Research News
June 25, 2009
VA HSR&D Health Economics Resource Center Co-Edits July's Medical Care Special Supplement on Health Care Costing
VA HSR&D Health Economics Resource Center (HERC) director Paul Barnett, Ph.D., was co-editor of a special supplement about health care cost, which will appear with the July issue of Medical Care.
The supplement—Health Care Costing: Data, Methods, Future Directions, includes 21 papers, of which Barnett is the author of one and co-author of three others. The special supplement is the result of collaboration between the National Cancer Institute, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The papers were written by experts in health economics, epidemiology, health services research, and biostatistics, and discuss ways to improve and apply health care cost estimation methods and promote research in this area. Health economists from universities, health plans, and private industry contributed to the effort. The special issue also outlines an agenda for future research on health care costing.
Within VA, HERC's mission is to increase the quality of VA health economics research and cost-effectiveness studies so that Veterans and the nation receive the best possible health care value from available resources. By contributing considerable expertise to preparation of this special publication, HERC is helping to advance the understanding of best practices and challenges in measuring costs, conducting statistical analysis of cost data, and applying the data to policy decisions.
The publication is available through AHRQ Publications Clearinghouse, and can be ordered online at AHRQPubs@ahrq.hhs.gov. Please reference OM 09-0079: Medical Care supplement on health care costing when ordering.