Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies

IHPS Research Focus
Learn more about the work in environmental health of PRL-IHPS faculty.

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The Claire D. and Ralph G. Brindis Endowed Professorship in Health Policy Studies
Held by Joanne Spetz, PRL-IHPS Director
Learn more about the Professorship
Current COVID-19 Related Research and Initiatives
IHPS faculty are responding to policy challenges raised by the COVID-19
 pandemic with rapid-cycle research and technical assistance.
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National Clinician Scholars Program
Based at UCSF’s Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, the National Clinician Scholars Program (NCSP) at UCSF aims to train the next generation of health and healthcare change agents, prepared to work in diverse settings.
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In Memoriam: Philip R. Lee
April 17, 1924 - October 27, 2020
View the celebration of Phil's life,
held on February 25, 2021.
Read more about Phil Lee's legacy

Health Policy and the Fight for Equitable Healthcare Outcomes:
Why Access Isn’t Enough

IHPS Health Policy Grand Rounds

Wednesday, Apr 21, 12 - 1 pm, Pacific Time (US and Canada) Register here
Alyce Adams, PhD, Stanford Medicine Innovation Professor

Alyce Adams
Using her research in prescription drug policy as an example, Dr. Adams will describe the intended and unintended impact of changes in health policy and practice on inequities in chronic disease treatment and outcomes among minority and underserved adults. Her work contributes to a growing body of empirical evidence that expanding access to health care services, while necessary, is not sufficient to address persistent disparities due to other structural determinants of health.


 

Exposure to formaldehyde and asthma outcomes: A systematic review, meta-analysis, and economic assessment
 

Plos OnePloS One

Juleen Lam, Erica Koustas,
Patrice Sutton, Amy M. Padula,
Michael D. Cabana, Tracey J. Woodruff, et al.

Every major federal regulation in the United States requires an economic analysis estimating its benefits and costs. Benefit-cost analyses related to regulations on formaldehyde exposure have not included asthma in part due to lack of clarity in the strength of the evidence.


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The Association Between Scope of Practice Regulations and Nurse Practitioner Prescribing of Buprenorphine After the 2016 Opioid Bill
 

JAM Open NetworkMedical Care Research and Review

Thuy Nguyen, Ulrike Muench,
Barbara Andraka-Christou, Joanne Spetz, et al.

This article examines the relationship between federal regulations, state scope-of-practice regulations on nurse practitioners (NPs), and buprenorphine prescribing patterns using pharmacy claims data from Optum’s deidentified Clinformatics Data Mart between January 2015 and September 2018. 

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COVID-19 reveals need to increase diversity among California physicians
 

Cal MattersCalMatters

Janet Coffman and Alicia Fernández

COVID-19 has revealed serious flaws in our health system, but none is more distressing than the deep racial and ethnic inequality exposed by the pandemic. With Latinx and Black people dying at higher rates than the rest of the population, communities of color are much more likely than other groups to say they’re having trouble accessing telehealth services and paying medical bills. 

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