The Baker Institute is across the street from the Texas Medical Center, the nation’s largest medical complex. Drawing on the expertise of researchers at Rice University and the TMC, the Domestic Health Policy Program offers a unique setting for medical and policy professionals to address issues of growing concern, including options for controlling skyrocketing medical costs, improving access to health care and managing the growing burden of diseases such as cancer and obesity. The program also performs data-driven examinations of topics ranging from national health care reform, health care quality and efficiency to health insurance coverage and complex medical technologies.
Its mission is to study the ways in which economic incentives and government policies influence the quality and costs of health care on a national and regional basis, focusing on the need to deliver high-quality medical care while controlling expenditures. The program has received national acclaim for its research on state regulations of cardiac surgery, the cost drivers of cancer care, and the growth of freestanding emergency departments. Its work has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, the American Cancer Society and other nonprofit organizations.
