Dr. Ford’s research focuses on organizational dissemination, implementation, and sustainability research via mixed methods to expand the use and adoption of evidence-based practices and to improve patient outcomes and quality of care. The goals of his research program are to:

• Advance the use of dissemination, implementation, and sustainability research in behavioral health, long-term care, and community pharmacies
• Develop interventions and implementation strategies that promote the sustained use of evidence-based practice and
• Understand organizational attributes associated with the implementation and sustainability of organizational change.

Dr. Ford was also part of a team of UW researchers who established the Network for the Improvement of Addiction Treatment (www.niatx.net) which taught substance abuse providers to apply quality improvement to improve access to and retention in treatment.  

Dr. Ford is an Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin - School of Pharmacy where he serves as the co-director of the Wisconsin Opioid Overdose Response Center. He has training as a health systems engineer and his research expertise is in the field of Dissemination and Implementation science. Over the past twenty-two years, the research conducted in his lab applies D&I science to address critical process issues in behavioral health, long-term care and community pharmacies related to access to services. Dr. Ford’s research focuses on conducting organizational dissemination, implementation, and sustainability research using mixed methods to expand the use and adoption of evidence-based practices to improve patient outcomes and quality of care. His approach to implementation science involves re-imagining healthcare through reengineering and implementation science by integrating health systems engineering principles, quality improvement techniques and practical experiences to develop organizational-centric research that promotes strong stakeholder and participant engagement.

Professional Interest: Dissemination, implementation and sustainability of organizational change in behavioral health organizations, assisted living and nursing homes. 

Education:

BS 1983 Health Systems Engineering – Georgia Institute of Technology

MS 1989 – Industrial Engineering with an Engineering Management Focus – University of Tennessee-Knoxville

PhD 2004 – Industrial Engineering – University of Wisconsin

Managing Pharmacy Systems for Patient Care (S&A PHM 514): The goal of this course is to prepare students to successfully develop, evaluate, improve, and sustain pharmacy services in order to advance the profession and improve patient outcomes. Although not all pharmacists will be owners or managers during their careers, every pharmacist will manage people and processes and be responsible for supporting the sustainability of their practice site. The course utilizes an integrated case-based approach to help students apply the operational and financial aspects of pharmacy practice in a retail, community and hospital pharmacy settings. Dr. Ford coordinates the operational course content. This aspect of the course covers such topics as retail and hospital pharmacy operations, service evaluation and planning, quality improvement, the role of systems and technology, patient satisfaction and advertising.

Dissemination, Implementation and Sustainment of Change in Health Services Research (S&A PHM 704): The goal of this graduate level course is to prepare our MS/PhD students in the area of Dissemination and Implementation (D I) and Sustainability health services research. Using his experience as a D I researcher, Dr. Ford structured the course to provide graduate-level students with a base understanding of D I as well as sustainability concepts and principals. Course topics include but are not limited to (a) learning about different D I frameworks, implementation strategies and study designs associated with D I research; (b) understanding of sustainability frameworks and attributes supporting sustainability of organizational change; (c) identifying D I frameworks and implementation strategies for use when conducting D I research; (d) selecting appropriate study designs and outcomes to address a specific implementation or organizational change effort and (e) applying the concepts to the development of D I grant proposals. In summary, this new course is designed to increase awareness, understanding, and knowledge about the importance of how to conduct dissemination, implementation and sustainability health services research.

Selected Books and Refereed Book Chapters

•  Ford, J. H., Hoffman, K., Johnson, K., Ponce-Terashima, J. (2024). Quality improvement for addiction treatment. In S. C. Miller, R.A. Rosenthal, S. Levy, A.J. Saxon, J.M. Tetrault, S. E. Wakeman (Eds.), The ASAM principles of addiction medicine. (7th, pp 768-779). Wolters Kluwer.
• Ford, J. H., Gilson, A., Mott, D. A. (2019). Systematic analysis of the service process and the legislative and regulatory environment for a pharmacist-provided naltrexone injection service in Wisconsin. In J.C. Schommer, A.W. Olson (Eds.), Pharmacist services. (pp 243-261). MDPI. https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmacy7020059
• Ford, J. H., Hoffman, K., Johnson, K., Ponce-Terashima, J. (2019). Quality improvement for addiction treatment. In R. K. Ries, D. A. Fiellin, S. C. Miller, R. Saitz (Eds.), The ASAM principles of addiction medicine. (6th, pp 480-492). Wolters Kluwer.
• Ford, J. H.*, Hoffman, K., Johnson, K., Ponce-Terashima, J. (2019). Quality improvement for addiction treatment. In A.J. Herron T.K. Brennan (Eds.), The ASAM essentials of addiction medicine. (3rd, pp 196-201). Wolters Kluwer. 
• Ford, J. H., Johnson, K., Hoffman, K. (2015). Quality improvement for addiction treatment. In A.J. Herron T.K. Brennan (Eds), The ASAM essentials of addiction medicine. (2nd, pp 194-198). Wolters Kluwer.
• Ford, J. H., Johnson, K., Hoffman, K. (2014). Quality improvement for addiction treatment. In R. K. Ries, D. A. Fiellin, S. C. Miller, R. Saitz (Eds.), The ASAM principles of addiction medicine. (5th, pp 31). Wolters Kluwer.
• Ford, J. H. (2000). A blueprint for success: The design and benefits of community health databases. In P. Davidson (Ed.), Healthcare information systems. (1st ed., pp 319-335). Auerbach Publications.
• Ford II JH, Gilson A, Mott D. Systematic Analysis of the Service Process and the Legislative and Regulatory Environment for a 

For a complete list of publications, please visit my NCBI webpage.