As Congress continues its debate about whether to extend enhanced Obamacare Marketplace health insurance subsidies, leading health economists at a University of Pennsylvania virtual panel discussion warned that millions could lose coverage, costs could soar, and thousands of lives may be put at greater risk—underscoring the stark tradeoffs between expanding access to insurance and curbing […]| Penn LDI
“The policies we adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic still reverberate and shape many of our public health debates and challenges today,” said David Grande, MD, MPA, “It’s essential to take stock of how data and evidence, communication strategies and political dynamics shaped pandemic decisions. What lessons have we learned? And perhaps most importantly, how can […]| Penn LDI
The latest wave of health technology transformation was set in motion by the 2009 HITECH Act, which mandated and incentivized the adoption of electronic health records (EHRs). Now, those rapidly advancing systems are spawning a second revolution—evolving into massive “nudge” engines that weave human clinicians and machine intelligence together in real-time decision-making. Rapidly emerging research […]| Penn LDI
This op-ed was posted in The Philadelphia Inquirer on Sept 18, 2025. As Philadelphia’s former Health Commissioner, I know that sooner or later, we will face another grave public health emergency. Besides the COVID-19 pandemic, my nearly three years as the head of Philly’s health department included the mpox outbreak, the arrival of multiple displaced […]| Penn LDI
Medicare beneficiaries who are terminally ill can choose to entrust the end of their life to a hospice agency; each year, about half of Medicare beneficiaries who die receive hospice services. Enrolling in hospice means individuals forgo all other services related to their terminal illness, including curative care, and rely on the hospice agency to […]| Penn LDI
The University of Pennsylvania’s Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics (Penn LDI) has announced a new major research effort that—in collaboration with Humana’s health services brand CenterWell—will focus on expanding access to care and improving health outcomes for seniors. The Penn LDI Research Initiative on Improving Primary Care for Older Adults program will evaluate primary […]| Penn LDI
Parents ensure their newborn gets care, but may neglect their own health, a new LDI study confirms. Rural parents, in particular, had more hospitalizations and acute care visits and faced more problems getting postpartum obstetric or gynecological care than their urban peers. But parents’ health fared worse than their infants across the board. “People naturally […]| Penn LDI
CHERISH, a collaborative national research center funded 10 years ago to study the health economics of substance use disorder treatment, hepatitis C (HCV), and HIV, has received a new $10.9 million National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) grant to continue its studies for another five years. The University of Pennsylvania’s Leonard Davis Institute of Health […]| Penn LDI
The following excerpt was published in the Online Journal of Issues in Nursing on June 23, 2025. Science is under threat in the United States. This includes nursing science, which has implications for the health and wellbeing of the people for whom nurses care. The reverberations of this threat have been enormous, particularly as the […]| Penn LDI
The United States has the highest incarceration rate of any country, with more than half of those individuals serving in state prisons. Heart disease is the leading cause of death for Americans. In a recent study, researchers from the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics (LDI) examined records from state prison systems to understand how […]| Penn LDI
Children in the United States are dying sooner and are sicker now than they were twenty years ago. Chronic disease is more common.| Penn LDI
More older people are being diagnosed with opioid use disorder (OUD) even as the treatment system often fails to help them. That’s the view of two LDI Senior Fellows who see these patients turning up…| Penn LDI
This op-ed was posted on August 13, 2025 by Philadelphia Citizen. The legalization of recreational marijuana remains unapproved in Pennsylvania even as various leaders up to the Governor circulate…| Penn LDI
Safety net hospital funding from federal, state, and local governments relies on definitions that yield highly variable results.| Penn LDI
A new qualitative study analyzed responses from more than 1,000 hospital nurses outlining barriers and facilitators to caring for disadvantaged patients.| Penn LDI
AI-powered system from Penn researchers boosts HIV prevention by creating real-time, evidence-based social media messages for hard-to-reach groups.| Penn LDI
LDI Senior Fellow Aditi Vasan and colleagues quantified the impact of Medicaid continuous eligibility policies on children’s health care use.| Penn LDI
Incarcerated patients often miss vital pre- and post-op care. Experts call for systemic reform to improve surgical outcomes for this vulnerable group.| Penn LDI
Eric T. Roberts found that D-SNPS, Medicare Advantage plans with integrated care for dual-eligible individuals, had lower disenrollment rates than other MA plans.| Penn LDI
A Penn Medicine program to train an inaugural cohort of teens to green their neighborhoods completed a month-long curriculum in late July.| Penn LDI
Mandated nurse-to-patient ratios save lives, reduce burnout, and cut costs. New Penn Nursing brief urges policymakers to adopt enforceable staffing standards.| Penn LDI
A new NEJM piece written by Atheendar Venkataramani explores how public discussion of policies can impact population health, particularly for marginalized groups.| Penn LDI
LDI Senior Fellow Ingrid Nembhard and her team made five recommendations to improve patient surveys in a JAMA Health Forum viewpoint published on May 30.| Penn LDI
A first-ever study co-authored by LDI’s Scott Lorch & led by Michel Boudreaux documented perinatal health care resources in communities prone to wildfire smoke.| Penn LDI
Congressional cuts to SNAP benefits are putting over 1 million Pennsylvania families at risk of hunger. Experts warn the $180 billion reduction will deepen food insecurity, hurt children’s health, and strain state budgets.| Penn LDI
LDI’s Executive Director Rachel M. Werner discusses the impact of OBBBA’s Medicaid cuts on long-term care in Marketplace’s “Make Me Smart” Podcast| Penn LDI
Trump’s Medicaid cuts hurt millions. Ezekiel Emanuel proposes a 7-point plan to streamline coverage, reduce waste, and expand access nationwide.| Penn LDI
We are Penn’s hub for health care delivery, health policy, and population health.| Penn LDI
The 2020s require a new strategy that moves from a short-term focus on testing new payment models to a long-term focus on expanding models that are most likely to generate substantial savings and…| Penn LDI
Report from a University of Pennsylvania seminar looking at the contrast between the “War on Drugs,” which devastated Black and Latino communities through mass incarceration, and today’s public health…| Penn LDI
Bachelor’s-prepared nurses are associated with better hospital outcomes, regardless of the educational pathway a nurse takes to get the degree.| Penn LDI
Eric T. Roberts discusses the impact of the House Budget Reconciliation Bill on insurance coverage for seniors, people with disabilities, and children.| Penn LDI
Steven Joffe, MD, MPH is a pediatric oncologist and bioethicist at the University of Pennsylvania.| Penn LDI
Holly Fernandez Lynch, JD, MBE, is an Associate Professor of Medical Ethics and Law at the University of Pennsylvania.| Penn LDI
Eric T. Roberts, PhD is an Associate Professor in the General Internal Medicine Department at the Perelman School of Medicine.| Penn LDI
We aim to achieve effective and efficient health care for all people by supporting collaborative, interdisciplinary, cutting-edge research, and education.| Penn LDI
A study finds lack of access to nutritious food is associated with early death among cancer survivors.| Penn LDI
Steven Joffe, Holly Fernandez Lynch, & colleagues recommend five policy reforms to strengthen the FDA’s Accelerated Approval program for oncology drugs.| Penn LDI
Zeke Emanuel & colleagues evaluated national data from the only public source, Medicare Cost Reports, and found significant shortcomings in the information.| Penn LDI
Colleagues from Penn LDI & Yale School of Public Health compiled research detailing the potential mortality impacts of the GOP’s Budget Reconciliation Bill| Penn LDI
Zachary Meisel’s research memo to House Speaker Mike Johnson & Majority Leader John Thune estimates excess overdoses from the One Big Beautiful Bill’s Medicaid cuts.| Penn LDI
Sameed Khatana’s research memo to House Speaker Mike Johnson & Majority Leader John Thune estimates mortality impacts from the One Big Beautiful Bill’s SNAP cuts| Penn LDI
On November 12, 2024 LDI Senior Fellow Arina Chesnokova, MD, MPH and Julia Hinckley, JD, Director of Policy Strategy at LDI briefed staff members from the office of U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal on female sterilization access for individuals covered by Medicaid Insurance.| Penn LDI
Andy Tan testified before Philadelphia City Council in support of Bill 250213, which would increase penalties for selling vapes and nicotine products to minors.| Penn LDI
Rachel Werner briefed the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance on the impact of federal rules setting minimum staffing standards for long-term care facilities.| Penn LDI
LDI’s Rachel Werner submitted research & recommendations to the U.S. Committee on Ways & Means regarding ensuring access to quality post-acute care.| Penn LDI
The 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision sparked profound change in reproductive health care, and there has been perpetual interest since in the effects of the ruling.| Penn LDI
When a mulithospital system initially buys an independent hospital, efficiency and revenue rise. This is not true when system-owned hospitals get bought.| Penn LDI
Since the Food and Drug Administration first (FDA) began approving commercial applications of CAR-T and CRISPR cell and gene-based therapies (CGT) over the last six years, there has been a growing…| Penn LDI
Improving health and reducing health disparities through a more equitable health care system.| Penn LDI
Penn LDI’s Summer Undergraduate Mentored Research Program introduces students of diverse experiences and perspectives to the fields of health economics, health care management, health policy and clinical epidemiology.| Penn LDI
A 10-week fellowship in the demography and economics of aging and health care for undergraduates from underrepresented backgrounds.| Penn LDI
Aditi Vasan (she/her), MD, MSHP is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania and a pediatric hospitalist at Children’s Hospital.| Penn LDI
Hoag Levins is a journalist, photographer, and digital content producer who joined Penn LDI in 2011.| Penn LDI
George Dalembert, MD, MSHP is an attending physician in the Division of General Pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and an Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at the…| Penn LDI
Miles Meline, MBE is a Senior Policy Coordinator at Penn LDI. He was also a Summer Undergraduate Minority Research (SUMR) Scholar at LDI during the cohort of 2021.| Penn LDI
Paula Chatterjee, MD, MPH, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine and Director of Health Equity Research| Penn LDI
Atheendar Venkataramani, MD, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the Perelman School of Medicine,| Penn LDI
Optimizing insurance and access to health care to provide high-quality health care.| Penn LDI
Atul Gupta, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Health Care Management at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.| Penn LDI
Chris Tachibana is a Staff Writer for Penn LDI. She is also Senior Managing Editor of the journal Health Services Research.| Penn LDI
Medicare and Medicaid fail to work together effectively. For the 12.5 million Americans dually enrolled in both programs, navigating a maze of jargon| Penn LDI
CMS has frequently leveraged kidney payment models to test new policies that were subsequently integrated into non-kidney payment models| Penn LDI
Punitive laws, particularly against people who enter the U.S. at the Mexican border, may lead to poor newborn health.| Penn LDI
The federal government wants 80% of kidney disease patients to get dialysis at home| Penn LDI
