Scholars-in-Residence to Study Care Coordination Networks

The Public Policy Center (PPC) welcomed the first PPC Summer Scholars-in-Residence team in mid-May. Sato Ashida, Associate Professor in Community & Behavioral Health (CPH), University of Iowa College of Public Health; Tessa Heeren, Research Associate in the PPC’s Health Policy Research Program; and Daniel Sewell, Assistant Professor of Biostatistics (CPH), are examining the network connections among Iowa’s seven regional Accountable Communities of Health sites. Caitlin Ward, a Graduate Research Assistant in the Health Policy Research Program and PhD candidate in Biostatistics (CPH), will also assist on the project. 

The networks were developed with a shared mission to identify populations with unmet social determinants of health needs and execute coordinated care through local coalitions of diverse stakeholders (health care providers, social services, insurers, and others). The team will use survey data from stakeholders, site reports, and staff interviews to help understand the factors that facilitate or impede sustainable connections. Can we predict common factors in sustainable, collaborative relationships  that are foundational to achieving systematic, comprehensive care?

The team intends to write a manuscript over the summer and will present their work to the PPC community during the Fall semester. This project is supported by the PPC. For more information about the PPC Summer Scholars-in-Residence program, click here.