Determinants of Newborn Health and Health Care Trajectories in the First Year of Life
Funding Agency: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Funding Period: June 1, 2021 - May 31, 2025
Newborn health has improved in the United States in recent decades yet still lags behind other high-income countries. A critically important yet understudied reason for this disappointing gap is the nature of the inpatient care received by newborns and the effects this has on health during the first year of life. Using a population-based cohort of 1.13 million Medicaid-insured Texas newborns, our long-term goal is to understand the temporal sequences of risk, medical care, and outcomes through the first years of life to identify modifiable factors associated with better health.
Using Geographic Variations to Improve Quality and Reduce Costs in the Military Health System
Funding Agency: Department of Defense
Funding Period: January 2020 - October 2023
Depending on the year, 100,000-120,000 newborns are born annually to military medical beneficiaries. While there are known shortcomings in perinatal health and health care that vary by hospital in civilian populations, there is virtually no information regarding variation of newborn care and outcomes in military populations. Within this project, we will exploit health system variation to describe and investigate newborn health care variation and identify modifiable factors that would accelerate improvement.
Urban-Rural Disparities in Healthcare Quality for Children with Complex or Disabling Health Conditions
Funding Agency: National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities
Funding Period: January 2020 - November 2023
Of the 20% of children in the USA who reside in rural areas, children with complex or disabling health conditions may be at particular risk of adverse outcomes. Using five years of all-payer claims data from three states (Colorado, Massachusetts and New Hampshire), we aim to comprehensively evaluate urban-rural disparities in health care utilization and quality for children with complex or disabling health conditions.
Does Growth in Neonatal Intensive Care Occur Where its Most Needed? Temporal Trends in Regional Neonatal Intensive Care Capacity and Association with Perinatal Risk and Outcomes
Funding Agency: Kettering Family Foundation
Funding Period: July 1, 2022 - June 30, 2024
The advent of neonatal intensive care units (NICU) brought about extraordinary reductions in neonatal mortality and morbidity, which led to robust growth in the number of NICUs, NICU beds, and neonatologists. Yet, perinatal outcomes in the U.S. continue to lag behind other high income countries, raising important questions about the organization and quality of U.S. newborn care, including NICU capacity. This study aims to address important knowledge gaps in NICU capacity.