Center Mission

The mission of the Center for Health Care Research and Policy is to:  (1) improve the health of the public by conducting research that examines access to health care, increases the quality of health care services, and informs health policy and practice; and (2) lead educational programs that promote these goals.

Center News
Recent Publications, 2009 Progress Report , 2009 Progress Report Summary

Votruba with Trivisonno "In the Air" On March 26, Center health economist Mark Votruba represented MetroHealth Medical Center in a panel discussion of health care reform legislation on The Mike Trivisonno Show (WTAM 1100). You can listen to the entirety of the show here. Professor Votruba appears in hours 2-4. Joining Professor Votruba on the panel was insurance consultant Rick Kelly and Jason Koma of the Ohio State Medical Association.(posted 4/2010)

Perspectives on Health Care Policy Presented at Chicago Federal Reserve Bank On March 22-23, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago sponsored a conference titled “New Perspectives on Health and Health Care Policy” The conference brought leading researchers in health care policy together to discuss new perspectives on important policy topics. Conferences attendees included renowned health economists David Cutler (Harvard) and Mark Pauly (Pennsylvania) and Nobel Laureate James Heckman (Chicago). Among those presenting was Center health economist Mark Votruba, who discussed recent work titled “Unhealthy Insurance Markets: Search Frictions and the Cost and Quality of Health Insurance,” jointly completed with Randall Cebul, Center Senior Scholar James Rebitzer (Boston University), and Lowell Taylor (Carnegie Mellon). (posted 4/2010)

SIXTH CONSECUTIVE YEAR -Center Faculty Among Top Docs of 2010 In the March, 2010 Cleveland Magazine Center faculty, Alfred F. Connors, Jr., MD (Critical Care), Neal V. Dawson, MD (Internal Medicine), Patrick K. Murray, MD (Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation) and Irene Katzan MD (Neurology) were named among Northeast Ohio`s Top Doc`s. Congratulations to all! (posted 3/2010)

To Induce or Not to Induce? With increasing numbers of expectant mothers choosing their delivery dates based on the convenience for family and the physician, Center Senior Scholar Jennfier Bailit, MD, MPH worked with the NIH to explore whether the type of delivery can impact motherand baby: in particular, whether elective inductions – performed for nomedical reason – provided an increased risk to mother or baby. The risks are increased for mom, according to Dr. Bailit, who is a high-risk obstetrician at MetroHealth. The study in the March issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology revealed that the chances of women needing a hysterectomy after giving birth were three times higher for women undergoing elective induction than for those who went into labor spontaneously. The research also reinforced the data from recent smaller studies that neonatal outcomes are best at 39 weeks or later. “Given the advantages of an elective delivery are primarily social or logistical – whether Grandma can come in from out of town or when your OB is available and not on vacation – this study presents some hard data that an elective delivery has risks,” says Bailit. “At thevery least, women should be well-informed about the risks and benefits of the procedure.”

Thomas Love elected Chair of the Health Policy Statistics Section of the American Statistical Association for 2010 & Co-Chair of the 2011 ICHPS Meeting Thomas E. Love, Ph. D. led two workshops (one on propensity methods, and the other on cluster randomized trials, with Center colleague Neal Dawson) at the recently completed 8th International Conference on Health Policy Statistics in Washington, D.C. Dr. Love also presided over the meeting`s plenary and awards session as Chair of the Health Policy Statistics Section of the American Statistical Association. He will serve as Co-Chair of the 9th ICHPS meetings, which will be held in Fall 2011 here in Cleveland.(posted 2/2010)

2009 Scholarship in Teaching Award Thomas E. Love, Ph. D. was selected for a 2009 Scholarship in Teaching Award by CWRU`s School of Medicine, for his work in developing and leading the instruction of Statistical Thinking for Clinical Research, a semester course for post-doctoral physician-scientists in biostatistics as part of the Clinical Research Scholars Program. Dr. Love was also honored with this award in 2005, and with its predecessor, the Best Educational Contribution Award, in 2004.(posted 2/2010)

The Real Economics of the Health Insurance Market Would the creation of a health insurance exchange benefit consumers? Recent research from Center investigators suggests that it would - by addressing an under-appreciated source of inefficiency in health insurance markets: the existence of “search frictions.” In economics jargon, “search frictions” refer to the difficulties consumers face when purchasing complicated goods. In the market for health insurance, where plans vary along numerous dimensions, consumers find it hard to meaningfully compare all their options. As a result, high-priced plans can remain profitable even when similar lower-priced plans are available. In search forthcoming in the American Economic Review, Drs. James Rebitzer, Lowell Taylor (Carnegie Mellon), Mark Votruba, and Randall Cebul estimate that the presence of search frictions enable insurers to set average premiums for employer-based insurance about 30% above competitive levels. This results in excessive administrative and marketing costs for the insurers and also undermines insurers’ incentive to efficiently finance care that could reduce future costs. By making comparison shopping easier, like Progressive insurance does in the car insurance market, a health insurance exchange would increase price competition among insurers. An earlier version of this work was published as a National Bureau of Economics Research working paper #14455.(posted 2/2010)

Better Health Greater Cleveland Partnership Highlighted in Medicus Better Health Greater Cleveland’s partnership highlighted in Medicus. Distributed widely to School of Medicine faculty, staff and alumni, the Winter 2010 issue of Medicus featured a story on the Better Health alliance to improve outcomes among the region’s residents with chronic medical conditions. Future research opportunities using this electronic medical records-driven data warehouse also were highlighted.(posted 2/2010)

New Faculty Position in Health Informatics (posted 2/11/2010) The Center for Health Care Research and Policy ofCase Western Reserve University (CWRU) at MetroHealth Medical Center (MHMC),seeks faculty with interest, experience and scholarship in Clinical Research Informatics. View the complete position description here.

Health Care Delivery: Repairing a Broken System “Health Care Delivery: Repairing a Broken System” was the theme of the Health Policy Board’s Symposium at the 2009 annual meeting of the American Society of Nephrology in San Diego. Co-chaired by CWRU Professor of Medicine and Physiology and MetroHealth’s Vice President for Research John R. Sedor, M.D., symposium participants included Center director Randall D. Cebul, who presented “Care Fragmentation: Some Causes, Consequences, and Approaches to Remedy The Problem”. Other speakers included Alain C. Enthoven, PhD, Professor of Public and Private Management at Stanford University and Adeera Levin, M.D., Professor of Medicine at the University of British Columbia and Executive Director of the BC Provincial Renal Agency. (posted 11/2009)

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