Examples of Research Translation And Dissemination Successes
Strategic support upon a publication's release
- "Women Saw Large Decrease In Out-Of-Pocket Spending For Contraceptives After ACA Mandate Removed Cost Sharing": This Health Affairs study, by PhD student Nora Becker and LDI Executive Director Dan Polsky, was accompanied by a LDI blog that provided policy context. Within 24 hours, the study appeared on the pages of The New York Times and other media outlets and was cited by The White House. Follow its journey on social media through our use of Storify.
"Location Matters: Differences in Primary Care Supply by Neighborhood in Philadelphia" This report, by RWJF Clinical Scholar Elizabeth Brown, LDI Policy Director Dave Grande, and colleagues, was commissioned by the Philadelphia Department of Health. Unlike other reports that languish on someone's desk, this study benefited from a package of materials that included a news story, a blog post by the lead author, a blog post on other research by LDI Senior Fellows on primary care access, and a Philadelphia Inquirer Field Clinic blog post by one of the authors. Using our media contacts, the report ended up on the front page of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Dr. Brown was interviewed by Newsworks WHYY.
Building a portfolio of content over time, supporting our experts to profile their expertise
Alison Buttenheim, a LDI Senior Fellow based in the School of Nursing, studies vaccine refusals, and published key articles on this subject in 2012 and 2014. In 2012, LDI translated her findings into an Issue Brief, "Exposure and Vulnerability of California Kindergarteners to Intentionally Unvaccinated Children." When an outbreak of measles occurred in Disneyland in 2015, she wrote an LDI blog post using her findings to explain the outbreak and to comment on the likelihood that vaccination rates would increase in response to it. That post drew attention to her research both within Penn (see a School of Medicine blog post about the blog post) and outside of Penn (see this radio interview with WHYY). When she published a new article on the vaccination status of exempted children later in 2015, LDI posted a short summary on the LDI website, and asked her to write a blog post explaining the policy relevance of the new study. The blog post led to a Philadelphia Inquirer article on her study.
RWJF Clinical Scholar Charlene Wong is building her reputation and research agenda on choice architecture on the health insurance exchanges. LDI profiled her Annals of Internal Medicine study on how to improve Healthcare.gov for young adults, and Dr. Wong authored a LDI blog post commenting on updates to Healthcare.gov. Her expertise on the topic was further showcased in an earlier blog post written by LDI staff. An Annals of Internal Medicine Research Letter by Dr. Wong and members of the LDI Health Insurance Exchange Working Group was accompanied by a LDI blog. LDI has disseminated Dr. Wong's work through social media and direct connections to "influencers", including bloggers such as Austin Frakt and Andrew Sprung. Dr. Wong has been quoted in major media outlets across the country, and has written for The Conversation, an online platform that showcases academic expertise.
Alison Buttenheim