By Giles Morris
Weill Cornell Medicine and the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy have established the Cornell Health Policy Center (CHPC) to serve as the locus for health policy impact, research and training across Cornell.
The center connects health policy researchers across Cornell’s campuses to help shape effective health policy at the federal, state and local levels. It will focus on policies aimed at improving health care access, quality and affordability; to address the social drivers of poor health and health disparities; and communication strategies to effectively disseminate health policy information to decision-makers and the public.
Dr. Beth McGinty, chief of the Division of Health Policy and Economics in the Department of Population Health Sciences and the Livingston Farrand Professor of Population Health Sciences at Weill Cornell Medicine, and Dr. Colleen Barry, founding dean of the Brooks School, will co-lead the center.
“From what medical procedures public and private insurers cover to how they reimburse physicians, health policy establishes the framework by which doctors and patients experience health care,” said Dr. Robert A. Harrington, the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean of Weill Cornell Medicine and provost for medical affairs of Cornell University. “Leveraging the tremendous talent across the university, the Cornell Health Policy Center will develop effective, evidence-based health policies to ensure that all patients can access quality, comprehensive and affordable care – a task more important now than ever.”
“We believe that Cornell can make a difference in the way health policy is developed,” Barry said. “By creating a multi-campus nexus that combines the resources of our world-class medical school and our innovative, impact-focused school of public policy, we can develop new ways to advance team science, share data and innovate and improve health policy in New York state and beyond.”
An event hosted Nov. 15 at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City celebrated the center’s launch and highlighted existing cross-campus research collaborations among Cornell health policy researchers. One such collaboration is between Dr. Tyler Braun, an assistant professor of population health sciences at Weill Cornell Medicine, and Brooks School researchers, who are studying how insurer acquisitions of physician practices influence health care costs. Dr. Braun’s team found that practices acquired by large insurers increased Medicare Advantage costs by increasing their patients’ risk scores, which are tied to payments from the federal government.
In addition, Dr. Angélica Meinhofer, an assistant professor of population health sciences at Weill Cornell, and Dr. Maria Fitzpatrick, professor and senior associate dean of academic affairs at the Brooks School, presented their research on how a new Medicaid policy influences delivery of school-based health services. Their research shows that the policy expanding Medicaid coverage of health services delivered in schools led to a large increase in care delivery. This policy holds promise for addressing the complex health needs of low-income children, Dr. Meinhofer said.
“It is energizing to bring together such a large group of Cornell health policy experts with research areas that are connected but who have not historically had regular opportunities to collaborate,” Dr. McGinty said. “We are focused on building a model of collaboration that can harness the tremendous research taking place and bring it to bear on policymaking processes that will improve health outcomes.”
The center will further nurture those collaborations and inspire new ones. Drs. Barry and McGinty said the CHPC would prioritize connecting evidence-based research with policy and develop various impact-oriented initiatives. These include briefings with state and federal legislative and agency staffs, forums for journalists, and academic symposia that bring together researchers, policymakers, health care system leaders and other decision-makers to disseminate research-informed policy recommendations.
In addition to Drs. McGinty and Barry, a team of associate directors will advance the center’s work:
- Drs. Amelia Bond of Weill Cornell Medicine and Sean Nicholson of the Brooks School will lead work on health care system financing and organization.
- Drs. Dhruv Khullar of Weill Cornell and Jeff Niederdeppe of the Brooks School and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences will lead activities related to health policy communication.
- Drs. Will Schpero of Weill Cornell and Maria Fitzpatrick of the Brooks School will lead the center’s portfolio on policy to address the social drivers of health.
- Dr. Kayla Tormohlen of Weill Cornell will serve as the center’s research director; a policy director to lead health impact and policy engagement work is in active recruitment.
Giles Morris is assistant dean for communications at the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy.