The Institute on Healthcare Systems (IHS) is one of three institutes located within the Schneider Institutes for Health Policy and Research within the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University. A distinguishing characteristic of IHS is its ability to undertake innovative research and move the findings into the real world of solution-oriented practice. For more than 40 years IHS investigators have conducted studies, testified before legislative committees, and played key advisory roles at both state and federal levels on a range of financing, access and quality issues. IHS staff frequently collaborate with other health services research organizations and other outside partners, as well as with public and private service delivery systems that serve as laboratories for testing innovative financing and health care delivery strategies. IHS examines a range of substantive issues including access to and quality of care; how health care is financed, delivered, and utilized; the cost of such care; and the role of organizations in each of these domains. In many of its studies, IHS focuses on the special problems of our most vulnerable populations, including the elderly and individuals with chronic illnesses.
Our strength is our people—IHS is home to researchers with a mix of skills and interests, including a number of individuals who are nationally known experts in specific fields (e.g., cost-effectiveness research, value-based purchasing, post-acute and long-term care services and supports, prescription drug policies). IHS staff include economists, political scientists, bio-statisticians and health services researchers who work on a range of topics including cost and value, payment systems, performance measurement, long-term care, health centers, transplantation, access to and use of pharmacy and other healthcare services, and state health policy.