News & Events

In a new study, Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) researchers have found an elevated risk of negative outcomes for women who are prescribed opioids for common doses after a Cesarean delivery.

The Department of Health Policy hosted its Research Into Policy and Practice Lecture Series on Aug. 24, which covered proposed reforms to Tenncare, which would overhaul the state's Medicaid program and replace it with a modified aggregate cap model. Watch the webinar, moderated by Melinda Buntin, PhD, Mike Curb Professor of Health Policy and Chair of the Department here. Panelists include Kinika Young, Senior Director of Health Policy at the Tennessee Justice Center and Mandy Pellegrin, Policy Director at the Sycamore Institute.   

A new study from researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center of all deliveries covered by Tennessee’s Medicaid program from 2009-16 (almost 315,000 mother-infant pairs) finds wide disparities in pregnant women receiving medications for opioid-use disorder – medications which have been shown to reduce risk of overdose death and improve pregnancy outcomes.

A new study by Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers of more the 400,000 Medicare patients taking medications for insomnia found that the risk of death is increased when either benzodiazepines or “z-drugs” are taken with opioids.

After a 2020 Vanderbilt University Medical Center study showed women have a difficult time accessing treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD), investigators analyzed comments received from the study’s participants to further shed light on barriers to care, which included everything from long on-hold times to difficult interactions with clinic receptionists during phone calls seeking appointments.

Stacie B. Dusetzina, PhD, associate professor of Health Policy and Ingram Associate Professor of Cancer Research at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine has been appointed to a three-year term on the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC).

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease, joined students in the Vanderbilt MPH program on May 7, 2021 to answer questions from current and former students about career development, the COVID-19 pandemic and other topics. Watch below or on YouTube.  

A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and academic researchers has found that COVID-19 vaccines are 94% effective at preventing hospitalization for COVID-19. The findings are among the first to demonstrate high effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S. population of older adults, and included data collected from January 2021 through March 2021. The study evaluated the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, the most commonly used during the study period.

Melinda Buntin, PhD, Mike Curb Chair of the Department of Health Policy joined other Vanderbilt University faculty in a virtual webinar that covered the future of the Affordable Care Act, which is being challenged in a lawsuit before the Supreme Court.  A decision in the case is expected this summer, but this discussion covers important aspects of the case, including the health economics, law and health policy implications of the case itself and the scenarios if the law is dismantled.  Watch on YouTube or in the video below.