Sarah Bauer, a doctoral student in health services research in the PHHP department of health services research, management and policy, has received an intramural summer fellowship with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The fellowship program provides opportunities for individuals to work with leading health services researchers on “real life” issues that support the agency’s mission and contribute to improvements in health care.
Bauer will be working with senior economists at the Center for Delivery, Organization, and Markets on a project examining the spillover effects of the utilization of health care services by Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries on the utilization of health care services by Medicare Advantage enrollees. A major focus of the research is to examine whether Medicare Advantage plans reduce the number of inpatient hospital services in markets where Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries have high service utilization.