Research and Conference Objectives

The Center for Health Services Research (CHSR) Fund examines significant issues and interventions related to health care disparities within our community. While by no means exhaustive, the CHSR Fund areas listed below are examined within the context of these "social determinants" (e.g. community, school, workplace), that have an impact on health care service delivery to ethnic minority communities:

  • Access to Quality Health Care
  • Behavioral Health
  • Consumer Behavior
  • Coordination of Care
  • Costs and Cost Containment
  • Costs and Quality
  • Disparities
  • Health Information Technology
  • Insurance Coverage
  • Managed Care
  • Medicaid and SCHIP (State Children’s Health Insurance Program)
  • Medicare
  • Prescription Drugs
  • Preventive Care
  • Provider Payment and Behavior
  • Public Health Systems
  • Vulnerable Populations

More importantly, the CHSR Fund project will directly impact the field of health services research in several areas by collecting data on race, ethnicity, sex, primary language, and disability status, and any other data deemed appropriate by the Fund to help understand health disparities locally and nationally.

The CHSR Fund Research and Conference objectives:

  • Discussions to increase resources to investigate the causes of health disparities and develop strategies to reduce them within the community;
  • Discussions to identify strategies that overcome barriers to health care services and address the primary prevention of obesity for youth and adults in communities, medical care, schools, and workplaces;
  • Discussions about the economic analysis on health care services, obesity prevention, and control efforts (e.g., cost burden of obesity on healthcare system and employers, cost effectiveness of prevention);
  • Discussions on the use of law-based efforts for new preventive interventions and recommendations that considers social, economic and physical environments of communities to improve health care services quality, safety, and delivery to prevent and control obesity (e.g., legislation, regulation and policies);
  • Work to explain the evidence base for policy and environmental strategies to improve health care delivery, prevents and control obesity, and identifies indicators of success for the strategy among ethnic minority populations.