Relationships Between Medication Adherence and Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factor Control in Elderly Patients With Diabetes

Shared decision making in contraceptive counseling

Population Health Management for Diabetes: Health Care System-Level Approaches for Improving Quality and Addressing Disparities

Primary care visit preparation and communication for patients with poorly controlled diabetes: A qualitative study of patients and physicians

Telephone-Based Coaching: A Comparison of Tobacco Cessation Programs in an Integrated Health Care System

Improvements in access and care through the Affordable Care Act