GPHAP NEWS
Congratulations Laurie Bankhead!!
GPHAP is happy to announce that Laurie Bankhead, Harris School of Public Policy, has been elected as the 2007 Quern Fellowship Recipient. She is working on a project regarding Illinois Health Connect, a state Medicaid primary care case management program, and the practical issues surrounding implementation of that program in the UCMC service area.
Her project is entitled "Finding a Medical Home: Moving to a Primary Care Provider". The objective of her project is to do a series of case studies to evaluate the transfer and referral process which has already begun at UCMC as they refer patients to community primary care physicians for follow-up care after inpatient procedures. The studies reveal the operational needs to implement a primary care program, and show how such a program can be created for an academic medical center.
This project provides a way for Laurie to pursue her longstanding interest in healthcare. She is interested in the economics of health care, the way organizations provide care given their financial constraints, and the interaction between public policy and private organizations in the healthcare industry. She chose to study public policy at the Harris School to better understand the dynamics of public policy and its interplay with and impact on healthcare industry.
This project will help her understand the practical impact and barriers to implementation of programs in which patients change care providers.