Center for Health Policy & Health Services Research

The Center for Health Policy & Health Services Research (CHSR) is a research unit within the Henry Ford Health.

Overview

In 1999, two successful operations - the Center for Clinical Effectiveness, founded by Dr. Wilmer Rutt (1987) and the Center for Health System Studies, founded by Dr. David Nerenz (1988, based on the earlier Center for Applied Research) - merged to form the Center for Health Services Research (CHSR). Its mission of achieving excellence in health services research and improving human life by applying and disseminating research knowledge continues today. In March of 2010, CHSR was asked to take on the role of leading and coordinating health policy analysis and policy research for Henry Ford Health System. This decision was driven in part by the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and by the increasing number of opportunities for Medicare demonstration projects that might include HFHS as a participant. At that time, the Center’s name changed to the Center for Health Policy & Health Services Research (CHPHSR).

The specific tasks taken on by CHPHSR under the "Health Policy" heading include: monitoring of regulatory developments following PPACA; monitoring announcements of CMS and other federal demonstration projects; coordinating HFHS applications to CMS and other demonstration projects; analysis of HFHS and other relevant data sets to have background information for HFHS communications on health policy; preparation of white papers and other forms of communication about health policy issues; conduct of policy-relevant empirical research, and attendance at health policy meetings and conference calls as HFHS representatives.

The CHPHSR continues its mission to conduct research relevant to health policy decisions at the state and national levels, and to be a focal point for the Henry Ford Health's participation in, and influence on, those decisions. The Center has grown since that time and currently includes six core divisions: Health Services Research, Health Policy, Education/Training (2021), Global Health (2022), Value-Based Care (2023), and Healthcare Improvement (2021).

In 2024, the Center investigators and staff were authors on 112 papers published in peer-reviewed journals and 62 presentations at regional and national meetings. Both accomplishments represent the largest single year totals in our history. Center investigators also received $7.1 million in new awards from federal, foundation, and industry grants. Please read our 2024 Annual report.

2024 Highlights include:

Health Services Research

This past year our featured new grant was a 5-year NIMH-funded R01 project supporting a comprehensive study to develop and validate national quality measures for suicide prevention and care in United States healthcare systems. Dr. Brian Ahmedani serves as the overall Principal Investigator of the project, which also includes investigators and teams from the Washington and Colorado regions of Kaiser Permanente along with stakeholders from NCQA and The Joint Commission.

Dr. Jordan Braciszewski received Flinn foundation funding to support development and implementation of an electronic safety planning intervention within school-based health clinics. Dr. Julia Felton received an NIH-funded R01 award to conduct a hybrid effectiveness implementation trial of a peer-delivered depression intervention. Expanding our portfolio in precision medicine, Dr. Hongsheng Gui also received an American Foundation for Suicide Prevention award to study poly-omic risk scores and suicide attempt.

Health Policy

Our health policy team continued to serve an important role conducting analysis and research of key federal and state policies as well as supporting the system through comment letters, development of policy briefs and Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) demonstration models. The policy research staff lead or participate in publication of influential policy research papers in leading medical or health policy journals. Dr. David Nerenz, in collaboration with CHPHSR biostatistician Jianhui Hu, PhD, completed a set of analyses on the use of expensive cancer chemotherapy drugs by 340B hospitals; these results were presented at a national 340B policy meeting in Washington, DC and will be published in an upcoming issue of BMC Health Services Research. The policy research staff also participate in key federal and state committees. Dr. Nerenz serves as a member of the National Quality Forum Provider Group Stakeholder Advisory Panel and as a member of the Disparities Standing Committee and has served recently as a consultant to US News and World Report for their rankings of Medicare Advantage plans. He is also a member of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Health Care Payment Action Learning Network (HCP-LAN) and the CMS Hospital Harm Technical Expert panel.

Education & Training

The Center’s Education and Training Core provides mentoring and a supportive structure for trainee growth across several areas including post-doctoral research fellows, psychiatry residents, medical/graduate students, social work interns, undergraduates, and clinical psychology interns and fellows. In 2024, Center staff provided research and/or clinical education and training to 95 trainees at various levels of education. The cornerstone of these efforts resides in our National Institute of Mental Health-funded T32 Training Program in Mental Health Services Research. Our T32 program is in its fourth year of funding and provides training to two first-year fellows and two second-year fellows simultaneously. Our first-year fellows, Drs. Mason Breitzig and Carlisha Hall were selected and began working in our fellowship in summer/fall of 2024. Our T32 program continues to expand in its national recognition, as we received 15 very competitive applications from across the country for our 2025-2026 cohort and are excited to work with our two incoming fellows for next year.

Dr. Ashlee Vance was awarded a 3-year R25 training grant entitled, “A Nursing Program for Advancing Training in Health and Social Determinants (N-PATHS).” Through a competitive application process, select nurses and other allied health professionals take part in a 9-month comprehensive research training program grounded in community-based, participatory research.

Global Health

The Center hosted the 5th Zero Suicide International Summit in Liverpool, England in partnership with Henry Ford’s Behavioral Health Services and Global Health Initiative as well as NHS Mersey Care in England. The Summit brought together more than 110 stakeholders from 25 countries representing 6 continents. The Summit was highlighted by introductory remarks from HRH The Prince of Wales in England and included sessions focused on individuals with lived experience, workforce suicide prevention, innovative technologies, and zero suicide opportunities in low- and middle-income countries. In commemoration of the event, the city of Liverpool lit all the governmental buildings in orange.

Zero Suicide International will now support our entire portfolio of suicide prevention activities. This includes our NIMH funded R21 grant, which seeks to develop implementation strategies for suicide prevention among youth in Nepal. As a demonstration of our work, the team hosted a large stakeholder meeting in Nepal featuring representatives from various business sectors along with leaders from the Ministry of Health, World Health Organization, and UNICEF. Dr. Brian Ahmedani presented at the Asian Federation of Psychiatric Associations International Conference in Abu Dhabi in June, while Dr. Jordan Braciszewski presented grand rounds for Nepal’s Patan Hospital in October. The team also presented at the Mental Health Conference in Bogata, Colombia.

Value-Based Care

The Center continued its division focused on Specialty Value-Based Care in 2024. In partnership with Dr. Charles Day – System Medical Director for value-based specialty care and Deedra LaPointe – System Administrative Director for value-based specialty care, the team maintains the journey to improve healthcare at Henry Ford and around the country by focusing on new ways to improve the quality and cost of care with our specialties. The long-term goal of our unique venture is to develop innovative value-based care models to support the highest quality care at the lowest cost within all of our Henry Ford medical specialty departments serving as a model for other health systems across the nation.

Healthcare Improvement

Our Center continues to support two large Blue Cross Blue Shield-funded statewide Collaborative Quality Initiatives.

The Michigan Spine Surgery Improvement Collaborative (MSSIC)
One of the most significant and ongoing focuses for MSSIC is addressing disparities in spine care. Our data has consistently shown that African American patients and those living in disadvantaged neighborhoods experience worse surgical outcomes, including more complications, less pain relief, and lower rates of return to work. To tackle these disparities, the MSSIC Coordinating Center introduced an equity dashboard which was distributed to each MSSIC hospital. This dashboard provided hospital-specific outcomes, stratified by race and neighborhood deprivation. We emphasized that addressing equity is not a separate or competing quality improvement (QI) task but an essential component of improving overall care. In 2024, we built upon this foundation at the Abstractor Symposium, where we engaged participants in discussions about potential factors contributing to disparities, such as living alone, untreated depression, or undergoing emergent rather than elective surgery. The goal is to pinpoint factors that lead to significant disparities, which can then be targeted through QI initiatives. To support this effort, the MSSIC QI team developed and distributed a root cause analysis tool focused on ED utilization, which highlights specific risks contributing to disparities. Learn more about working together for better spine surgery results.

The Michigan Mental Innovation Network and Clinical Design (MI-Mind)
As the MI Mind Collaborative Quality Initiative (CQI) enters its fourth year of implementation, it continues to teach providers in primary care and behavioral health brief evidence-based interventions, such as suicide risk screening, safety planning, risk assessment, and lethal means counseling based on the Henry Ford Zero Suicide™ initiative. The 20024 collaborative-wide meeting featured Kevin Fischer, the executive director of NAMI Michigan and founder/CEO of "EVERYBODY-VS-STIGMA," who shared his lived experience and provided valuable insights into reducing stigma around accessing mental health services. In October, the program launched the “On MI Mind” webinar series, designed to augment the core zero suicide model curriculum with additional mental health and suicide prevention topics. Noteworthy webinars included a session on provider wellness from Dr. Lisa Maclean titled “The Healing Properties of Being a Provider,” and a two-part series from Dr. Cathrine Frank, MI Mind program co-director and chair emeritus, covering advanced use of psychotropic medications for treatment of anxiety and depression. Learn more about MI Mind.

Center staff

The Center for Health Services Research includes staff with training and expertise in health services research, clinical epidemiology, economics, computer science, finance, health education, psychology, sociology and medicine. Center staff also maintains experience and expertise in the use of large administrative and claims databases as well as survey research methods. View CHSR Staff Members.

Mission

The Center for Health Policy and Health Services Research seeks to discover the underlying causal relationships that affect the effectiveness and efficiency of health care services. Through excellence in research, we strive to provide the knowledge needed to improve quality of care, maximize the health of populations, and minimize the burden of disease. The Center seeks to conduct research relevant to health policy decisions at the state and national levels, and to be a focal point for the Henry Ford Health's participation in, and influence on, those decisions.

We seek to produce high-quality science as evidenced through our publications. We strive to actively contribution to the direction of health policy by providing objective and incisive analyses that result in sound decisions regarding the provision and financing of care.

Vision

The Center for Health Policy and Health Services Research will be a nationally-recognized source of important, clinically-relevant health services research findings. Its staff will be active participants in the processes that establish health care policy, and it will be a catalyst for our health system's organizational participation in those processes.