Research Areas
The Center for Health Innovation & Policy Science works in three unique, but equally important, domains: state health policy, health systems, and social determinants of health. Within these three domains, CHIPS researchers have formed specific interests and developed new insights toward the advancement of health across communities and the lifespan.
Across all of our work, CHIPS maintains a commitment toward advancing health equity. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to live their healthiest life possible and not be hindered by their social position or other socially determined circumstances. Therefore, we make it a priority that in all of our efforts, we pay special attention to the needs of those at greatest risk of poor health.
Helpful Terms
Issue Briefs
Issue briefs are short, nonpartisan written summaries of the knowledge surrounding a specific issue or problem. They are meant to inform.
Policy Briefs
Policy briefs are concise summaries of specific issues, the policy options to address such issues, and, occassionaly, the authors suggested course of action. They are meant to inform and guide.
If you're a student in our Department, consider submitting to our health policy brief writing contest!
Reports
Reports are a general term used to describe a document that presents information in an organized way for a specific audience and purpose. Issue briefs and policy briefs are types of reports.
State Innovation Models (SIM) Studies
Research led by the University of Washington around SIM took place over two separate evaluations — the Washington State SIM Evaluation and the SIM Follow-Up Evaluation — that explored whether Washington state's SIM Model improved population health, quality of care, and cost growth over three years of implementation.
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Health Insurance
Health Insurance is an increasingly important issue that affects the lives of millions of Americans. Because it involves so many different players, understanding and arriving at a clear system can be difficult. These past projects aimed to inform readers about specifc complex issues through the publication of issue briefs.
We've also written two policy briefs that involve Medicaid on distinct issues.Rural Health
Rural health faces unique obstacles compared to their urban counterparts. Because of their unique challenges, it is critical we highlight their differences and allocate resources equitably. We've developed a policy brief looking at if changing payment methods might better support rural hospitals.
Homeshare Study
The 2019-2021 Washington state legislature directed the University of Washington School of Public Health to study and develop a report on homesharing of privately owned residencies, to serve as a strategy to reduce housing instability by increasing the supply of low-cost rentals. As defined by the National Shared Housing Resource Center, homesharing is where two or more people share a home to their mutual benefit. The legislative proviso language required an analysis of homeshare programs across the country and similar initiatives in Washington state. The idea was to learn more about barriers, successes, best practices and policies; UW analysts were charged with making recommendations to establish and sustain homeshare programs in Washington.
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