Focus Area

Real-world EHR data contain rich geriatric-relevant information, such as delirium, falls, and functional status, but much of it is embedded in unstructured clinical notes. Natural language processing (NLP) methods can systematically extract and standardize these concepts. The AFHS NLP Working Group will serve as a national collaborative platform to advance scalable, reproducible, and robust NLP methods that support the measurement, evaluation, and implementation of the 4Ms Framework—What Matters, Medication, Mentation, and Mobility—across diverse health systems.

Statement of Purpose

The key purposes of the working group include establishing consistent AFHS phenotypes, annotation guidelines, and task definitions across sites; promoting resource sharing and standardization through common NLP tools and evaluation frameworks; ensuring model generalizability through rigorous cross-site validation; and strengthening coordination and shared learning to advance national 4Ms measurement.

Goals

• Develop, harmonize, and disseminate 4Ms-aligned data standards and NLP models
• Promote technical and methodological rigor through multi-site validation
• Facilitate team-science collaboration and enable reproducible research, open-source tools, and shared resources across AFHS sites
• Support complementary activities that advance AFHS implementation and broader Learning Health System initiatives

Membership

The group builds upon an established delirium NLP interest group and is designed around a team-science model. Each participating site is encouraged to include at least one informatics lead and one clinician lead. New AFHS site participation is welcomed.

• UTHealth Houston: Sunyang Fu, PhD; Min Ji Kwak, MD
• Houston Methodist: Alan Pan; George E. Taffet, MD
• Vanderbilt University Medical Center: Chao Yan, PhD; You Chen, PhD; Bradley Malin, PhD; Mayur Patel, MD; Tyler Murphy, MD
• Mayo Clinic: Sungwhan Sohn, PhD; Sandeep Pagali, MD
• University of Pittsburgh: Yanshan Wang, PhD; Timothy Girard, MD; Kelly Toth, PhD, RN
• UT Southwestern: Justin F. Rousseau, MD; Nelly Garduno-Rapp, MD
• Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center: Dae Hyun Kim, MD, MPH, ScD; Chanmi Park, MD, MPH
• University of Alabama at Birmingham: John D. Osborne, PhD; Richard Kennedy, PhD

Activities

• Attend monthly working group meetings
• Contribute to cross-site model development and validation
• Participate in site-level adaptations (as feasible)
• Participate in dissemination activities, including publications, webinars, and AFHS conferences

Point of contact: Sunyang Fu ([email protected])