Greetings! Welcome to CHBRP's Summer Quarterly Newsletter.

It goes without saying that we are living in unprecedented times. We are now well over a year into what we all hope is a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic. Sadly, COVID-19 remains an existential threat. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently noted that U.S. life expectancy experienced its largest one-year drop since World War II, fueled by COVID-19 deaths and opioid overdoses. Life expectancy at birth dropped by 1.5 years, bringing it down to 77.3 years. This fall in life expectancy was exacerbated by structural failures in the U.S. healthcare system. This is an astonishing setback.

So while we work towards reopening plans and contemplate the substantive policy and research imperatives facing us, the nature of our work life has also changed. Not only did the pandemic change the ways we conduct our work, but it also taught us to leverage technology to effectively continue our work. In some ways, it perhaps even enhanced our productivity. But unanswered questions remain, and how will these new work patterns impact creativity and workplace culture? I suspect many of us will be more virtual than in the past, and that this is probably a good thing. But we also have to adjust to this new normal in ways that allow for the creative sparks that emerge from face-to-face, in-person contact.

This past year has also shined a penetrating light on deep-seated issues stemming from systemic racism and how this impacts the ability of the health system to achieve the outcomes we so desire. We collectively need to better recognize the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion. This consideration extends to health services research, the data we use, and our standards of practice. We'll likely have more to write on this topic in the months ahead.

CHBRP continues to track numerous pieces of legislation that we analyzed this spring (please see below). We continue fielding and responding to inquiries from the Legislature, stakeholders, and the media. We are about half-way through our annual stakeholder meetings with insurers, Agency staff, Legislative Committee consultants, and advocacy groups. We are constantly learning from the insights and feedback from the interested parties who read and leverage our work. We also are learning from a terrific cohort of students who are working with us this summer, and a new staff member!

While we're all interested in what comes next and putting the pandemic behind us, the future is inextricably tied to the past. Part of a strong new normal will require bringing what we've learned along with us to correct mistakes and re-envision a better, safe and, we might hope, saner world ahead.

Until next time,

Garen

Meghan Weyrich is a Health Policy Research Analyst with the UC Davis Center for Healthcare Policy and Research. She manages research projects of varying scale and complexities, particularly in the areas of patient safety, quality measurement, and evidence-based practice. Currently, Ms. Weyrich serves as the Managing Editor for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's (AHRQ) Patient Safety Network, which is the premier federal resource for disseminating information about improving patient safety and preventing medical errors. She collaborates with researchers at UC Davis and IMPAQ International to develop and maintain quality indicators for use in CMS payment programs. Additionally, she works with the Kaiser Permanente Evidence-based Practice Center to produce systematic evidence reviews for AHRQ that are used by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force to update their clinical preventive service recommendations in primary care. When asked what has been most rewarding in her career, Ms. Weyrich noted that her favorite part of her job is seeing how evidence can inform healthcare delivery and health policy.

Ms. Weyrich also serves on CHBRP's Medical Effectiveness and Public Health Impact teams. She joined CHBRP when she started at the Center for Healthcare Policy and Research after she completed her MPH at Boston University. Ms. Weyrich enjoys working with CHBRP because she loves diving into new topics each year and working with intelligent and thoughtful people. Through her work with CHBRP, she has worked on an array of topics, from fertility preservation to continuous glucose monitors for diabetes.

Ms. Weyrich has always been interested in politics and policy, and her interest grew while at Boston University. She was completing her MPH program while the Affordable Care Act was being passed and, as a result, was immersed in health policy discussions in all of her classes. She feels fortunate to have found a role at UC Davis that has allowed her to continue working in health policy. In her career thus far, Ms. Weyrich is proud of her work that has directly supported and informed policymakers in their decision making. For instance, she spent the better part of two years working on a systematic review examining the benefits and harms of PSA testing for prostate cancer and prostate cancer treatments. Over 4,000 abstracts, 300 full-text papers, and one 200+ page report later, her hard work informed the US Preventive Services Task Force's recommendations regarding PSA testing. She has found it incredibly rewarding to see her hard work directly inform policy.

Dr. Michelle Keller is an Assistant Professor/Research Scientist of Medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, as well as an Adjunct Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles Fielding School of Public Health. Her research focuses on improving pain management for older adults, reducing low-value health care, facilitating patient-clinician communication, and using informatics to improve patient safety. Currently, Dr. Keller is evaluating patient-centered deprescribing interventions and policies for high-risk medications such as opioids, benzodiazepines, and sleep medications in older adults. At the Health Policy and Management Department at UCLA, she teaches courses in cost-effectiveness analysis and health systems organization.

Within CHBRP's Task Force, Dr. Keller serves as a Cost Team Lead, and is responsible for preparing cost impact analyses for analyses. Dr. Keller finds its incredibly rewarding to work toward a common goal with a team of motivated, enthusiastic, and intellectually curious individuals. On a larger scale, she enjoys thinking through analytic approaches to help the California Legislature make informed decisions that ultimately impact millions of people and one of the world's largest economies. Lastly, Dr. Keller appreciates doing health policy work where she can see the impact in her day-to-day work.

Dr. Keller first became interested in health policy while working as a reporter for the Orlando Sentinel, the LA Times, and the Chicago Tribune. She went on to work for the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), serving as the editor for KFF's Health Reform website while the Affordable Care Act was being implemented. Following her time there, she earned an MPH and PhD in Health Policy and Management from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. In her career, Dr. Keller is most proud of working with mentees, ranging from high school students to graduate students, and following their careers.