Medicare News
| For Immediate Release: | Contact: |
| Friday, April 18, 1997 | CMS Office of Public Affairs 202-690-6145 |
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HCFA AWARDS GRANTS TO DOCTORAL CANDIDATES TO FURTHER HEALTH CARE STUDIES
Six doctoral students have been awarded grants from the Health Care Financing Administration's Dissertation Fellowship Grants program. The individuals selected will receive up to $20,000 in direct support for dissertations related to the financing or delivery of health services.
Now in its third year, the Dissertation Fellowship Grants program is designed to stimulate the involvement of new health service researchers in their studies and aid in the career development. HCFA's Administrator Bruce C. Vladeck said the fellowship program is "an investment in the researchers of tomorrow. These students show the promise of bringing innovative ideas to our health care system as we enter the next century."
The six individuals were chosen from a field of 22 applicants after their proposals were reviewed by a panel of health care professionals at HCFA. The following is a list of each recipient and dissertation topic:
Sheryl Lynn Stogis, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, Mich., will develop a Standardized Donor Ratio (SDR) to help measure the effectiveness of Organ Procurement Organizations (OPOs) in the United States. This proposed measure represents an improvement over current measures of the effectiveness for OPOs. The development and application of an SDR can provide information to assess how well OPOs are maximizing organ resources. Previous studies that have attempted to determine an estimate of the donor supply have fallen short of actually providing a comparison rate among OPOs.
Shu-Chuan Jennifer Yeh, Medical College of Virginia, Richmond, Va., will use trend analysis to measure the recent growth of subacute care in Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs) and will develop hypotheses to explain the level of subacute care provided by SNFs. Results of the analysis will assist policy makers in evaluating the success of SNFs in better integrating acute care and long-term care.
Mei Wang, University of Massachusetts's Program in Public Policy, Boston, Mass., will examine outcomes of patients with acute myocardial infarction in Massachusetts hospitals. Information from the study could assist HCFA's future quality monitoring and assurance activities.
Wenke Hwang, University of Maryland Baltimore County's Policy Science Graduate Program, Baltimore, Md., will study the patterns of End Stage Renal Disease patients' choices of dialysis facilities and treatments and examine how the type of ownership of these facilities interacts with patients' access by patients' demographic, geographic, and medical characteristics.
Adam Atherly, University of Minnesota's Institute for Health Services Research, Minneapolis, Minn., will use information from HCFA's Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey data to estimate the effect of supplemental Medicare insurance policies on Medicare costs. This study will be the first to use data collected after insurance industry reforms in 1990. The conclusions of this study will enable policy makers to fully evaluate the role of supplemental insurance in Medicare reform.
Roy McCandless, University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston, Texas, will compare different methods for estimating health services use and costs associated with diabetes for Medicare beneficiaries in Texas who are not enrolled in HMOs. Costs of treating diabetes and its complications among Medicare beneficiaries are substantial. The study could provide a better understanding of how different methods of estimation affect national estimates of health care expenditures.
To qualify for HCFA dissertation support, students must be enrolled in an accredited doctoral program in the social, management, or health sciences. The student must be conducting or intending to conduct dissertation research on issues related to the delivery or financing of health care services. Of particular interest are studies that have direct bearing on the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Applicants must have completed all course work and be sponsored by their university. Details about the HCFA Dissertation Fellowship Grants program are available from HCFA's Office of Research and Demonstrations by calling (410) 786-5181.
