Kumar Receives Research Funding From Hewlett-Packard Labs Innovation Research Program

The HP Labs Innovation Research Program recently awarded Akhil Kumar, professor of information systems at the Penn State Smeal College of Business, with $69,000 to examine end-to-end patient processes within the healthcare system.

Akhil Kumar

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. (August 30, 2012) – The HP Labs Innovation Research Program recently awarded Akhil Kumar, professor of information systems at the Penn State Smeal College of Business, with $69,000 to examine end-to-end patient processes within the healthcare system.

The award is one of 60 granted to universities across the globe to enable collaborative research in cloud technology, health care, information analytics, and social media, among other areas. Through an annual, open call for proposals, HP solicits ideas on a range of targeted research topics. Proposals are reviewed by HP lab scientists and selected to receive funding based on their alignment with the chosen research topic and expected impact of the proposed research.

Kumar’s research proposal, “Streamlined Patient Experience,” suggests examining the end-to-end processes involved in providing a variety of healthcare services provided to patients. The goal of the project is to use information technology to help patients understand these processes and improve the overall patient experience.

“By incorporating patient preferences and other patient-specific contextual information in the end-to-end treatment process,” said Kumar, “we hope to help patients better navigate the complex healthcare system and make more intelligent decisions from their available choices of providers and treatments. Having better informed patients will also lead to a more efficient healthcare system with lower costs and fewer medical errors."

Now in its fifth year, the HP Labs IRP has channeled approximately $20 million of support to academic projects aligned with the HP Labs research agenda. IRP has gathered more than 2,000 research proposals from more than 40 countries, each seeking up to $100,000 in project funding for one academic year. Of these proposals, IRP has supported more than 150 research projects.

REPORTERS & EDITORS: For more information, please contact Victoria Fryer in the Smeal College of Business Media Relations Office at 814-863-3798 or mediarelations@smeal.psu.edu.

Penn State's Smeal College of Business offers highly ranked undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, Ph.D., and executive education opportunities to more than 5,500 students at all levels. Featuring academic departments of accounting, finance, management and organization, marketing, risk management, and supply chain and information systems, the college is also home to major research centers such as the Center for Supply Chain Research, the Institute for the Study of Business Markets, the Farrell Center for Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the Center for Global Business Studies, and the Center for the Management of Technological and Organizational Change.