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Core Labs and
Services
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Health Services Research Program
at the Medical College of Georgia
Background
Health care is the biggest industry in the US, exceeding the automobile, defense, and all other manufacturing industries as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product. The health care market is also undergoing unprecedented change. The traditional model of health care led by the medical profession is increasingly subject to scrutiny. Foremost amongst the issues now being promoted in the health care industry are efficiency, clinical and cost effectiveness, and equity. Three examples of the dynamic environment within which health care is now being provided in the US include the expansion of managed care to replace traditional fee-for-service care, promotion of the practice of evidence-based health care, and the remarkable pace of developments in the field of health technology. In recent years, multi-disciplinary health systems analysis has emerged as the means by which study of the health care system can be undertaken. In 1995, aware of the importance of critical inquiry into health care delivery, the Institute of Medicine recognized the term "Health Services Research". The Institute of Medicine defined Health Services Research (HSR) as “a multidisciplinary field of inquiry that examines the use, costs, quality, accessibility, delivery, organization, financing, and outcomes of health care services to increase knowledge and understanding of the structure, process, and effects of health services for individuals and populations.”
At a local, state, and national level, health care delivery systems have an increasing need for analytic services and for individuals who have training and experience in HSR. The Medical College of Georgia, as the academic health sciences center within the University System of Georgia, has a unique opportunity to respond to this rise in demand for critical inquiry into health systems and health care delivery and to contribute to the development of the health care system in the southeast United States. In addition, the increasing recognition by funding agencies of the importance of Health Services Research makes this field attractive to the academic research community.
Program Aims
The program has three main aims; namely, to promote:
efficiency and effectiveness in health care delivery,
a program of internally and externally funded health services
research and,
the teaching of health and health services research methods to students, staff and faculty.
Program Objectives
To achieve our program aims the faculty involved have identified four objectives:
To organize a ‘critical mass’ of expertise within the Medical College of Georgia and across the University System faculty to undertake multi-disciplinary work related to health systems and health care delivery.
To work with health care delivery systems and health care professionals across Georgia and the southeast United States to improve the process and outcome of health care delivery. Specifically, to
Undertake research related to health care delivery, including health outcome, health economic, social/behavioral, and access-to-care issues.
Formulate and promote health care policies, including public health, drug, health technology, and health promotion/disease prevention issues.
To develop research proposals that will successfully attract peer-reviewed external research funding, as well as funding from health care providers and payers.
To expand the existing postgraduate curriculum and implement a graduate degree related to health care evaluation and health systems research.
Core Faculty
The Health Services Research group on the Medical College of Georgia campus incorporates all the necessary disciplines, including physicians, nurses, allied health professionals, economists, epidemiologists, behavioral scientists, and health care administrators. Contacting Us
If you are interested in finding out more details about the program or faculty, please contact
Donna M. Fick, PhD, Interim Director of Health Services Research, Department of Medicine, Medical College of Georgia
(706-721-0995; email: dfick@mail.mcg.edu).
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