Investigator Dorothy Hung, Ph.D., M.A., MPH

Dorothy Hung, Ph.D., is Associate Scientist at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation Research Institute. She is Principal Investigator of an R01 study, “Impact of LEAN Management on Primary Care Efficiency, Affordability, and the Patient Experience,” funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Dr. Hung was also recipient of a K02 Career Development Award and multi-year AHRQ contract to study contextual factors affecting the implementation and spread of Lean in health systems. Her work has been published in peer-reviewed journals including Medical Care, Health Services Research, Health Care Management Review, American Journal of Managed Care, and The Milbank Quarterly.

Dr. Hung’s research focuses on organizational approaches to achieving high quality, high value care delivered in both ambulatory and hospital settings. This includes study of: 
 
    1. system redesign to enhance work processes;
    2. change management and organizational culture/climate, teamwork, and staff participation in decision making; and
    3. implementation of innovative models for delivering preventive and chronic care.

Dr. Hung’s current research includes evaluation of industry-based Lean techniques for improving value in the health care sector. She is investigating the effects of Lean on quality, cost and operational outcomes in outpatient care, and its use to streamline hospital discharge processes and workflows in the emergency department. Her research includes study of how health care organizations and care teams reinvent themselves as “learning systems” to continuously improve services delivered. This involves the important role of micro-systems (i.e., core teams of health professionals) and organizational environments as critical spaces for transformation. Consistent with this, Dr. Hung’s research has focused on practice innovations and prescriptions for enhancing care delivery, including how to best design systems and daily workflows to optimize patient care. She has also examined the influence of organizational context on provider adherence to evidence-based guidelines in over 100 primary care practices located across the U.S.

Dr. Hung is an Affiliated Faculty Member at the University of California San Francisco, Institute for Health Policy Studies (IHPS). She is also a Research Advisory Committee member with the Center for Lean Engagement and Research (CLEAR), housed in the School of Public Health at the University of California at Berkeley. Prior to joining PAMFRI, Dr. Hung was on faculty at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in New York City. She earned both a Ph.D. in Health Services and Policy Analysis, and an M.A. in Political Science from UC Berkeley. She also holds a Master’s degree in Public Health from the University of Minnesota and a Bachelor’s degree from Stanford University.