Primary Contact: Main Office Line: (734) 998-7555 or CHRT-info@umich.edu
Providing decision makers with evidence
CHRT’s health policy team evaluates laws, regulations and policies, as well as decisions and actions of leaders in public health, healthcare payers and providers, for their impact on population health. The team analyzes and recommends evidence-based policies designed to improve the health of people and communities, and responds to the needs and interests of a broad range of stakeholders. We …
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Josh Traylor on contributing to state and local health policy reform efforts
Joshua Traylor joined CHRT as executive director on November 1. We sat down with him to learn more about him, his background, and his plans for CHRT. What interested you in joining CHRT as ED? I was born and raised in Washtenaw County so when the CHRT opportunity was posted, a few people from Michigan brought it to my attention. …
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The important role of human-centered design in health care
By: Kimberly Snodgrass, Cleoniki Kesidis In 2023, with Medicaid renewals at the forefront of state health and human service department operations, we’re thinking a lot about how to create easy-to-use systems that allow people to demonstrate their eligibility for Medicaid. Without easy-to-use systems, many are losing Medicaid insurance for administrative or procedural reasons–even if they remain eligible. Data shows that …
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Helping organizations create successful, sustainable programs
CHRT’s program evaluation team works with stakeholders to design, analyze, synthesize, and report on evaluations. They aim to improve programs by assessing progress, demonstrating impact, and developing lessons learned. We sat down with Melissa Riba, the program evaluation team lead, to learn more about the team’s projects, purpose, and intended impact. What are some of the challenges CHRT’s program evaluation …
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Introducing CHRT’s new health and social equity team
In March, the Center for Health and Research Transformation (CHRT) launched a new team focused on health and social equity. Though each of CHRT’s teams applies a health and social equity lens to their projects, CHRT desired a specific team to manage major programs under the health and social equity banner, while offering support to clients in pursuit of more …
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15 years in review with Executive Director Terrisca Des Jardins
Fifteen years ago, no one could have anticipated where the Center for Health and Research Transformation (CHRT) would be today. We’ve gone through many iterations, making our 15th anniversary truly significant. We were only guaranteed three years of funding when we opened the doors of our center. We started as a grant-making nonprofit to support health services research. For many …
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Insurance companies are no longer waiving cost-sharing for COVID hospitalizations. Seems fair to me.
By Melissa Riba, director of research and evaluation, Center for Health and Research Transformation (CHRT) In the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, insurers stopped charging their members for COVID-related hospitalizations. Partly, that was just common sense. Charging copays and deductibles in the middle of a global pandemic–when people were sick and worried and losing their jobs–would have discouraged people …
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Backbone organizations: What they do, and why they matter
At CHRT, we devote much of our time to policy analysis, research and evaluation, and project management. More recently, as our emphasis on collective impact has grown, CHRT is expanding our role as a backbone organization. So what does it mean to be a backbone organization, and why does it matter? One way to conceptualize a backbone organization is that …
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The gift of simplicity means a lot. It means even more in the midst of coronavirus.
When it comes to business, simplicity is the rule. Amazon lets you buy with a single click. The App Store lets you do it with a print. And you can sign up for discounts at your favorite stores with an email address–no name, no phone number, no hassle. But when it comes to government–particularly when it comes to government aid …
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Ten years in, Riba shares the legacy and future of CHRT’s Cover Michigan Survey
Melissa Riba, Research and Evaluation Director, Center for Health and Research Transformation (CHRT) Recently, our research and evaluation team sat down for a 2020 work-planning meeting, and we asked ourselves, “what did we want to accomplish in 2020?” As our conversation focused on the year ahead, it also led me to think about the last ten years of Cover Michigan …
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