Health services & economics

Determining the true cost of providing health care can be difficult. That's because most information about cost comes from a fee-for-service system based on providers' reimbursement. But thanks to the increasing sophistication of data systems in large integrated delivery systems like Group Health, health care administrators are now developing a better understanding of the actual costs of delivering services to any given population. It's a crucial issue as society struggles to make more informed decisions about how to spend its limited health care resources.

"Through our work, we're able to demonstrate that investments in health promotion programs are the best ways to spend health care dollars," says Paul Fishman, PhD, senior investigator at Group Health Research Institute (GHRI). "For instance, we've known for decades that smoking cessation programs are one of the most efficient ways of improving population health; but our research is now showing that there are immediate financial benefits to health plans that provide coverage for these programs."

To explore health services and economics, GHRI researchers collaborate with colleagues at the HealthPartners Research Foundation, Kaiser Permanente Colorado, Kaiser Permanente Northwest Center for Health Research, the University of California at San Francisco's Institute for Health Policy Studies, the University of Washington (UW) School of Medicine, and the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound's Health Services Research and Development Program.

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GHRI researchers in health services & economics

Affiliate researchers

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Recent publications on health services & economics

2010

Chubak J, Boudreau DM, Fishman PA, Elmore JG. Cost of breast-related care in the year following false positive screening mammograms. Med Care. 2010;48(9):815-20. PubMed

Fishman PA, Bonomi AE, Anderson ML, Reid RJ, Rivara FP. Changes in health care costs over time following the cessation of intimate partner violence. J Gen Intern Med. 2010 Apr 23. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed

Levine MD, Ross TR, Balderson BH, Phelan EA. Implementing group medical visits for older adults at Group Health Cooperative. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2010 Jan;58(1):168-72. Epub 2009 Dec 9. PubMed

Reid RJ, Coleman K, Johnson EA, Fishman PA, Hsu C, Soman MP, Trescott CE, Erikson M, Larson EB. The Group Health medical home at year two: cost savings, higher patient satisfaction, and less burnout for providers. Health Aff (Millwood). 2010;29(5):835-43. PubMed

Ralston JD, Coleman K, Reid RJ, Handley MR, Larson EB. Patient experience should be part of meaningful-use criteria. Health Aff (Millwood). 2010;29(4):607-13. PubMed

2009

Coleman K, Austin BT, Brach C, Wagner EH. Evidence on the Chronic Care Model in the new millennium. Health Aff (Millwood). 2009;28(1):75-85. PubMed

Larson EB. Group Health Cooperative–one coverage-and-delivery model for accountable care. N Engl J Med. 2009;361(17):1620-2. PubMed

Ralston JD, Martin DP, Anderson ML, Fishman PA, Conrad DA, Larson EB, Grembowski D. Group Health Cooperative's transformation toward patient-centered access. Med Care Res Rev. 2009 Dec;66(6):703-24. Epub 2009 Jun 23. PubMed

Reid RJ, Fishman PA, Yu O, Ross TR, Tufano JT, Soman MP, Larson EB. Patient-centered medical home demonstration: a prospective, quasi-experimental, before and after evaluation. Am J Manag Care. 2009;15(9):e71-87. PubMed

Simon GE, Ludman EJ, Rutter CM. Incremental benefit and cost of telephone care management and telephone psychotherapy for depression in primary care. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2009;66(10):1081-9. PubMed

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Our major research interests

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