Assistant Professor
Department of Medicine
UCLA

Project title: Social Support and Health Care Utilization Outcomes in the Subpopulations and Intermediate Outcomes in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Study (SPIROMICS) Cohort

Mentors:
Michael Ong, MD, PhD - UCLA
Carol Mangione, MD, MSHS - UCLA
Steven Dubinett, MD – UCLA
Donald Tashkin, MD - UCLA
Jerry Krishnan, MD, PhD – U Illinois at Chicago
Gery Ryan, PhD – Kaiser Permanente & RAND Corporation

Multidisciplinary Expertise:
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), social determinants of health, administrative claims analysis, mixed-methods research, multilevel data modeling

Project Description:
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the 4th leading cause of death in the United States and contributes to over $30 billion annually in costs due to health care utilization, primarily due to exacerbations of the disease. An incomplete understanding of the drivers of healthcare utilization have made the development of a patient-centered approach to reduce preventable hospitalizations challenging. This project will use an innovate approach to harmonize biologic, administrative, and interview-derived social context data in an effort to further our understanding of the drivers of  exacerbation-related healthcare utilization and identify potential intervention points to reduce burdens on patients and the health care system.