Phone:

(317) 278-8410

Email:

joshvest@iu.edu

Departments:

Health Policy and Management

Additional Appointments:

Regenstrief Institute, Inc.

Degrees:

PhD, Health Services Research, Texas AM University

MPH, Epidemiology, Saint Louis University

Resume/CV

Biography

Dr. Joshua R. Vest is a health services researcher specializing in the adoption and effective use of health information technology (HIT) to improve organizational, clinical, and population health outcomes. His research focuses on technologies that enable the secure and efficient sharing of patient information across healthcare organizations, particularly through health information exchange (HIE).

Dr. Vest’s work explores the adoption, utilization, and policy implications of HIT, as well as its impact on outcomes such as hospital readmissions, repeat imaging, and healthcare costs. He has authored over 150 peer-reviewed publications, employing diverse methodologies including large-scale database analysis, geographic information systems (GIS), survey research, and qualitative approaches such as focus groups and interviews.

A former local public health practitioner, Dr. Vest maintains a strong interest in public health information systems and the integration of social determinants of health data to support population health initiatives.

Research Interests

• Health information technology
• Health information exchange
• Adoption, implementation, usage, impact
• Organizational theory
• Public health systems and services

Courses Taught

• Contemporary Health Issues
• PhD Seminar in Contemporary Health Policy & Management Challenges
• Population & Public Health

Selected Publications

1. Vest JR, Wu W, Gregory ME, Kasturi SN, Mendonca EA, Bian J, Magoc T, Grannis S, McNamee C, Harle CA. Performance of 4 methods to assess health-related social needs. JAMA Network Open. 8(8):e2527426; 2025. doi.org/jamanetworkopen.2025.27426.
2. Gregory ME, Kasturi SN, Majoc T, McNamee C, Harle CA, Vest JR. Development and validation of computable social phenotypes for health-related social needs. JAMIA Open. 8(1): ooae150; 2025. doi: 10.1093/jamiaopen/ooae150. PMCID: PMC11706536.
3. Mazurenko O, Hirsh A, Harle CA, Shen J, McNamee C, Vest JR. Comparing the performance of screening surveys versus predictive models in identifying patients in need of health-related social need services in the emergency department. PLoS ONE. 19(11): e0312193; 2024. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0312193. PMCID: PMC11578524.
4. Harle CA, Wu W, Vest JR. Accuracy of food insecurity, housing instability, & financial strain screening in adult primary care. Journal of the American Medical Association. 329(5):423-424; 2023. doi: 10.1001/jama.2022.23631. PMID: 36749341.
5. Allen KS, Hood D, Cummins J, Kasturi S, Mendonca EA, Vest JR. Natural Language Processing-driven State Machines to Extract Social Factors from Unstructured Clinical Documentation. JAMIA Open. 6(2):ooad024; 2023. doi: 10.1093/jamiaopen/ooad024. PMCID: PMC10112959

• Google Scholar Research Articles
• PubMed Research Collection