CAMBRIDGE HOSPITAL
The Cambridge Hospital
1493 Cambridge Street
Cambridge, MA 02139
The General Medicine Fellowship resides within the Cambridge Health Alliance’s in the Department of Medicine. The Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA) is a public integrated healthcare system and a primary teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. The fellows’ research offices are sited at the Cambridge Hospital, located near Harvard Square in Cambridge, MA. Their clinical practices could be at either of CHA’s two hospitals or at one of its dozen community health centers.
The Department of Medicine provides comprehensive primary care and specialty services in a model of community-based care. Its mission is to provide the finest medical care to all patients regardless of ability to pay, while addressing public health concerns and promoting health behaviors in Everett, Somerville and Cambridge communities. Led by Dr. Richard Pels, Chief of Medicine, the Department has a well-established reputation for excellence in its clinical, academic, and research programs. Fellows conduct their research as part of the Cambridge Health Justice Lab (CHJL), located within the Division of Social and Community Medicine of the Department of Medicine.
Areas of focus for lab investigators include health services research on: quality of care and access to care; healthcare financing and health care reform; adverse impacts of health information technology; understanding the impacts of COVID-19 infection on high-risk populations; reproductive health; and the consequences of commercial funding of research. Specific methodologies employed in this work include epidemiologic study design, advanced biostatistical analysis including quasi-experimental techniques, econometric analysis, time-trend analysis, qualitative research and large database analysis.
Examples of recent Fellows' research projects include:
· Hypertension, diabetes, and elevated cholesterol among insured and uninsured US adults
· Health insurance and mortality in US adults
· Health and healthcare of US prisoners: results from a nationwide survey
· Insurance and access to care of veterans
· Waits to see an emergency department physician: US trends and predictors
· Characteristics of recipients of free prescription drug samples
· Health care utilization of various health populations in the United States
· Trends in access to psychiatric services
· Under-diagnosis and under-treatment of hypertension and hypercholesterolemia in various patient populations
· Trends in access to care and impact of copays on access among people in US prisons
· Impact of the Affordable Care Act on access to care