Filling the evidence gaps on housing, health care, and more
Since 2016, the Urban Institute has acted as the national coordinating center for Policies for Action, managing the program and its network of grantees, as well as conducting high-impact policy research. We are pleased to announce the launch of five new projects leveraging Urban’s multidisciplinary policy expertise.
These projects will investigate how Medicaid expansion improves pregnancy and birth outcomes, the health effects of unstable schedules for low-wage workers, local policy responses to housing voucher discrimination, finding the “bright spots” in persistently poor communities, and a continuation of our work on federal housing assistance and food security.
One of our newest Research Hubs is turning policy research on its head—and becoming a model for scholars who want their research to inform policy change.
Vanderbilt University, led by principal investigators Melinda Buntin and Carolyn Heinrich, launched their Research Hub last fall, not with a series of defined research questions but with a powerful convening of state agencies and community health and education organizations. With stakeholder buy-in and input, the Hub is crafting a truly actionable research agenda that can help boost the health, stability, and well-being of Tennessee’s most valuable asset: children.
Since 1975, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) program has helped low-income working families lift themselves out of poverty. One of the established benefits of the program is improved maternal mental health, but little is known about the actual mechanisms behind those improvements.
In a new working paper, researchers at the Urban Institute assess the impact of more than two decades of federal and state EITC expansions, finding that for married mothers, the credit itself boosts mental health, whereas for unmarried mothers, the improvements are likely because of a combination of the credit and its employment effects.
Getting smart about interventions for patients with complex medical and social needs
A new analysis from our Research Hub at the University of Michigan reviews 46 studies evaluating interventions for patients with complex health and social needs who use emergency department and prehospital care in the U.S. The authors share their thoughts on what their findings mean for designing interventions for this high-need, high-cost population.
Healthy Eating Research, a program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is seeking research that sheds light on the drivers of health inequities related to nutritional disparities, dietary quality and patterns, and food security. Deadline: July 31.
P4A researchers Daniel Schneider and Kristen Harknett wrote a piece for the Washington Post on the health toll of unpredictable schedules among food service and retail workers.
P4A Research Hub leader Sherry Glied was named to the Advisory Board for the National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation.
P4A researchers are also busy sharing new research:
Anna Godoey and Michael Reich released a working paper examining the potential effects of a higher minimum wage on wages, jobs, and overall poverty levels.
Rita Hamad published a paper showing that the revised Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children food package is associated with beneficial impacts on maternal and child health.
Catherine Maclean released a working paper exploring the effects of traditional cigarette tax rate changes and e-cigarette tax adoption.
Upcoming conferences and events
2019 IAPHS Conference
Interdisciplinary Association for Population Health Science
October 1–4, 2019, Seattle
