Research Library

Higher costs for complex cancer surgery may be an indicator for worse, rather than better, quality of care, according to new research by the Baker Institute and the University of Texas MDAnderson Cancer Center. The study suggests that lower patient costs achieved by high-volume surgeons can be explained by the lower occurrence of “processes of care”— many of which are taken to avoid or treat complications that can occur during surgery, such as placing arterial lines or providing epidural anesthesia.

Scholar Raúl Bajo Buenestado examines the consumer welfare consequences of introducing capacity payments in the electricity sector, finding that capacity payments reduce price volatility and increase the reliability of the system but also cause consumers’ electricity bills to rise.

Texans are likely to pay more at freestanding emergency departments than at hospital-based emergency departments or urgent care centers, according to a study co-authored by Vivian Ho, the James A. Baker III Institute Chair in Health Economics and director of the Center for Health and Biosciences.

About 1 million Texans gained health care coverage due to the Affordable Care Act, according to new research by health policy fellows Vivian Ho and Elena Marks. The new findings published in the American Journal of Public Health examined the effects of the ACA’s Marketplace on Texas residents and determined which population subgroups benefited the most and the least.

Using the Guadalupe County Groundwater Conservation District as a case study, this journal article examines the benefits of a three-dimensional water management system to better manage groundwater usage in Texas and outlines the process for implementing such a system within other groundwater conservation districts in the state.

The article analyzes the spread of neglected tropical diseases in Somolia due to severe poverty, and civil strife, and discusses the need for reforms to the country’s health systems and infrastructure.

Insurers and physicians can partner to deliver care more efficiently and save costs, according to a study that examined Cigna’s Collaborative Accountable Care initiative’s partnership with the Medical Clinic of North Texas.

As Zika virus infection spreads across the Latin American and Caribbean region and into the southern United States, we can expect to see thousands of additional children born with microcephaly and more newborns or older infants with signs of more subtle but significant neurologic defects and developmental delays.

Little is known about regional variation in cancer treatment and its determinants. In this publication, authors compare rates of adherence to treatment guidelines for elderly patients across Texas and whether local specialist supply is an important determinant of treatment variation.

This journal article assesses the burden of Chagas disease in Texas, concluding that transmission of the disease from Latin America to Texas has occurred for at least the past seven decades. The authors recommend steps to broaden awareness and study of Chagas disease.