Research within the Department of Health Policy and Management (HPM) is primarily focused in three areas: governance and management, long-term care, and pharmaceutical economics. In each of these areas, published research by our faculty members has had an impact on policy at the state and federal levels, and faculty have been recognized as national experts in their fields.
Research Strengths
- Medicaid policy
- Cancer care
- Substance use and mental health
- Health equity
- Maternal and reproductive health
- Health insurance markets
- Pharmaceutical policy
- Long-term care
- Aging and disability
- Mathematical modeling and simulations
- Learning health system science
Research Highlights
- Measuring and evaluating the quality of health care with a concentration in chronic care
- Evaluating the impact of health care financing changes, with concentrations in Medicare, Medicaid, and pharmaceutical policy
- Measuring and incorporating patient preferences into clinical and health policy decisions
- Conducting comparative and cost-effectiveness analysis
- Examining the impact of new technology on health care and resource outcomes, including evaluating new drugs and medications, the implementation of electronic health records, and new diagnostic tests
- Conducting legal research concerning the impact of law on disaster response and preparedness
- Studying the application of analytic methods from operations research and management science to evaluate health care problems
- Studying advancements in decision analytic methods, the value of information analysis, and simulation methodologies
Resources
- The purpose of the Health Policy Institute is to improve health care decision-making through a variety of interrelated activities such as the Governance Initiative. Through Governance Briefings, the initiative addresses the increasingly difficult challenges facing those who govern health care organizations. The briefings feature contemporary topics of interest to governing board members and executives and provide opportunities for health care leaders to share experiences in governance improvement.
- The Public Health Dynamics Laboratory is a collaborative effort of more than 40 epidemiologists, biostatisticians, behavioral scientists, policy experts, and computational scientists working to produce the next generation of analysis tools for exploring critical public health problems.
- The mission of the Pharmaceutical Economics Research Group is to optimize medication use to improve patient health and efficiency of the health care system. Research areas include designing optimal pharmaceutical policy to cover essential medications; understanding and reducing disparities in medication use, especially among understudied populations; and providing evidence in geographic variations in prescribing and medical treatment patterns.
Funding Organizations
- Federal Funding Sources
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- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
- Health Resources and Services Administration
- National Institute on Aging (NIA)
- National Cancer Institute (NCI)
- National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR)
- National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
- National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR)
- National Institute for Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)
- National Institute for Reproductive Health (NIRH)
- Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI)
- US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
- Foundation Funding Sources
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- American Cancer Society
- Arnold Ventures
- Commonwealth Fund
- Donaghue Foundation
- Jewish Healthcare Foundation
- Richard King Mellon Foundation
- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
- State and Local Funding Sources
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- Allegheny County Department of Human Services
- Pennsylvania Department of Health
- Pennsylvania Department of Human Services