National Center for Human Factors in Healthcare

Name

National Center for Human Factors in Healthcare

Legal name

MedStar Health

Website

https://medicalhumanfactors.net

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Healthcare Research and Safety Consulting

NAICS

Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (54171), Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (541690), Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (541720)

SIC

Services-Health Services (8000), Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYBPAHALAN

Healthcare Outcomes & Real-World Evidence (RWE) Analytics

Business & Public Services/Professional Services (Legal, Accounting, Consulting)/Research, Analytics & Expert Services

SECONDARYHLAJAJAL

Public Health Quality Measurement & Performance Benchmarking

Healthcare & Life Sciences/Public Health, Government & Regulators/Health Statistics, Vital Records & Population Health Analytics

SECONDARYHLACAOAM

Real-World Data (RWD) / Real-World Evidence (RWE) & Observational Research Platforms

Healthcare & Life Sciences/Digital Health & Health IT/Clinical Trials & Research Informatics (eCOA/ePRO/EDC)

Keywords

• Human factors engineering
• Healthcare safety research
• Usability evaluation
• Diagnostic safety
• Patient safety advisement

Headquarters

HQ city

Washington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Grant Funding: Primary revenue stream from federal research grants including NIH R01 grants, AHRQ grants, and diagnostic safety center grants. The center has been awarded seven R01 grants and multiple AHRQ grants for telehealth research.
2. Research Services: Applied research generating and disseminating new knowledge about healthcare challenges. Provides services to external and internal clients for diagnostic error, digital health usability, AI system design, safe medication practices, and cognitive engineering.
3. Safety Advisement: Proactive, systems approach to safety advisement for external and internal clients, promoting a systems approach to safety over blame culture.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The National Center for Human Factors in Healthcare is a research division within MedStar Health that applies psychological and physiological principles from human factors engineering to the design of healthcare products, processes, and systems. It provides applied research, usability evaluation, safety advisement, and education/outreach services aimed at improving patient safety, reducing clinician burnout, and enhancing healthcare quality and reliability.

Product overview

The National Center for Human Factors in Healthcare is a healthcare research and consulting center embedded within MedStar Health. It does not offer commercial software products; instead, it provides professional services including applied research, usability evaluation, safety advisement, and education/outreach programs. The center's offerings are service-based engagements focused on improving patient safety, reducing clinician burnout, and enhancing healthcare processes through human factors engineering principles.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Applied Human Factors Research Services

Quantifiable outcome

• Zero Harm - Goal of eliminating preventable harm in patient care
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered major and core.

• Leading Health Systems (Telehealth Research Collaboration)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 26 January 2021MedStar Health awarded nearly $1 million grant to launch a new telehealth research collaboration with two other leading health systems, focused on telehealth access, safety, and health equity.
• RLDatixcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 17 December 2020RLDatix established a strategic relationship with MedStar Health's National Center for Human Factors in Healthcare to enhance safety event reviews with human factors safety science. The partnership integrates human factors methodologies into RLDatix's safety event review platform.
• Pennsylvania's Patient Safety AuthoritymajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 August 2019Pennsylvania's Patient Safety Authority selected MedStar Health Research Institute to improve patient safety through innovative machine learning, leveraging the human factors center's expertise.
• Texas A&M School of Public HealthcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 27 July 2017Dr. Kristen Miller awarded $1.4 million to develop a sepsis alert system in collaboration with Texas A&M School of Public Health. This research partnership focuses on machine learning applications for early sepsis detection.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Others

• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ): Federal agency within HHS that funds patient safety research and produces evidence-based safety tools. Comparable as a major funder and convener in the same patient safety research domain, though operating as a government entity rather than a research center.

Direct peers

• ECRI (Emergency Care Research Institute): Independent nonprofit organization conducting healthcare safety research, evidence-based evaluations, and patient safety advisement. Closely comparable in mission of identifying medical errors, promoting patient safety, and providing safety advisement to healthcare organizations.
• Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality: Academic medical center-affiliated patient safety research institute that conducts applied research, training, and quality improvement. Directly comparable as another embedded patient safety research center within a major U.S. health system.
• Pascal Metrics: Healthcare safety science organization focused on patient safety, adverse event reduction, and safety culture assessment. Directly comparable as a specialized firm applying safety science and human factors principles to improve healthcare outcomes.
• CRICO Strategies: Harvard-affiliated patient safety and risk management organization providing analytics, research, and advisory services to healthcare organizations. Comparable in offering data-driven safety insights and evidence-based risk reduction strategies.
• RLDatix: Commercial patient safety and risk management software company that has integrated human factors methodologies from the center into its safety event review platform. Comparable as an active participant in the patient safety technology and advisory space.

Broad incumbents

• Press Ganey: Major healthcare performance improvement and patient experience analytics company serving thousands of U.S. hospitals. Comparable in providing safety and quality analytics, though focused on patient experience and broader performance metrics.
• Institute for Healthcare Improvement: Leading patient safety and healthcare quality improvement organization offering research, training, and consulting at scale. Highly comparable as it pursues similar goals of reducing diagnostic errors and improving patient safety through evidence-based methodologies.
• The Joint Commission: Largest healthcare accreditation body in the U.S., setting patient safety standards and conducting safety-related research. Comparable in advancing patient safety, though operating as a broader regulatory/accreditation entity rather than a research center.
• Vizient: Large healthcare performance improvement company offering analytics, consulting, and safety solutions to health systems. Comparable in serving healthcare systems with safety and quality improvement services, though operating at significantly larger scale.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/MedStarHealth
• YouTubeyoutube.com/MedStarHealth
• Facebookfacebook.com/MedStarHealth
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/national-center-for-human-factors-engineering-in-healthcare
• Instagraminstagram.com/MedStarHealth

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about National Center for Human Factors in Healthcare