Mission Statement

To contribute to the development of standards for quality patient care and to be recognized as a leader in oncology health policy at state, national and international levels by coordinating, facilitating and conducting health services, health economics and health policy research at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Goal

To influence oncology health policy, oncology practice and equitable access to high quality oncology care through rigorous health services, health economics and health policy research, and through education of health care professionals, government agencies and consumers.

Objectives

• Develop a highly regarded academic program in health services, health economics and health policy research that substantially contributes to the understanding of what constitutes effective and cost-effective cancer care
• Influence oncology policy through patient-centered, collaborative, interdisciplinary research in a well-funded program that focuses on health outcomes, health care economics, cost effectiveness and medical decision making
• Inform, analyze and interpret oncology health care policy to policy makers, health care consumers and the general public
• Inform and support optimal health care decisions among cancer care consumers in Texas and throughout the world
• Identify best practices and influence patient care at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, in Texas and elsewhere
• Identify barriers to delivery of high quality cancer care and influence access to cancer care among Texans with cancer and others with cancer throughout the world
• Educate health professions students and practitioners in the sciences basic to development and interpretation of health care policy
• Develop new methodology in health services, health economics and health policy research, including Bayesian methods in cost effectiveness analysis, analytic techniques for large multi-level datasets and claims data, matching algorithms to link datasets and case mix adjustment
• Develop, maintain and make available databases and other data resources to support oncology health services and health policy research

Last updated September 25, 2006