Last Update: 10/2025
The Health Care Financing Initiative fosters research and engagement between our students and faculty, legislative and policymaking leaders, and industry leaders in the areas of health economics, health care financing and public policy. The McCourt School established the Health Care Financing Initiative (HCFI) in June 2018 with the generous support of the Institute for Critical Care Foundation.
Our recent projects have focused on the economics of health care at the intersection of medical and social services.
Extending the Conversation on Return-On-Investment (ROI) Analysis
August 24th, 2026
…Designing Evaluations for the Decisions They Must Inform. Return on Investment (ROI) analysis is having a moment in health services research. As healthcare organizations increasingly address…
A Framework for Distinguishing Pediatric Primary Care Food As Medicine Programs Within the Food Assistance Ecosystem
May 12th, 2026
As part of an ongoing economic evaluation of Food As Medicine program for MedStar’s Dept. Community Pediatrics, we sought to articulate the role of primary care in the broader food assistance ecosystem.…
How Data Signals Shape Outcomes, Equity, and Economic Findings in Maternal Mental Health Research
May 12th, 2026
Maternal mood disorders are a priority risk factor addressed in perinatal care. In this brief, we examine the choice between screening data and billing data to identify patients in retrospective research. …
The Economics of Adverse Perinatal Outcomes: What Does the Literature Show?
January 16th, 2026
Developed as part of the Safe Babies Safe Moms (SBSM) health economics research program, the reviews trace the progression of evidence that reshaped our analytic framework—moving from traditional…
What Do OBBB’s Medicaid Provisions Mean for Families with Children in DC?
October 1st, 2025
This blog highlights our ongoing work to understand how proposed Medicaid changes affect low-income families with children in Washington, DC. We examined how policy shifts could reshape household stability and access to care.…
What Could OBBB Mean for Families with Children in DC?: Monte Carlo Simulation 2025
October 1st, 2025
This brief presents our Monte Carlo simulation of the proposed OBBB provisions. Modeling 1,000 families across income levels and demographic profiles, we estimate how changes to Medicaid, CHIP, and SNAP could reverberate through household budgets, health coverage, and food security……
Advancing Maternal and Infant Health Research Through Data Interoperability
July 3rd, 2025
This blog highlights our work on integrating maternal and neonatal data systems as part of the Safe Babies Safe Moms (SBSM) initiative. By linking clinical, billing, and appointment records under a unified mother-baby dataset, we demonstrate how internal interoperability can lay the groundwork for more effective care models and data-driven maternal health policy……
Return on Investment from Safe Babies Safe Moms; Evidence from the 2023 Cohort
June 27th, 2025
This study combines findings from several prior research reports prepared during the SBSM research program. We have extended our empirical work on cost-effectiveness into a nascent analysis of the potential societal return on investment in SBSM, by comparing the incremental program costs and savings immediately after delivery alongside the potential benefits from payer or societal view.…
Stewardship & Sustainability: An Economic Evaluation Plan for Pediatric Food Security and Financial Health Interventions
June 18th, 2025
This framework was developed to address the need for robust, policy-relevant evidence on the viability of integrating social interventions into pediatric primary care. Findings show that these programs can generate measurable financial and health-related value, offering a foundation for integration, scalability, and long-term sustainability……
Analysis of Multiple Gestation Pregnancies within a Cohort of Mom-Baby Dyads
March 8th, 2025
Many scholars have researched healthcare costs and maternal outcomes associated with singleton and multiple births. The results demonstrate significant variations in prematurity rates, morbidity, mortality, and length of hospital stay…
MedStar Health’s Safe Babies Safe Moms Program Featured in NEJM Catalyst
February 28th, 2025
A new study, D.C. Safe Babies Safe Moms: A Novel, Multigenerational Model to Reduce Maternal and Infant Health Disparities, has been published in The New England Journal of Medicine Catalyst,…
Research and Impact at Washington Hospital Center Matters to Moms and Babies in DC
February 14th, 2025
I’m having a moment of reflection upon approaching an important milestone in our research with Safe Babies Safe Moms, in partnership between MedStar, Georgetown, and several community organizations, funded by the generosity of the Clark Foundation.…
Prepaying Your Baby’s Birth? New Healthcare Provider Trend Highlights Rising Costs and Financial Impacts for Patients, Families
January 10th, 2025
A recent article by KFF Health News highlighted a growing trend in maternity care: Pregnant individuals are being asked to prepay thousands of dollars for prenatal and delivery services before their due dates.…
After the Pandemic, Nurses and Other Healthcare Workers Are Demanding More … And Getting It
December 4th, 2024
From 2022 to late 2024, thousands of healthcare workers in nearly twenty states have walked off the job, demanding better compensation, higher staffing levels, and more responsive management.…
Societal Cost and Benefit from Safe Babies Safe Moms: Towards Measuring Social Return on Investment
December 1st, 2024
This study combines findings from several prior research reports prepared during the SBSM research program. We have extended our empirical work on cost-effectiveness into a nascent analysis of the potential societal return on investment in SBSM, by comparing the incremental program costs and savings immediately after delivery alongside the potential benefits from payer or societal view.…
