Presentations and Testimony

At the 2012 AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting in Orlando Florida, HCFO-funded research was presented on two peer-reviewed panels. Slides from all panels are available for download from the AcademyHealth website [2].

Innovations in Care Delivery
Chair: Sharon Long, Urban Institute

On June 18th, HCFO grantee Ateev Mehrotra, M.D., RAND Corporation, presented at the Alliance for Health Reform Briefing: The Right Care at the Right Time: Are Retail Clinics Meeting a Need? [4] Dr. Mehrotra [5] is the principal investigator on a HCFO grant examining the impact of retail health clinics on health care utilization and costs. 

HCFO grantee Yu-Chu Shen, Ph.D., was interviewed on MSNBC on Friday, May 20, about her HCFO grant "Effect of Decreased Emergency Department Access on Patient Outcomes." [7] 

On September 7, HCFO grantee J. William Thomas, Ph.D., visiting professor, Cutler Institute for Health Policy and Social Policy, University of Southern Maine, presented at the Health Affairs briefing: Medical Liability/Patient Safety and Emergency Department Use. Dr. Thomas has completed a number of HCFO grants [12], two of which focus on the costs of defensive medicine in the United States. 

Stephen Zuckerman, Ph.D., senior fellow at the Urban Institute, spoke at the May 21, 2010, National Health Policy Forum session “Geographic Variation in Health Care Spending: What Do We Know, and Why Does It Matter?” [18] Dr. Zuckerman completed HCFO-sponsored research—led by Jack Hadley, Ph.D., professor at George Mason University—that examined factors contributing to geographic variations in Medicare spending and whether increased spending results in improved outcomes at the individual level.

HCFO grantees Jessie Gruman, Ph.D., founder and president of the Center for Advancing Health, and Judith H. Hibbard, Dr.P.H., professor at the University of Oregon, spoke at the May 20, 2010, Center for Advancing Health briefing “What Actions Do Americans Currently Take to Find and Make Good Use of Their Health Care?” [22] Dr.

John Kralewski, Ph.D., professor of Health Policy and Management at the University of Minnesota, presented some preliminary findings from his HCFO best practices research project at the March 9th International Medical Practice Improvement Summit sponsored by the Institute For Healthcare Improvement. He presented findings related to the influence of medical group practice organizational characteristics on patient safety and the quality of care.

Michael Chernew, Ph.D., professor at Harvard Medical School, presented findings from his HCFO grant at the February 8 AcademyHealth National Health Policy Conference session, “Understanding Geographic Variation.” [27] Chernew completed HCFO-sponsored research that examined the factors related to variation in cost growth in the Medicare and commercial sectors.