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New Study Shows Prepared Safety Net Improves Care, Saves Money In Medicaid Expansion Population
A new study published July 7 in Health Affairs found that poor, uninsured patients who enrolled in a Medicaid-like insurance plan had better care and health outcomes than those who remained uninsured -- all achieved with total costs of enrollees` care that were 28.7 percent below the spending cap allowed by the federal government. The study examined the impact of MetroHealth Care Plus, which extended Medicaid coverage to 28,295 Cuyahoga County residents before the expansion of Medicaid took place in Ohio. �The results challenge recent reports and contribute to the ongoing debates on the value of expanding health care coverage to more poor Americans,� said . (posted 5/2011)

How big a problem is the federal debt? A Center faculty member weighs in.
On April 14, , a student in Case Western Reserve University`s MD/PhD in Health Policy Program, has been awarded a $12,000 Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant from the National Science Foundation. Her study, which is being carried out in collaboration with the Center for Health Research and Policy, focuses on geographic access to health care for a poor, diabetic population served by the MetroHealth System. The results will clarify the interpretation of studies that use distance as a measure of geographic access, and may additionally guide the selection of geographic measures in future studies carried out in an urban context. CHRP faculty member, Dr. Douglas Einstadter, is serving as a voting member of her dissertation committee. (posted 2/2007)

Henry Glick, PhD Presents Two Seminars on Economic Analysis of Research Trials, January 5th
Henry Glick, Ph.D. presented two special seminars concerning "The Economics of Obesity" and "The Economic Analyses in Clinical Trials"at MetroHealth Medical Center, Rammelkamp Research & Education Building. Professor Glick received his M.A. and Ph.D. in Public Policy Analysis from the University of Pennsylvania. He has more than 20 years of experience in conducting economic assessments of medical therapies. He specializes in economic assessments conducted as part of clinical trials. Henry is currently the chair of the Economics Committee for "Studies to Treat or Prevent Pediatric Type 2 Diabetes (STOPP-T2D) Prevention Study" and co-chair of the Economics Committee for the "Action for Health in Diabetes (LookAHEAD) Study", two large, randomized trials sponsored by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease. (posted 12/2006)

Bridges to Excellence National Coordinator Delivers 2006 Lecture on Health Care Economics and Policy
Francois de Brantes, BTE National Coordinator, spoke on: "Improving the Value of Health Care: Lessons Learned from Bridges to Excellence� at Cleveland`s Union Club on Friday November 10th. (posted 11/2006)

Rhoderick Machekano Guest Speaker at November ASA Meeting
Center faculty member, Rhoderick Machekano, Ph.D., MPH, spoke at the November 1, 2006 American Statistical Association meeting (held at MetroHealth). The topic of his talk was �Efficacy Studies of Malaria treatments in Africa: Efficient Estimation with Missing Indicators of Failure.� (posted 11/2006)

Dr. Katzan Honored for Work in Stroke Research
Irene Katzan, MD, MS, faculty member in the Center for Health Care Research and Policy and Director of the Northeastern Ohio Stroke Outcomes Research Program (SORP), was honored with the 2006 Pacesetter Award for Excellence in Stroke Research and Treatment at the American Heart Association�s annual Gala event in Cleveland on Saturday June 3rd. Others honored with this award were Anthony Furlan MD (Cleveland Clinic), Joseph Hanna MD (MetroHealth Medical Center), and Dennis Landis MD (University Hospitals of Cleveland), all of whom are members of SORP. The award recognizes physicians who have worked to advance the care of stroke patients regionally and nationally. (posted 6/2006)

Time of Day Caesarean Sections Performed does not Impact Complications
Concerns that sleep deprivation increases medical errors has led to increased scrutiny of the quality of medical care during night shifts. In a poster presented at the Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine in early February, Jennifer Bailit, MD, MPH from the Center for Health Care Research and Policy presented data from a study that compared complications from Caesarean sections by time of day. Data from over 18,000 Caesarean Sections at 13 medical Centers between 1999 to 2000 was reviewed. Caesarean births that occurred on the night shift did not have higher rates of complications from mother or newborn compared to births that occurred during the day. Data was adjusted for age, race, insurance status, medical conditions in the mother and the presence of preeclampsia. (posted 5/2006)

The Western Reserve Geriatric Education Center (WRGEC) received full funding for the next 5 year grant cycle, which will carry the WRGEC activities through to 2010.
The funding allows the WRGEC to pursue three themes of interest as determined by a needs assessment distributed last fall to past program participants. The three theme areas include geriatric palliative and end-of-life care, geriatric mental health care, and reducing disparities in geriatric care. Included within these themes are activities that will expand curriculum on cancer and aging, determination on capacity in mental health care, and a faculty development program on palliative care. An addition was also made to the consortium which consists of Case Western Reserve University (headquarters), Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine, Miami University, and now Medical University of Ohio (formerly Medical College of Ohio). Congratulations to Dr. Julia Rose and her staff at the WRGEC!

Institutional Partnerships in Diabetes Research Featured in June 2005 Case Medlines
[See pages 4-5 here.]

David Cutler, Professor of Economics at Harvard`s Department of Economics and the Kennedy School of Government, delivered the Center`s Inaugural Lectureship in Health Economics and Policy on Friday, April 15th, at the Cleveland Union Club
The talk, entitled: "Prescriptions for Better Health Care: What Greater Cleveland Can Learn From Other Regions", was attended by over 75 representatives of business, provider organizations, government, and academia. Copies of slides are available from his Friday lecture as well as Thursday`s McMyler Lecture: "Your Money or Your Life: Strong Medicine for America`s Health Care System".

NIH "Roadmap" Grant Awarded to Re-Engineer Training in Clinical Research
Researchers at Case, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, and MetroHealth`s Center for Health Care Research and Policy partnered to assemble a winning Multi-disciplinary Clinical Research Training Grant under the NIH Director`s new "Roadmap" initiative - one of seven awarded nationally in stiff competition. The $13.4 million project will emphasize the mutual benefits of scientists across the disciplinary spectrum working together to study and improve the public`s health. Project PI Richard Rudick, CCF`s Chairman of Clinical Research, will co-lead the training program with Center Director Randall D. Cebul, MD and Pedro Delgado, MD, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at University Hospitals. The program`s curriculum builds on the successful NIH-supported Clinical Research Scholars Program and will include important new seminars and courses to be developed in collaboration with key faculty throughout the medical school, Weatherhead School of Management, and the Bolton School of Nursing.

Center Faculty Receive Awards for Teaching Excellence
Congratulations both to Tom Love and Doug Einstadter whose teaching contributions at the School of Medicine were recognized. Both received awards for "Best Contributions" by the SOM Teaching Excellence Awards Committee in this first year of the annual awards process. Tom`s award is for his contributions and teaching of Biostatistics in the post-doctoral Clinical Research Scholars Program; Doug will be recognized for his leadership and teaching in Fundamentals of Medical Decision Making, in the School`s Core Academic Program. Well deserved recognition - congratulations!

Center Faculty Receive Award for Outstanding Short Course
Congratulations to Randall D. Cebul, M.D., Neal V. Dawson, M.D., and Thomas E. Love, Ph.D. on being presented with an award for "Outstanding Short Course" in recognition of outstanding development and teaching of Reducing Bias in Observational Studies: Propensity Methods. This course was presented at the Society of Medical Decision Making`s 25th Annual Meeting in Chicago, which ran from October 18-22, 2003. Course materials are available at /propensity/.

CWRU School of Medicine Wins National AMSA Award for Activism
At the March 22nd national meeting of the American Medical Student Association in Washington, D.C., the CWRU School of Medicine was awarded the 2003 Paul R. Wright Award in Medical Education for its exceptional focus on activism in medicine and for the integration of advocacy skills training into the medical education curriculum [CWRU News story].

Mentioned prominently in the application by medical students Kyle Dinsio, Chris McCoy, Connie Liu, and Alexander Tsai were several Center-directed activities, including the course "Activism and Medicine" coordinated by Ashwini Sehgal, M.D., the AHRQ-supported MD-PhD Program in Health Services Research, led by Randall D. Cebul, M.D., and the Primary Care Track, led from 1999-2002 by past Center member Linda A. Headrick, M.D., and whose research curriculum is directed by Douglas Einstadter, M.D., M.P.H..

General Internist-Clinical Epidemiologist Ralph I. Horwitz, M.D. named CWRU VP for Medical Affairs and Dean of the School of Medicine.
Effective April 1st, Dr. Ralph Horwitz assumes his new posts as CWRU`s Vice President for Medical Affairs and Dean of the School of Medicine. Dr. Horwitz is known to many here at CWRU and the Center as the Co-Director of Yale`s Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program (since 1978); as a researcher who has made major methodologic contributions in clinical epidemiology over the past 25 years; and, more recently, as Chair of Yale`s Department of Medicine. In a statement issued at the time of his recent appointment, Dr. Horwitz stated: "A particular passion of mine is the social contract linking the practice of medicine to the civic responsibility of the profession of medicine, and I see the embodiment of that in the affiliation with MetroHealth Medical Center." Needless to say, we are delighted that CWRU has attracted Dr. Horwitz to Cleveland! Link.

The Society for Medical Decision Making Helps CDC in Assessing Bioterrorism.
See story here.

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