Department of Health Policy

July 26, 2018

Team Hope program’s mission is to enhance care for newborns with NAS

A collaborative program across units at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt is changing the way nurses and doctors care for newborns diagnosed with drug withdrawal symptoms at birth, also known as neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS).

By Christina Echegaray
July 26, 2018

Integrated, multidisciplinary approach key to opioid fight: panel

No single approach will end the epidemic of fatal overdoses caused by addiction to opioid painkillers and heroin that is ravaging this country, the U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health, Adm. Brett Giroir, MD, warned Tuesday during a panel discussion in a packed lecture hall at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

By Bill Snyder
July 19, 2018

Study shows legalizing same-sex marriage increased care access

Vanderbilt researchers have documented evidence that legalizing same-sex marriage has improved access to health care for gay men in a study released as a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper this week.

By VUMC News and Communications
July 12, 2018

Buntin visits the Hill

Melinda Buntin, PhD, Mike Curb Professor and Chair of the Department of Health Policy, recently testified before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee chaired by U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander.

By VUMC News and Communications
white pills spilling out of a prescription bottle
July 12, 2018

Study reveals opioid patients face multiple barriers to treatment

In areas of the country disproportionately affected by the opioid crisis, treatment programs are less likely to accept patients paying through insurance of any type or accept pregnant women, a new Vanderbilt study found.

By Christina Echegaray
May 24, 2018

Addressing the opioid crisis

U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, MD, MPH, visited Vanderbilt University Medical Center last week to speak at the spring Health Policy Grand Rounds at Langford Auditorium. The event was dedicated to combatting America’s opioid crisis, and Adams emphasized the importance of the overdose-reversal drug naloxone.

By VUMC News and Communications
May 17, 2018

Early discharge of NAS infants prolongs treatment

Infants who are diagnosed with drug withdrawal after birth who are treated with medication as outpatients at home are treated three times longer than infants treated solely as inpatients, according to a new Vanderbilt study.
By Christina Echegaray
May 9, 2018

Study finds generic options offer limited savings for expensive drugs

Generic drug options did not reduce prices paid for the cancer therapy imatinib (Gleevec), according to a Health Affairs study released this week.
By Craig Boerner
April 19, 2018

Speakers discuss use of evidence in state health policymaking

“State Health Policy: Does Evidence Really Make a Difference” was the title of the spring Research into Policy and Practice Lecture, April 11 in Light Hall. The semi-annual lecture is sponsored by the Department of Health Policy.
By Paul Govern
March 23, 2018

Study tracks impact of NAS on state Medicaid programs 

In the United States, one infant is born every 15 minutes with withdrawal symptoms after being exposed to opioids before birth, according to a new study published in the journal Pediatrics.
By Christina Echegaray
February 15, 2018

Discussing the opioid crises

Stephen Patrick, MD, MPH, MS, assistant professor of Pediatrics and Health Policy in the Division of Neonatology at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, testified before Congress recently about the rise and impact of drug withdrawal symptoms in newborns, also known as neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS).
By VUMC News and Communications
February 12, 2018

Opioid use increases risk of serious infections

Opioid users have a significantly increased risk of infections severe enough to require treatment at the hospital, such as pneumonia and meningitis, as compared to people who don’t use opioids.
By Craig Boerner
February 1, 2018

Study evaluates community-based health efforts

A new study from researchers at Vanderbilt and Harvard universities, published this week in the journal Health Affairs, uses federal health survey data to evaluate community-based efforts to address smoking, obesity and other health conditions such as type 2 diabetes and hypertension.
By Paul Govern
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