At a time when our nation’s health policies are in flux, researchers in the Department of Health Policy and Management are publishing timely and hard-hitting research, making widely viewed presentations, and being quoted in the national media. Our proximity to the White House gives us a unique opportunity to interact with the nation’s policymakers and influence the nationwide debate. Our students gain extraordinary insights into important aspects of key policy issues, including the future of healthcare.
Research by Professor Leighton Ku, PhD, MPH, detailing the expected economic disruption from repealing key provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) included assessments of the substantial job losses projected in every state. The first-of-its-kind study predicts that losses could rise to nearly 3 million positions in health care and other sectors by the year 2021 and received widespread media coverage.
A report by a group of HPM faculty led by Professor Sara Rosenbaum, JD, who played a key role in expanding Medicaid and community health centers, recommends that the Trump Administration take action to revise existing Internal Revenue Service (IRS) policies governing community benefit spending by tax-exempt hospitals in order to encourage greater hospital involvement in activities that can improve health on a community-wide basis. “The public has an enormous stake in policies,” Rosenbaum says. She and her HPM coauthors—a recent HPM MPH graduate and current HPM MPH student—point out that the policy opportunities outlined in the report would not require new legislation.
Here at GW, the Health Policy Expert Series initiated earlier this year by Associate Professor Jane Thorpe, JD, is providing our students with world-class insights into crucial aspects of how policy impacts the nation’s health. The Series included a presentation by Professor Rosenbaum on issues related to ACA Titles I and II, the public and private health insurance reforms. Professor Jeff Levi, PhD, presented on the policy choices facing the new Administration, the new Congress, states and private purchasers with regard to population health and addressing the health-related social needs of beneficiaries. A third presentation in the series featured Professor Ku discussing the future of Medicaid and the safety net, and HPM Professor and Chair Thomas LaVeist, PhD, will also give a presentation for the series.
HPM faculty are well-positioned to continue to influence health policy debates as they play out. To name a few of the influential positions held by HPM faculty, Professor LaVeist, Professor Fitzhugh Mullen, MD, and Professor Rosenbaum are members of the National Academy of Medicine. Professor Levi was appointed by Barack Obama to serve on his Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health. Associate Professor Joel Teitelbaum, JD, LLM, was recently appointed to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary’s Advisory Committee on National Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives for 2030. Additionally, many members of the department have held leadership positions in governmental agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services, the Government Accountability Office, The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the US Public Health Service, as well as serving on federal advisory committees.
Through all of their efforts on Capitol Hill and in the classroom, HPM faculty are actively working to train the next generations of health policy makers to continue the critical work needed to make our world a healthier place.