Research and Outreach

The research mission of the Division of Health Policy and Administration is to advance the health of the public by promoting a research-based approach to decisions in health and medicine. Divisional faculty are involved in research and leadership activities that aim to enhance understanding, explore consequences, and promote equity, efficiency, quality, and access. Our research contributions span the many levels of decision making in health and medicine, from the broadest view of societal policy formation, through organizational behavior and performance, through clinical practice, to consumer and patient choice. Research in the Division applies the methods and theories of economics, epidemiology, political science, organizational theory, and operations research to study the processes by which health policies are created and implemented, the consequences of health care interventions to quality of care and quality of life, and the management of health care systems and institutions. Areas of emphasis include:

• The organization and financing of health services (including quality improvement)
• The role of managed care (as applied to vulnerable groups such as Medicaid recipients or enrollees with chronic illnesses)
• The social consequences and policy implications of mental illness and substance abuse
• Physician behavior and professional norms
• The application of cost-effectiveness and other forms of program evaluation to a variety of health and social issues (e.g., interventions to address the spread of HIV), as well as innovative uses of the social and behavioral sciences to study the public’s and policymakers' understanding of health care and health policy

Interdisciplinary Research and Special Projects:

• Yale Aging Program
• CIRA
• Prevention Research Center
• Institution for Social and Policy Studies
• Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research (TTURC)