Health Policy and Management Research

Experts recommend 7-8 hours of sleep for better brain health

January 31, 2017
A new report, issued on Jan. 10 by the Global Council on Brain Health, recommends ways to maintain brain health, including getting at least seven to eight hours of sleep each night. Dr. Peggye Dilworth-Anderson is a Council member.

JAMA editorial: Geography, income need to be part of effective cancer solutions

January 27, 2017
According to a new study, U.S. cancer mortality rates have decreased -- but not uniformly across geographic regions. Successful outcomes often remain dependent upon where patients live and on their economic conditions. Dr. Stephanie Wheeler is co-author of a JAMA editorial that elaborates upon the study.

Study finds diet as effective and less expensive than drugs in treating esophageal inflammation

Dr. Daniel Erim and colleagues found that a six-food elimination diet was as effective as topical corticosteroids -- and less expensive -- in treating eosinophilic esophagitis, a condition in which inflamed esophageal tissue leads to a person’s difficulty in swallowing solid foods. Erim is a doctoral student in health policy and management.

JAMA study: Palliative care improves patient quality of life and symptom burden

November 21, 2016 Palliative care was associated with statistically and clinically significant improvements in measures of patient quality of life and symptom burden, in a JAMA study led by Dr. Dio Kavalieratos, adjunct professor in health policy and management at the Gillings School.

Giving women HIV self-tests promotes male partner testing

Providing pregnant and postpartum women in sub-Saharan Africa with multiple HIV self-tests can make it more likely their male partners will be tested for HIV, found a study led by Dr. Harsha Thirumurthy of the health policy and management department.

Study raises concerns about timely follow-up to positive mammogram for the uninsured

Uninsured women under age 65 who received their mammogram at community screening clinics in North Carolina were less likely to get follow-up within a year of a positive mammogram, according to a study led by senior author Louise Henderson, PhD, adjunct assistant professor of epidemiology.

High up-front costs could delay access to life-saving blood cancer drugs for Medicare patients

A study led by Gillings School health policy and management researchers Aaron Winn and Stacie Dusetzina, PhD, found that cancer patients on Medicare’s Part D may face significant out-of-pocket costs before their insurance kicks in on the cost of expensive drug treatments.

Racial gaps persist in how breast cancer survivors function and feel during and after treatment

Gillings School professors Drs. Bryce Reeve and Andrew Olshan led a study of several thousand breast cancer survivors in North Carolina. They found differences in how African-American and white women functioned and felt during their treatment and two years post-diagnosis.

Shafer co-authors research on adult e-cigarette use, effectiveness of anti-smoking digital video ads

Paul Shafer, doctoral student in health policy and management, studies media campaigns and policies related to smoking behaviors. He is co-author of two research studies published in September -- one about the reasons adults use e-cigarettes and another on whether digital video advertising increases the reach of anti-smoking campaigns.

Medicaid expansion affects rural, urban hospitals differently, study finds

Brystana Kaufman, health policy and management doctoral student, is first author of a new article about the impact of Medicaid expansion. Kaufman's findings reveal that, while Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act was associated with fewer unpaid patient bills and higher Medicaid revenues in both rural and urban hospitals, rural hospitals had, on average, smaller reductions in unpaid bills.