FEATURE STORIES

Heat and Cold Deaths Rising for Less Educated

Research by Sameed Khatana revealed increasing temperature-related deaths among people with low levels of educational attainment compared to the more educated. 

Savings from Cost Plus Drugs vs. Employer Insurance

Jalpa Doshi and colleagues found high potential savings from Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs for patients facing high out-of-pocket costs through insurance. 

America's Unpaid Caregiver Crisis

Norma Coe, Pilar Gonalons-Pons, Nancy Hodgson, Allison Hoffman, Barbara Riegel, and Rachel M. Werner examined the burden on family caregivers and outlined policy changes and programs to improve their well-being. 

Transforming NIH-Funded Pediatric Research

Christopher Forrest served on a National Academies committee which developed recommendations for how the NIH could better support pediatric research. 

Don't Normalize Workplace Violence Against Nurses

Kathryn Connell, Juliana Byers, and Jane Muir named workplace violence as a structural problem in health care and offered federal policy recommendations to reduce it. 

 PENN LDI AT 2026 ACADEMYHEALTH ANNUAL RESEARCH MEETING

Research by many LDI Fellows was represented at the 2026 AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting from May 30–June 2 in Seattle. Check out photos, poster presentations, and more from the event. 

 EVENT RECAP

Decoding the Moment: Can the No Surprises Act be Fixed?

Our virtual discussion drew in 400+ attendees to explore why the No Surprises Act has failed to deliver on its cost-cutting promise, what could be done to change things, and larger lessons for future policy change.

IN THE MEDIA

“Why Insurers Still See Value-Based Care as the Answer to High Costs.” Mark Pauly. Modern Healthcare

“Nurses in B.C. Have Voted Overwhelmingly in Favour of a Strike.” Karen Lasater. CBC

“How Community-Based Care is Helping People Control High Blood Pressure.” Richard Wender. American Heart Association News

“How Do Clinical Trials Work, and Who Can Participate?” Holly Fernandez Lynch. WNYC 

“Penn, Shapiro Partner on $650K Effort To Combat Youth Homelessness.” Vincent Reina. Philadelphia Tribune

PUBLICATIONS

“Partisan and Geographic Variation in Emotional Responses to COVID-19 Vaccination on Social Media.” Kokil Jaidka, Yuanyuan Wu, Anku Rani, Ozan Kuru, Reyhan Jamalova, Garrick Sherman, Sharath Chandra Guntuku. JAMA Network Open

“Rx Kids: Designing Cash Transfers as Health Policy.” Aaron Richterman, Harsha Thirumurthy. Lancet Public Health

“Training a Smoking Status Probabilistic Model Using Cotinine Levels in a Large Claims Database.” Dominique Medaglio, Charles E. Leonard, Alisa J. Stephens Shields, Robert A. Schnoll, Robert Gross. Nicotine & Tobacco Research 

“Participants in Medicare’s New Mandatory Bundled Payment Program.” Joshua M. Liao, Yixin Tang, Danielle S. Browne, Isabelle J. Carroll, Ayush Arora, Jennifer R. Cardin, Aidan P. Crowley, Vrushabh Ladage, Austin S. Kilaru, Amol S. Navathe. Population Health Management 

“Mental Health Treatment Experiences Before, During, and After Incarceration: Perspectives of Formerly Incarcerated Black Men.” Helena A. Addison, Kathryn Thomas, Therese S. Richmond, Toorjo Ghose, Sara F. Jacoby. Psychological Services 

Penn’s Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics is a national leader in advancing health policy through transformative research.