Patrick J. O'Connor, MD, MA, MPH
Senior Research Investigator

About

Overview/research interests: After completing his family medicine residency training at Duke, Dr. O’Connor worked in a remote rural clinic on the Navajo Reservation, where some of the 50 patients he saw each day arrived on horseback. The clinic had no electricity or phone, and he needed a translator (who served as a Navajo “Code Talker” in World War II) for nearly all visits. Dr. O’Connor tried to learn a few things from several medicine men who were his patients. In the absence of timely lab results, it was a challenge to take care of his 25 patients with diabetes. His first research project was a study of whether his 25 diabetes patients did worse than the 600 diabetes patients at a local hospital clinic. The results showed no difference in quality of care at the two clinics. The paper reporting the findings was his first publication and won an award from the U.S. Public Health Service, presented by then-U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, MD. Over the subsequent decades, Dr

Affiliation

positions

  • Sr. Investigator, Center for Chronic Care Innovation
  • Sr. Research Investigator, Diabetes
  • Senior Research Investigator, Cardiovascular health
  • has collaborator

  • Margolis, Karen L., MD, MPH  Senior Research Investigator
  • Sperl-Hillen, JoAnn M., MD  Retired Senior Research Investigator
  • Publications While At HealthPartners

    selected publications

    Journal Article
  • Clinical decision support and cardiometabolic medication adherence: a randomized clinical trial
    JAMA network open. 2025
  • Clinical decision support to improve primary care obesity management in adults with diabetes: clinic-randomized study design
    Contemporary Clinical Trials. 2025
  • A CKD clinical decision support system: a cluster randomized clinical trial in primary care clinics
    Kidney Med. 2024
  • Cardiometabolic risk in pediatric patients with intellectual and developmental disabilities
    American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2024
  • Confidence in diagnosing and managing care for cognitive impairment in primary care: a survey comparing barriers by primary care clinician type
    Family Practice. 2024
  • Editorial Article
  • Insulin management in patients with diabetes receiving hemodialysis: unanswered questions and way forward [editorial]
    American Journal of Kidney Diseases.  83. 2024
  • Overcoming therapeutic inertia in type 2 diabetes care-timing, context, and appropriateness of treatment intensification [editorial]
    JAMA network open.  4. 2021
  • Capsule commentary on Marcum et al, Statin dosing instructions, medication adherence, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol: a cohort study of incident statin users [editorial]
    Journal of General Internal Medicine.  34. 2019
  • Strategies to prioritize clinical options in primary care [editorial]
    Annals of Family Medicine.  15. 2017
  • How clinical pharmacists can improve outpatient diabetes care [editorial]
    Diabetes Management (London, England).  4. 2014
  • Chapter
  • Comparative effectiveness of adaptive treatment strategies
    Targeted learning in data science: causal inference for complex longitudinal studies (Springer series in statistics). 2018
  • Diabetes
    Chronic disease epidemiology and control. 2010
  • Advances in Patient Safety Clinical Inertia and Outpatient Medical Errors
    Advances in Patient Safety: From Research to Implementation (Volume 2: Concepts and Methodology). 2005
  • Advances in Patient Safety Identification, Classification, and Frequency of Medical Errors in Outpatient Diabetes Care
    Advances in Patient Safety: From Research to Implementation (Volume 1: Research Findings). 2005
  • Advances in Patient Safety SimCare: A Model for Studying Physician Decisionmaking Activity
    Advances in Patient Safety: From Research to Implementation (Volume 4: Programs, Tools, and Products). 2005
  • Conference Poster
  • Factors associated with Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) compliance and weight loss among low-income participants [poster]
    2019
  • Aspirin for primary prevention of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease: challenges to appropriate use [poster]
    2017
  • Can prioritized clinical decision support in primary care reduce cardiovascular risk? [poster]
    2017
  • Clinical decision support impact on overuse and underuse of aspirin for primary prevention of cardiovascular events [poster]
    2017
  • Development and validation of a risk equation for appendicitis in children presenting with abdominal pain [poster]
    2017
  • Abstract
  • Comparing change in systolic blood pressure with clinic-based care versus telehealth care in a pragmatic cluster-randomized trial (Hyperlink 3) [abstract]
    Journal of patient-centered research and reviews. 2021
  • Maximizing use of chronic disease clinical decision support in primary care clinics: lessons learned from randomized trials [abstract]
    Journal of patient-centered research and reviews. 2021
  • Medication adherence during the COVID-19 pandemic: preliminary data from the patient perspective [abstract]
    Journal of patient-centered research and reviews. 2021
  • Patients deciding on cancer screening and prevention using clinical decision support: "I wouldn't have thought about getting screened without it" [abstract]
    Journal of patient-centered research and reviews. 2021
  • Better care strategies are necessary to address poor medication adherence [abstract]
    Diabetes. 2020
  • Audio-Visual Document

    presentations

    Presentation
  • 2010 performance improvement project: improving blood pressure control in members with diabetes [presentation], Stratis Health 2010 Performance Improvement Project
  • A diabetes simulated physician learning program improved glucose control and is cost-effective [presentation], CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) Diabetes Translation Conference 2011 - Changing the Course of Diabetes: Optimizing Health for All
  • A diabetes simulated physician learning program improved glucose control and is highly cost-effective [presentation], Minnesota Health Services Research 15th Annual Conference
  • A machine learning approach to improving process control [presentation], Workshop on Information Technologies and Systems (WITS) (19th)
  • A multi-site study of long-term remission and relapse of type 2 diabetes mellitus following bariatric surgery [presentation], HMO Research Network 17th Conference: Collaborations in Population-Based Health Research
  • Research

    research overview

  • NIH-funded projects (from 33 total):

    • Cardiovascular Benefits and Safety of Glucose-Lowering Therapies in Adults with Diabetes
    • A Randomized Clinical Trial to Reduce Cardiovascular Risk in Adults with Serious Mental Illness
    • Minnesota Medicaid Incentives for Prevention of Diabetes Demonstration
    • Prioritized Clinical Decision Support to Reduce Cardiovascular Risk
    • EHR-based Clinical Decision Support to Improve Blood Pressure Management in Adolescents
    • SUPREME-DM: Sustaining a Learning Research Network
    • Home Blood Pressure Telemonitoring and Case Management to Control Hypertension
    • HMORN UCSF Center for Diabetes Translational Research
    • Childhood Hypertension and Obesity: Diagnosis, Care and Costs
  • Contact

    full name

  • Patrick J. O'Connor, MD, MA, MPH
  • primary email

  • Patrick.J.OConnor@HealthPartners.Com
  • located in facility

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