IHPI Informs - May 2021

MAY 2021

Ten years ago this month, the University of Michigan Regents approved the founding of the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation. Their action created a home for our broad, vibrant, interdisciplinary community of faculty members studying healthcare policy and health. From the beginning, the mission of IHPI has been to improve the quality, safety, equity, and affordability of healthcare through innovative and collaborative research that informs policy and practice, a focus that continues to inspire our academic community.

When I joined U-M in 2012 to lead this new institute, I was drawn to the unprecedented creativity, imagination, and vision of this collaborative community of researchers who had come together to address the most important issues facing health and healthcare. Over the past decade, IHPI has grown to become the nation’s largest university-based organization of health services researchers, working to solve complex and pressing healthcare challenges whose solutions require collaboration across diverse fields and disciplines.

The institute has evolved to respond to emerging health challenges, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the opioid epidemic, and to changes in our nation’s healthcare priorities that affect the way care is organized and delivered. We have also kept our focus on perennial issues that continue to plague health and healthcare–disparities in the social determinants of health; inequitable access to lifesaving care; high costs that burden patients, families, and society; avoidable risk and harm to patients stemming from gaps in safety and communication; and failing to provide our youngest, oldest, and most vulnerable with the care and services they need to thrive throughout their lives.

Our 10-year anniversary marks a remarkable journey with many accomplishments, yet the need for our work is more critical than ever. We have documented our work and impact in a special report that you can link to below.

The IHPI community is looking forward to continuing to build on our strong foundation over the next decade.

John Z. Ayanian

Director

Our

EXPERTS

Pandemic worsened many older adults’ mental health and sleep, poll finds, but long-term resilience also seen

Nearly one in five older adults say their mental health has gotten worse since the pandemic began in March 2020, and an equal percentage say their sleep has suffered as well. More than one in four say they’re more anxious or worried than before the COVID-19 era, but there are also signs of resilience, according to a new report from the National Poll on Healthy Aging.

READ THE REPORT

Treatment barrier falls, but others remain, for people with opioid issues

Recently, the federal government removed one of the biggest hurdles to buprenorphine prescribing for the treatment of opioid use disorder. Several IHPI experts discuss the implications of this policy shift and detail other policy and practice considerations to increase access to this evidence-based treatment for the millions of Americans with opioid use disorder.

Recent and Upcoming

EVENTS

WATCH THE RECORDING

A year-long sprint: Sanjay Gupta reflects on

health communications during the pandemic

Health Care Reform: A Conversation with U-M Experts

With a Supreme Court ruling expected soon on a challenge to the Affordable Care Act, and other activity at the state and federal level on many health policy topics, a panel of IHPI experts gathered virtually on May 20 to offer reflections about these issues based on their research and answer questions from the audience.

The panel was moderated by IHPI Director John Ayanian, M.D., M.P.P., and featured Nicholas Bagley, J.D., professor of law, Helen Levy, Ph.D., research professor at the Institute for Social Research, and Minal R. Patel, Ph.D., M.P.H., associate professor of public health.

The Latest

NEWS

Even small bills for health insurance may cause healthy low-income people to drop coverage

Twenty dollars a month might not seem like a lot to pay for health insurance. But for people getting by on $15,000 a year, it’s enough to make some drop their coverage–especially if they’re healthy, a new study of Medicaid expansion participants in Michigan finds. The study was conducted by senior author Richard Hirth, Ph.D., M.A., professor of public health, John Ayanian, M.D., M.P.P., professor of internal medicine, and colleagues.

Routine testing before surgery remains common despite low value

Nicholas Berlin, M.D., M.P.H.

Half of patients who had one of three common surgical procedures done in Michigan between 2015 and the midway point of 2019 received at least one routine test beforehand, despite plenty of evidence suggesting that preoperative testing is often unnecessary for low-risk surgeries. That is according to new research led by IHPI National Clinician Scholar Nicholas Berlin, M.D., M.P.H. from a collaboration between the Michigan Program on Value Enhancement (MPrOVE) and the Michigan Value Collaborative, which is part of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Value Partnerships statewide initiative focused on improving medical and surgical quality.

Care teams differ for Black, white surgical patients in the same hospitals

John Hollingsworth,

M.D.

A new study led by John Hollingsworth, M.D., professor of urology, finds Black patients are more likely to die after their heart bypass surgery if they’re at a hospital with higher levels of care team segregation.