University of Southern California

Research

The Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics at the University of Southern California is one of the nation’s premier policy research centers.  Its mission is to promote health and value in healthcare delivery through innovative research and policy, both in the United States and internationally.  More than 20 distinguished scholars and faculty work in the Schaeffer Center to investigate a wide array of topics, including:  promoting value in health care spending; understanding how public policy affects medical innovation; improving insurance design; encouraging cost-effective care; and identifying the broader macroeconomic consequences of health care trends.  The Center’s work is supplemented by a visiting scholars program and collaborations with other universities, so that outside researchers can take advantage of the Center’s research infrastructure and data.

Center Aims:

• Promote value in health care spending.  Center studies focus on how to eliminate waste and promote value with special emphasis on the dissemination of advanced technology; and the potential of prevention to improve health and save costs.

• Understand how public policy affects pharmaceutical innovation. Center studies focus on the relationship between public policy and pharmaceutical research investment, evaluation of public vs. private sector funding of basic science, ways in which the FDA and liability system can work more efficiently to protect consumers, and assessing the value of technology for patients and innovators.

• Improve Insurance Design. Center studies focus on how plan design impacts the timing and choice of treatment, patient compliance and health outcomes in multiple disease contexts.

• Identify the Macroeconomic Consequences of U.S. Health Care Costs. Center studies focus on a thorough understanding of the consequences of health spending growth by assessing the differential impacts on business, labor productivity and government.

• Improve Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER).  Center studies are focusing on how CER might produce therapeutic “winners” and “losers,” affect pricing and innovation, and trigger other changes in the broader marketplace for care.

• Train a new generation of health care leaders and researchers. The Center is actively engaged in training new investigators with excellent research skills who can be the “innovators of the future,” asking different questions, developing new research methods, and supporting an interdisciplinary approach. In addition, the Center is helping the next generation of health care leaders develop strong management, team-building and communication skills as part of this training.