Are healthcare wraparound services effective in reducing costly hospital visits?

CAHME and Wharton Research Data Services awards paper researchers with CAHME/WRDS Grant

(January 20, 2020, SPRING HOUSE, PA) The Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME) and Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS) have named Joshua R. Vest, Paul K. Halverson, and Nir Menachemi of the Indiana University Richard M Fairbanks School of Public Health and Lisa E. Harris and Dawn P. Haut of Eskenazi Health as recipients of the 2020 CAHME/WRDS Best Paper for Empirical Research Award. The award recognizes the authors’ use of data for an innovative analysis of Wraparound Services to reduce hospitalization and Emergency Department visits, which was published in October 2018 by Health Affairs. A part of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, WRDS provides global corporations, universities and regulatory agencies the thought leadership, data access and insights needed to enable impactful research.

The article, titled “Indianapolis Provider’s Use Of Wraparound Services Associated With Reduced Hospitalizations And Emergency Department Visits” describes how the authors used electronic health record and health information exchange data from the Indiana Network for Patient Care to determine whether the provision of wraparound services within a Federally Qualified Health Center was effective in reducing costly health care use. The estimated annual savings from these services on potentially avoided hospitalizations is on average of $1.4–$2.4 million, or about $76–$131 per person.

In selecting the authors from Indiana University and Eskenazi Health, CAHME President and CEO Anthony Stanowski, DHA, FACHE, noted that the panel of judges “were impressed by the importance of the work due to changes in reimbursement policies that hold providers financially accountable. Its publication in such a respected journal suggests it could have broad impact as well.”

“This type of analysis is important for healthcare leaders and policy makers,” said lead author Joshua Vest. “Under value-based payment, wraparound services could be part of a portfolio of strategies to address patients social, behavioral and environmental needs that drive poor health and increase costs.”

“The CAHME-WRDS Best Paper Award for Empirical Research is an exciting collaboration focused on advancing excellence across the healthcare research sector,” said Robert Zarazowski, Managing Director of WRDS. “We look forward to highlighting high-quality, impactful research from the sector.”

The CAHME/WRDS Award includes a grant of $1,500. The authors have donated their winning share back to the Indiana University program to help support educational opportunities for graduate students in the program. The award program is open to any CAHME-accredited program or faculty from a CAHME-accredited program.

About the Indiana University Richard M Fairbanks School of Public Health:

The IU Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health at IUPUI seeks to cultivate innovative, interdisciplinary, community engaged education, research and service and prepare leaders in public health and health care. The school has over 500 students enrolled in its three undergraduate, four master’s and four doctoral education programs related to public health and health administration. Pending approval, the school will offer the nation's first bachelor of science degree in health data science. The school further has numerous active research collaborations with local and state health departments in Indiana as well as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF).

About CAHME:
For more than 50 years, the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME) has served the public interest by advancing the quality of healthcare management education globally. CAHME works with more than 100 leading academic programs and numerous healthcare practitioners to ensure that graduates entering the healthcare field have undergone an educational process meeting rigorous, measurable standards for effectiveness. The result is a formal academic education focusing on key competencies, plus practical experiences. This enables new graduates to quickly add value to an organization and grow into future leaders. CAHME is the only organization recognized by the Council on Higher Education Accreditation to grant accreditation to individual academic programs offering a professional master’s degree in healthcare management education. For more information, visit: Cahme.org

About WRDS
Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS) provides the leading business intelligence, data analytics, and research platform to global institutions - enabling comprehensive thought leadership, historical analysis, and insight into the latest innovations in academic research.

WRDS provides researchers with one location to access over 350 terabytes of data across multiple disciplines including Accounting, Banking, Economics, ESG, Finance, Healthcare, Insurance, Marketing, and Statistics. Flexible data delivery options include a powerful web query method that reduces research time, the WRDS Cloud for executing research and strategy development, and the WRDS client server using PCSAS, Matlab, R and more. Our rigorous data review and validation give users the confidence to tailor research and create a wide range of reliable data models. Powerful Analytics by WRDS – a suite of cutting-edge analytical tools developed by our doctoral-level team enables powerful insight into research and Classroom by WRDS provides a teaching and learning toolkit designed to introduce business concepts in the classroom.

The leading data research platform for 50,000+ commercial, academic, and government users in 35+ countries, WRDS is the global gold standard in data management, innovative tools, analytics, and research services-all backed by the credibility and leadership of the Wharton School.

About The Wharton School
Founded in 1881 as the world’s first collegiate business school, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is shaping the future of business by incubating ideas, driving insights, and creating leaders who change the world. With a faculty of more than 235 renowned professors, Wharton has 5,000 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA and doctoral students. Each year 13,000 professionals from around the world advance their careers through Wharton Executive Education’s individual, company-customized, and online programs. More than 99,000 Wharton alumni form a powerful global network of leaders who transform business every day. For more information, visit www.wharton.upenn.edu.

Media Contact

Joey Amato
Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health
Phone: 317-278-0765
Email: jtamato@iu.edu

Michael Slusarz
CAHME
Phone 301-298-1820
Email: info@cahme.org

Robin Nussbaum Gold
Wharton Research Data Services
Phone: 877-438-9737
Email: wrds@wharton.upenn.edu

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