Washington, DC — January 9, 2018 — NIHCM Foundation has awarded seven grants to support high quality, investigator-initiated research. These grants are a core part of NIHCM’s efforts to transform health care through evidence and collaboration. The grant-winning studies were selected for their potential to improve the health care system and their strong research design.
- Policy Approaches to Insure High Risks
This study will simulate how three potential strategies for stabilizing the ACA health insurance markets—high-risk pools, reinsurance and invisible high-risk pools—would likely affect plan premiums, patient out-of-pocket costs, government spending and insurer liabilities. Results may inform federal and state policy choices.
| Researchers: | Maria Polyakova, Stanford University |
| M. Kate Bundorf, Stanford University |
- Measuring Systemic Overuse in the Privately Insured
This project will develop a composite index of systemic overuse for the privately-insured working aged population and use it to assess patterns of overuse and evaluate how Maryland’s global-budget program has affected systemic overuse. This index will be a useful tool for future research on interventions to reduce low-value care.
| Researchers: | Jodi Segal, Johns Hopkins University |
| John F.P. Bridges, Johns Hopkins University |
| Allison Oakes, Johns Hopkins University |
- The Effects of Physician-Hospital Integration on Health Care Spending and Use
This study will investigate whether there are differences in cost and utilization of care for Medicare patients treated in physician practices that are owned by hospitals versus those that are not owned by hospitals. Findings will build the evidence base on the effects of vertical integration in health care.
| Researchers: | Anne Royalty, Indiana University |
| Laurence Baker, Stanford University |
- The Effects of Expanded Access to LARCs on Women’s Outcomes
This study will assess the impact of two large programs that dramatically expanded access to long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs). Looking at both teens and non-teens, the study will examine the effects of access to LARCs on birth rates and reproductive health as well as educational attainment and labor force participation. Findings may strengthen the evidence on the impact of access to contraceptives.
| Researchers: | Jason Lindo, Texas A&M University |
| Analisa Packham, Miami University |
- The Impact of Reference Pricing on Hospital-Insurer Bargaining
Building on prior evidence that patients respond to reference pricing by seeking care from lower-priced providers, this study will investigate whether these shifts in demand for providers affect the process and outcomes of price negotiations between hospitals and insurers. Findings may inform future benefit design innovations.
| Researchers: | Christopher Whaley, RAND Corporation |
| Timothy Brown, University of California at Berkeley |
- Addressing Modifiable Healthcare Spending Through Dynamic Modeling Approaches
This study seeks to use routinely-collected claims data to improve the capacity to predict high spending and intervene to prevent it by pinpointing specific services, events and other potentially-modifiable factors that precede significant spending increases. This work is expected to produce new tools to improve cost-containment efforts.
| Researchers: | Julie Lauffenburger, Brigham & Women’s Hospital |
| Niteesh Choudhry, Harvard Medical School |
- Leveraged Buyouts of Hospitals: Impacts on Quality and Costs
This study will investigate the effects of leveraged buyouts of hospitals on quality and costs, patient selection and billing practices at the hospitals affected by the buyout, as well as any spillover effects at other hospitals in the same service areas. Findings may inform policies related to leveraged buyouts.
| Researchers: | Sean Huang, Georgetown University |
| Ian McCarthy, Emory University |
