The Challenge
Philadelphia is seeing an alarming growth in gun violence, particularly over the last year. Hospital-based violence intervention programs can interrupt this trend by addressing victims’ psychological and physical wounds of trauma. Since the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion, Medicaid has become the largest payer of health care costs for violent injury in the United States. Examining Medicaid data from the delivery of these promising programs could lead to a better understanding of what medical services patients receive following violent injuries and which are needed to promote healing and prevent reinjury.
The Project
Through this Emerging Leader Fellowship, Janene Brown will work with The Health Alliance for Violence Intervention to lead a research study assessing the impacts of a hospital-based violence intervention program to support evidence-based investments in violence prevention.
Specifically, this Fellowship will enable Janene to:
- Analyze Medicaid claims data to better understand the healthcare utilization costs for violently injured patients and the impact of hospital-based violence intervention programs on health care and social service utilization.
- Inform policymakers of the effects of hospital-based violence intervention programs on Pennsylvania’s Medicaid program. This includes direct work with policy partners as well as the communication of findings via policy briefs and peer-reviewed publications.
