Elaine Khoong, MD, MS

Associate Professor

Elaine Khoong is a general internist and clinical informaticist at San Francisco General Hospital, where she practices primary care and conducts health system-embedded research. She is interested in leveraging technology and implementation science to increase health equity. Her research focuses on improving equity in hypertension and diabetes outcomes, advancing digital health equity and inclusion, and improving communication with patients who are language discordant with their care team. Dr. Khoong's research interests are driven by her experiences as a primary care clinician caring for diverse patients within a safety-net setting.
Education
2019 - , UCSF Primary Care Research Fellowship
2019 - Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Champion Training, University of California
2017 - Internal Medicine Residency, UCSF - Primary Care Track at San Francisco General Hospital
MD, MS, 2014 - MS in Clinical Investigations, Washington University
BS, BS, 2007 - Biomedical Sciences; Healthcare Management and Policy; Business & Public Policy, University of Pennsylvania
Honors and Awards
  • Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society, 2013
  • Herbert W. Nickens Medical Student Fellowship, AAMC, 2012
Websites
Custom Faculty Group
Core
Publications

  1. Khoong EC, Wong J, Garcia F, Olazo K, Miles M, Zeng B, Lyles CR, Sarkar U. Factors impacting electronic patient-generated data use in safety-net systems: a qualitative study. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA 2025. PMID: 40434406


  2. Shih JJ, Kuznia M, Nouri S, Sherwin EB, Kemper KE, Rubinsky AD, Lyles CR, Khoong EC. Differences in Telemedicine Use for Patients With Diabetes in an Academic Versus Safety Net Health System: Retrospective Cohort Study. Journal of medical Internet research 2025. PMID: 40126552


  3. Lyles CR, Khoong EC, Stern RJ, Abtahi N, Sharma AE, Pletcher MJ, Xia F, Garcia F, Shah ND, Tieu L, Sarkar U, CHARMED consortium. Championing Hypertension Remote Monitoring for Equity and Dissemination (CHARMED): A multi-site factorial randomized controlled trial protocol. Contemporary clinical trials 2025. PMID: 40086748


  4. Goh E, Bunning B, Khoong EC, Gallo RJ, Milstein A, Centola D, Chen JH. Physician clinical decision modification and bias assessment in a randomized controlled trial of AI assistance. Communications medicine 2025. PMID: 40038550


  5. Khoong EC, Casillas A, Gutierrez G, Lyles CR, Pandita D, Richardson S, Rodriguez JA. Centering Health Equity in an Increasingly Digital Environment. Perspectives in biology and medicine 2025. PMID: 40485461


  6. Doshi B, Luna I, Quesada R, Garcia ME, Fernandez A, Khoong EC. The Impact of Language Discordance on Acquiring Broad Social History: A Qualitative Study of Patients, Clinicians, and Interpreters. Journal of general internal medicine 2024. PMID: 39672983


  7. Khoong EC, Kuznia M, Rodriguez KMT, Gosdin MM, Juarez Yoc JN, Tieu L, Li B, Perron-Burdick M, Su G, Nijagal M, Lyles CR. The Impact of Telehealth Implementation and Visit Modality on No-Show Rate in a High-Risk Obstetrics Clinic in a Safety Net Healthcare System. Telemedicine journal and e-health : the official journal of the American Telemedicine Association 2024. PMID: 39661952


  8. Juarez Yoc JN, Khoong EC, Perron-Burdick M, Li B, Su G, Lyles C, Nijagal M. Lessons Learned from Offering Video Visits as an Alternative to Phone Visits: A Case Study from a Safety-Net Obstetrics Clinics. Telemedicine journal and e-health : the official journal of the American Telemedicine Association 2024. PMID: 39453439


  9. Lipinsky DeGette R, McNamara A, Khoong EC. Hypertension Treatment: Caught Between Evidence and Reality. American journal of hypertension 2024. PMID: 38738306


  10. Hernandez AM, Khoong EC, Kanwar N, Lopez-Solano N, Rodriguez JA, De Marchis E, Nguyen OK, Casillas A. Lessons learned from a multi-site collaborative working toward a digital health use screening tool. Frontiers in public health 2024. PMID: 39040864


  11. Chu JN, Wong J, Bardach NS, Allen IE, Barr-Walker J, Sierra M, Sarkar U, Khoong EC. Association between language discordance and unplanned hospital readmissions or emergency department revisits: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ quality & safety 2023. PMID: 38160059


  12. Amy R. Sheon and Elaine C. Khoong. Pillars, Policies, And Plausible Pathways Linking Digital Inclusion And Health Equity Health Affairs Health Policy Brief 2024. PMID:


  13. Kong M, Willard-Grace R, Khoong E, Sharma A, Mukerjee M, Su G, Tuot D. Implementing team-based telemedicine workflows in safety-net primary care. The American journal of managed care 2024. PMID: 38820184


  14. Rodriguez JA, Khoong EC, Lipsitz SR, Lyles CR, Bates DW, Samal L. Telehealth Experience Among Patients With Limited English Proficiency. JAMA network open 2024. PMID: 38722633


  15. Tuot DS, Mukherjee A, Churape A, DeFries T, Su G, Khoong EC, Lyles C. Lessons From the Field From a Volunteer Telehealth Ambassador Program to Enhance Video Visits Among Low-Income Patients: Qualitative Improvement Study. JMIR formative research 2024. PMID: 38619874


  16. Malini A. Nijagal, Elaine C. Khoong, Elizabeth B. Sherwin, Erinn Lance, Erin Saleeby, Amanda P. Williams, Melanie R. Thomas. Perinatal Community Health Workers: Lessons From California Health Affairs Forefront 2024. PMID:


  17. Garcia ME, Neuhaus J, Livaudais-Toman J, Feldman MD, Ochoa-Frongia L, Khoong E, Karliner LS. Telemedicine and Depression Screening After the Start of the COVID-19 Pandemic. JAMA network open 2024. PMID: 38345822


  18. Goh E, Bunning B, Khoong E, Gallo R, Milstein A, Centola D, Chen JH. ChatGPT Influence on Medical Decision-Making, Bias, and Equity: A Randomized Study of Clinicians Evaluating Clinical Vignettes. medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences 2023. PMID: 38076944


  19. Nouri S, Lyles CR, Sherwin EB, Kuznia M, Rubinsky AD, Kemper KE, Nguyen OK, Sarkar U, Schillinger D, Khoong EC. Visit and Between-Visit Interaction Frequency Before and After COVID-19 Telehealth Implementation. JAMA network open 2023. PMID: 37713198


  20. Khoong EC, Sherwin EB, Harrison JD, Wheeler M, Shah SJ, Mourad M, Khanna R. Impact of standardized, language-concordant hospital discharge instructions on postdischarge medication questions. Journal of hospital medicine 2023. PMID: 37490045


  21. Centola D, Becker J, Zhang J, Aysola J, Guilbeault D, Khoong E. Experimental evidence for structured information-sharing networks reducing medical errors. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2023. PMID: 37487106


  22. Chen A, Ayub MH, Mishuris RG, Rodriguez JA, Gwynn K, Lo MC, Noronha C, Henry TL, Jones D, Lee WW, Varma M, Cuevas E, Onumah C, Gupta R, Goodson J, Lu AD, Syed Q, Suen LW, Heiman E, Salhi BA, Khoong EC, Schmidt S. Telehealth Policy, Practice, and Education: a Position Statement of the Society of General Internal Medicine. Journal of general internal medicine 2023. PMID: 37095331


  23. Lee W, Khoong EC, Zeng B, Rios-Fetchko F, Ma Y, Liu K, Fernandez A. Evaluation of Commercially Available Machine Interpretation Applications for Simple Clinical Communication. Journal of general internal medicine 2023. PMID: 36781579


  24. Fontil V, Khoong EC, Green BB, Ralston JD, Zhou C, Garcia F, McCulloch CE, Sarkar U, Lyles CR. Randomized trial protocol for remote monitoring for equity in advancing the control of hypertension in safety net systems (REACH-SNS) study. Contemporary clinical trials 2023. PMID: 36738916


  25. Lyles CR, Nguyen OK, Khoong EC, Aguilera A, Sarkar U. Multilevel Determinants of Digital Health Equity: A Literature Synthesis to Advance the Field. Annual review of public health 2022. PMID: 36525960


  26. Zeng B, Rivadeneira NA, Wen A, Sarkar U, Khoong EC. The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Internet Use and Use of Digital Health Tools: A Secondary Analysis of the 2020 Health Information National Trends Survey. Journal of medical Internet research 2022. PMID: 36041005


  27. Khoong EC, Commodore-Mensah Y, Lyles CR, Fontil V. Use of Self-Measured Blood Pressure Monitoring to Improve Hypertension Equity. Current hypertension reports 2022. PMID: 36001268


  28. Yin L, Ng F, Rutherford-Rojas M, Williams M, Cornes S, Fernandez A, Garcia ME, Khoong EC. Assessing Medical Student Readiness to Navigate Language Barriers in Telehealth: Cross-sectional Survey Study. JMIR medical education 2022. PMID: 35969421


  29. Blake Gregory, Ariel Franks, Lilibeth Morales, Henry Rafferty, Elaine Khoong, Robin George, Carol Taniguchi, Anna Robert. System Interventions to Reduce Disparities in Covid-19 Vaccine Offer Rates. NEJM Catalyst 2022. PMID:


  30. Khoong EC, Rivadeneira NA, Pacca L, Schillinger D, Lown D, Babaria P, Gupta N, Pramanik R, Tran H, Whitezell T, Somsouk M, Sarkar U. Extent of Follow-Up on Abnormal Cancer Screening in Multiple California Public Hospital Systems: A Retrospective Review. 2015 Year Book of Pediatrics. Ed. Cabana MD. (Elsevier; Philadelphia, PA) 2022. PMID: 35641722


  31. Gupta K, Szymonifka J, Rivadeneira NA, Khoong EC, Adler-Milstein J, Ross J, Sarkar U. Factors Associated with Malpractice Claim Payout: An Analysis of Closed Emergency Department Claims. Joint Commission journal on quality and patient safety 2022. PMID: 35764489


  32. Fontil V, Khoong EC, Lyles C, Rivadeneira NA, Olazo K, Hoskote M, Sarkar U. Diagnostic Trajectories in Primary Care at 12 Months: An Observational Cohort Study. 2015 Year Book of Pediatrics. Ed. Cabana MD. (Elsevier; Philadelphia, PA) 2022. PMID: 35649741


  33. Khoong EC. Policy Considerations To Ensure Telemedicine Equity. 2015 Year Book of Pediatrics. Ed. Cabana MD. (Elsevier; Philadelphia, PA) 2022. PMID: 35500190


  34. Sharma AE, Khoong EC, Sierra M, Rivadeneira NA, Nijagal MA, Su G, Lyles CR, Defries T, Tuot D, Sarkar U. System-level factors associated with telephone and video visit use: Survey of safety-net clinicians during the early phase of COVID-19. 2015 Year Book of Pediatrics. Ed. Cabana MD. (Elsevier; Philadelphia, PA) 2022. PMID: 35148271


  35. Nguyen MT, Garcia F, Juarez J, Zeng B, Khoong EC, Nijagal MA, Sarkar U, Su G, Lyles CR. Satisfaction can co-exist with hesitation: qualitative analysis of acceptability of telemedicine among multi-lingual patients in a safety-net healthcare system during the COVID-19 pandemic. 2015 Year Book of Pediatrics. Ed. Cabana MD. (Elsevier; Philadelphia, PA) 2022. PMID: 35164746


  36. Khoong EC, Rodriguez JA. A Research Agenda for Using Machine Translation in Clinical Medicine. 2015 Year Book of Pediatrics. Ed. Cabana MD. (Elsevier; Philadelphia, PA) 2022. PMID: 35132559


  37. Fontil V, Pacca L, Bellows BK, Khoong E, McCulloch CE, Pletcher M, Bibbins-Domingo K. Association of Differences in Treatment Intensification, Missed Visits, and Scheduled Follow-up Interval With Racial or Ethnic Disparities in Blood Pressure Control. 2015 Year Book of Pediatrics. Ed. Cabana MD. (Elsevier; Philadelphia, PA) 2021. PMID: 34878499


  38. Khoong EC, Sharma AE, Gupta K, Adler-Milstein J, Sarkar U. The Abrupt Expansion of Ambulatory Telemedicine: Implications for Patient Safety. 2015 Year Book of Pediatrics. Ed. Cabana MD. (Elsevier; Philadelphia, PA) 2022. PMID: 35048294


  39. Sharma AE, Khoong EC, Rivadeneira N, Sierra M, Fang MC, Gupta N, Pramanik R, Tran H, Whitezell T, Fontil V, Lee SY, Sarkar U. Warfarin Monitoring in Safety-Net Health Systems: Analysis by Race/Ethnicity and Language Preference. 2015 Year Book of Pediatrics. Ed. Cabana MD. (Elsevier; Philadelphia, PA) 2022. PMID: 34993871


  40. Centola D, Guilbeault D, Sarkar U, Khoong E, Zhang J. The reduction of race and gender bias in clinical treatment recommendations using clinician peer networks in an experimental setting. 2015 Year Book of Pediatrics. Ed. Cabana MD. (Elsevier; Philadelphia, PA) 2021. PMID: 34782636


  41. Reed G, Ahmad SR, Khoong EC, Olazo K, Jagsi R, Mangurian C, Sarkar U. Evaluation of Sexual Harassment Policies at Medical Institutions to Understand Attention to Harassment of Physicians by Patients. 2015 Year Book of Pediatrics. Ed. Cabana MD. (Elsevier; Philadelphia, PA) 2021. PMID: 34787660


  42. Chu JN, Sarkar U, Rivadeneira NA, Hiatt RA, Khoong EC. Impact of language preference and health literacy on health information-seeking experiences among a low-income, multilingual cohort. Patient education and counseling 2021. PMID: 34474924


  43. Khoong EC, Nouri SS, Tuot DS, Nundy S, Fontil V, Sarkar U. Comparison of Diagnostic Recommendations from Individual Physicians versus the Collective Intelligence of Multiple Physicians in Ambulatory Cases Referred for Specialist Consultation. Medical decision making : an international journal of the Society for Medical Decision Making 2021. PMID: 34378444


  44. Khoong EC, Olazo K, Rivadeneira NA, Thatipelli S, Barr-Walker J, Fontil V, Lyles CR, Sarkar U. Mobile health strategies for blood pressure self-management in urban populations with digital barriers: systematic review and meta-analyses. NPJ digital medicine 2021. PMID: 34294852


  45. Hemmat S, Khoong EC, Olazo K, Sharma AE, Mangurian C, Fernandez A, Sarkar U. Using incident reporting to understand and characterize sexual harassment of physicians by patients. Journal of general internal medicine 2021. PMID: 34254222


  46. Khoong EC, Fernandez A. Addressing Gaps in Interpreter Use: Time for Implementation Science Informed Multi-Level Interventions. Journal of general internal medicine 2021. PMID: 33948799


  47. Sharma AE, Khoong EC, Nijagal MA, Lyles CR, Su G, DeFries T, Sarkar U, Tuot D. Clinician experience with telemedicine at a safety-net hospital network during COVID-19: a cross-sectional survey. Journal of health care for the poor and underserved 2021. PMID: 37020792


  48. Rachel J. Stern, Henry F. Rafferty, Anna C. Robert, Carol Taniguchi, Blake Gregory, Elaine C. Khoong, Margaret A. Handley, Lukejohn W. Day, & Ellen Chen. Concentrating Vaccines in Neighborhoods with High Covid-19 Burden NEJM Catalyst: Innovations in Care Delivery. 2021. PMID:


  49. Khoong EC, Fontil V, Rivadeneira NA, Hoskote M, Nundy S, Lyles CR, Sarkar U. Impact of digitally acquired peer diagnostic input on diagnostic confidence in outpatient cases: A pragmatic randomized trial. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA 2020. PMID: 33260212


  50. Khoong EC, Butler BA, Mesina O, Su G, DeFries TB, Nijagal M, Lyles CR. Patient interest in and barriers to telemedicine video visits in a multilingual urban safety-net system. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA 2020. PMID: 33164063


  51. Anjana E. Sharma, Elaine C. Khoong, Malini A. Nijagal, Courtney R. Lyles, George Su, Triveni DeFries, Urmimala Sarkar, Delphine Tuot. Clinician Experience with Telemedicine at a Safety-net Hospital Network during COVID-19: A Cross-sectional Survey. Journal of health care for the poor and underserved 2021. PMID:


  52. Valy Fontil, Lucia Pacca, Brandon Bellows, Elaine Khoong, Charles McCulloch, Mark Pletcher, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo. Abstract 17207: Impact of Racial Differences in Treatment Intensification and Missed Visits on Disparities in BP Control. Circulation 2020. PMID:


  53. Khoong EC, Schillinger D. A Direction for the Next Decade of NIH-Funded Health Literacy Research. Health literacy research and practice 2020. PMID: 33170286


  54. Nouri S, Khoong EC, Lyles CR, Karliner L. Addressing Equity in Telemedicine for Chronic Disease Management During the Covid-19 Pandemic NEJM Catalyst: Innovations in Care Delivery 2020. PMID:


  55. Khoong EC, Rivadeneira NA, Hiatt RA, Sarkar U. The Use of Technology for Communicating With Clinicians or Seeking Health Information in a Multilingual Urban Cohort: Cross-Sectional Survey. Journal of medical Internet research 2020. PMID: 32250280


  56. Khoong EC, Fernandez A. Language, culture and preventable readmissions: pragmatic, intervention studies needed. BMJ quality & safety 2019. PMID: 31401549


  58. Hemmat S, Khoong EC, Sharma AE, Sarkar U. Sharing Stories, Searching for Solutions: Sexual Harassment of Physicians by Patients. The American journal of medicine 2019. PMID: 31300215


  59. Khoong EC, Fernandez A. Unsound Evaluations of Medical Machine Translation Risk Patient Health and Confidentiality-Reply. Volume 179 of Issue 7. JAMA internal medicine 2019. PMID: 31260024


  61. Khoong EC, Le GM, Hoskote M, Rivadeneira NA, Hiatt RA, Sarkar U. Health Information-seeking Behaviors and Preferences of a Diverse, Multilingual Urban Cohort. Medical care 2019. PMID: 31095058


  62. Khoong EC, Cherian R, Matta GY, Lyles CR, Schillinger D, Ratanawongsa N. Perspectives of English, Chinese, and Spanish-Speaking Safety-Net Patients on Clinician Computer Use: Qualitative Analysis. Journal of medical Internet research 2019. PMID: 31120020


  63. Khoong EC, Steinbrook E, Brown C, Fernandez A. Assessing the Use of Google Translate for Spanish and Chinese Translations of Emergency Department Discharge Instructions. JAMA internal medicine 2019. PMID: 30801626


  64. Cherian R, Sarkar U, Khoong EC, Ackerman S, Gourley G, Schillinger D. Standardization in Diverse Populations: Implementation of Evidence-Based Practices in a Safety-Net Setting. Health literacy research and practice 2019. PMID: 31294306


  65. Khoong EC, Cherian R, Rivadeneira NA, Gourley G, Yazdany J, Amarnath A, Schillinger D, Sarkar U. Accurate Measurement In California's Safety-Net Health Systems Has Gaps And Barriers. Health affairs (Project Hope) 2018. PMID: 30395496


  66. Cherian R, Sarkar U, Khoong EC, Ackerman S, Gourley G, Schillinger D. Efficiency, Efficacy, and Power in the Implementation of a Medication Adherence Aid. Health literacy research and practice 2018. PMID: 31294287


  67. Khoong EC, Cherian R, Smith DE, Schillinger D, Wolf MS, Sarkar U. Implementation of patient-centered prescription labeling in a safety-net ambulatory care network. American journal of health-system pharmacy : AJHP : official journal of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists 2018. PMID: 29950392


  68. Matta GY, Khoong EC, Lyles CR, Schillinger D, Ratanawongsa N. Finding Meaning in Medication Reconciliation Using Electronic Health Records: Qualitative Analysis in Safety Net Primary and Specialty Care. JMIR medical informatics 2018. PMID: 29735477


  69. Khoong EC, Linker AS. An Appeal for Evidence-Based Resident Duty Hours Reform. Volume 177 of Issue 11. JAMA internal medicine 2017. PMID: 28975222


  70. Mandl KD, Khoong E. Pagers and Beyond in an Era of Microcommunications-What Is Old Is New Again. Volume 177 of Issue 8. JAMA internal medicine 2017. PMID: 28628698


  71. Khoong EC, Ross JS. The Need to Test Strategies Based on Common Sense. Volume 177 of Issue 7. JAMA internal medicine 2017. PMID: 28600912


  73. Khoong EC, Gibbert WS, Garbutt JM, Sumner W, Brownson RC. Rural, suburban, and urban differences in factors that impact physician adherence to clinical preventive service guidelines. Volume 30 of Issue 1. 2013. PMID: 24383480


  74. Tabak RG, Khoong EC, Chambers DA, Brownson RC. Bridging research and practice: models for dissemination and implementation research. Volume 43 of Issue 3. 2012. PMID: 22898128