Health Evaluation and Analytics Lab

The Health Evaluation and Analytics Lab (HEAL) promotes applied research to help health sector organizations evaluate initiatives that seek to improve health outcomes among populations and to improve healthcare delivery practices. HEAL was established in 2016 by the NYU Wagner School of Public Service and the Department of Population Health at NYU School of Medicine.

HEAL recognizes New York State’s national influence on Medicaid, population health, and healthcare delivery reform. As such, HEAL seeks to contribute to identifying successful health and healthcare innovations that can be implemented widely across New York and beyond. To accomplish this, HEAL fosters evidence-based interventions and program evaluation to accelerate solution development, iteration, and the implementation process. We seek better health for everyone; the sooner the better.

The HEAL initiative is directed by Charles Neighbors, Associate Professor in the Department of Population Health at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. HEAL builds on the broad research experience of John Billings, JD, of NYU Wagner and Professor Todor Mijanovich, PhD, of NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development.

What We Do

Over the next few years, HEAL hopes to build organizational capacity to help NYU faculty engage in applied evaluation research that assists both healthcare providers and a wide array of organizations dedicated to promoting population health. HEAL aims to enable these groups to develop evidence about which new initiatives work and which ones do not. People working on HEAL projects or currently developing projects include faculty from NYU Wagner, the NYU School of Medicine, the NYU Steinhardt School, and NYU’s Center for Urban Science and Progress. Faculty from City University’s Public Health School, Weill-Cornell Medical School, the Hunter College Social Work School, the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, and Mount Sinai Medical School also are in the process of developing projects.

HEAL also seeks to partner with the public sector, communities, healthcare and public health organizations, foundations, and nonprofits to learn about how to improve the functioning of the New York health system.

Our focus is on applied research that answers concrete questions for organizations trying to improve health outcomes. We want to learn as do all academics but we want to learn things that can have impact in real time.

The Medicaid Data Initiative

In its first year, HEAL has built a unique New York State Medicaid claims file. This large data system allows for a wide range of evaluative work focused on improving care and outcomes for the most vulnerable New Yorkers, who rely on Medicaid to pay for their medical care needs. The data set also allows providers to better track the services received by their patients. The effort to create the claims file analytical system was financially supported by the New York State Health Foundation and was done in close collaboration with the New York State Department of Health.

Our primary goal in developing the NYU Medicaid Claims File is to make it accessible to researchers and analysts across New York State and beyond. Our key metric of organizational success is to see the data set used as frequently as possible across New York State. A second metric of organizational success is an improved understanding among the research community and health sector leaders and managers about how the data can be used to answer questions about performance, cost patterns, and health outcomes. Access the Medicaid Claims File Codebook for more information about the dataset.

Linking Social Determinants Data to the NYU Medicaid Claims Files

With funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a team directed by NYU Wagner Dean Sherry Glied is linking the Medicaid Claims File to data tracking a range of social services, educational services, and exposures to public policy interventions that may have an effect on medical care use and well-being. Policies and programs in non-health sectors, such as education, transportation, housing, and social services, may influence health outcomes directly and indirectly; yet, many of these policies may not be based on scientific evidence or may not be implemented in a way that will optimally improve health. The project will investigate the relationship between a range of social policies and health outcomes and develop and validate a range of metrics for tracking the impact of these policies, which can be applied in settings across the country. Visit NYU Wagner's Policies for Action (P4A) hub for more detail about this initiative.

Read more about HEAL

CONTACT

Charles Neighbors, Director

Email: Charles.Neighbors@nyulangone.org

Kamila Kiszko

Email: kamila.kiszko@nyulangone.org