PhD Program Concentration:

 Health Care Organization, Outcomes, and Policy

Students in the Health Care Organization, Outcomes, and Policy concentration will be prepared to design and carry out research in alternative models for the organization and delivery of care; quality, cost-effectiveness and comparative effectiveness of care; disparities in receipt or outcomes of care; translation of evidence-based practice into guidelines and evaluation of their real-world applications; and health policy analysis and implementation. Students in this concentration will acquire a solid grounding in the conduct of rigorous multidisciplinary studies applying quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods, and specialized competencies in key areas, viz., large database analysis; cost-effectiveness and comparative effectiveness analysis; health economics; health policy and management; and other advanced methods such as hierarchical linear modeling; structural equation modeling; instrumental variable analysis; analysis of weighted survey data; and spatial analysis of data.

There is a nationally recognized need for researchers prepared to lead or collaborate on the types of studies students in this concentration would be prepared to conduct. Placements of past graduates of our department who focused their studies in this area indicate that a variety of employment opportunities exist in academia, industry, and government. This concentration is closely related to research in comparative effectiveness, disparities, and health care quality, all three of which reflect national funding priorities. For example, over one billion in federal research dollars has recently been devoted to the funding comparative effectiveness research.

 

Required Courses (12 credits):

• EPBI 515 (3): Large Database Analysis
• EPBI 467 (3): Cost-Effectiveness and Comparative Effectiveness Analysis
• EPBI XXX (3): Advanced Health Services Research Methods (to be developed)

 One of the following:

• HSMC 456 (3): Health Care Policy and Planning (Weatherhead SOM).
• MPHP 439 (3): Public Health Management and Policy

Electives (min of 6 credits):

 

EPBI 408 (3): Public Policy and Aging

EPBI 411 (3): Introduction to Behavioral Health

EPBI 435 (3): Survival Data Analysis

EPBI 459 (3): Longitudinal Data Analysis

EPBI 477 (3): Internship at Health-Related Government Agencies

EPBI 510 (3): Health Disparities

EPBI XXX (3): Mixed Methods Analysis (to be developed)

ECON 421 (3): Health Care Economics (Weatherhead SOM)

MPHP 474 (3): Principles of Practice-Based Network Research

NURS 468 (3): The Continual Improvement of Healthcare: An Interdisciplinary Course (Nursing)

SOCI 443 (3): Medical Sociology (Sociology)

  

Concentration Faculty

Primary Faculty	Areas of Interest
Bob Binstock, PhD	Gerontology; politics and policies affecting aging
Siran Koroukian, PhD	Methodological issues in the use of population-based databases in health care outcomes; cancer and aging; and health- and cancer-related disparities
Mendel Singer, PhD	School/community based health interventions (emphasis on the Jewish community); cost-effectiveness analysis, especially in developing nations; claims-based large database analyses; quality of life assessment.
Kathleen Smyth, PhD	Caregiving, caregiver interventions, and quality of care in dementia; impact of cognitive decline/other comorbidities on receipt of health care by older adults (OA); cognition and patient reported outcomes in OA.
Secondary Faculty	Areas of Interest
David Litaker:	Delivery and implementation of preventive services, in particular factors within the health system and community context that influence the quantity and quality of care provided.
Liz Madigan	Home health care issues; international health care issues; resource use and patient outcomes of chronically ill; and re-hospitalization.
David Warner	Life course origins of health and mortality disparities in later-life; micro-level timing and exposure processes shaping individual life course transitions and population-level trends and social group

 

 

 

Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Case Western Reserve University, 10900 Euclid Ave, Cleveland, OH 44106-4945