About

Mission

The Boston University Health Policy Institute (HPI) brings together scholars and health professionals from across the University and affiliated institutions to engage in research and evaluation activities to illuminate our understanding of health policy issues, and to develop and analyze strategic policy options for improving health care. HPI conducts research in four core areas of interest:

1) Strategies for improving healthcare quality, access, and affordability;

2) Cross-national comparisons of health care systems;

3) Tools for healthcare informatics and information systems; and

4) Organizational transformation in health care.

Based within the School of Management, the Institute also houses the national program offices of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Scholars in Health Policy Research Program and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Investigator Awards in Health Policy Research.

History

The HPI was founded in 1975 under the direction of Richard H. Egdahl, M.D. For much of its first three decades, the Institute conducted research studies in the areas of hospital payment, health technology, and resource decision making, and functioned as a laboratory for developing and testing innovative solutions to health system problems. During the 1990s, the Institute hosted the Health Care Entrepreneurship Program (HCEP), also under the direction of Dr. Egdahl, and served as an incubator for new start-ups and product development in medicine and health.

In 2003, Alan B. Cohen, Sc.D., joined the Institute as executive director and the primary research focus shifted to the evaluation of strategies for improving healthcare quality, access, and affordability. Other areas of interest included: cross-national comparisons of health care systems; strategies for increasing human capital in health policy and quality improvement; and the evaluation of policies governing the adoption and regulation of medical technology.

In 2010, the HPI became a unit of the School of Management and its mission and core objectives were redefined and refocused to include the four areas listed above. This strategic expansion of core activities was motivated by the growing importance of these areas to health policy in the U.S. and other countries, and by the rich resources relevant to each area that exist across Boston University. With support from the Office of the Provost, the HPI seeks to connect faculty members from across the University to conduct collaborative, interdisciplinary research. Senior Fellows are drawn from the School of Management, the School of Medicine, the School of Public Health, the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Engineering, and the School of Law, as well as from Boston Medical Center.

Contact

Boston University Health Policy Institute
53 Bay State Road
Boston, MA 02215
Phone: (617) 353-4520
Fax: (617) 353-6393
Email: buhpi@bu.edu

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<! st1:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } –> <!–[endif]–> <!–[endif]–>The HPI was founded in 1975 under the direction of Richard H. Egdahl, M.D. For much of its first three decades, the Institute conducted research studies in the areas of hospital payment, health technology, and resource decision making, and functioned as a laboratory for developing and testing innovative solutions to health system problems. During the 1990s, the Institute hosted the Health Care Entrepreneurship Program (HCEP), also under the direction of Dr. Egdahl, and served as an incubator for new start-ups and product development in medicine and health.