Abt Associates' health research, consulting and international technical assistance activities involve the work of over 500 highly educated professionals around the world. Our health experts include physicians, biochemists, public health experts, medical scientists, psychologists, mental health experts, biologists, epidemiologists and bio-statisticians. We impact a broad range of private and public sector health issues including patient safety, global health systems, disease surveillance and prevention, healthcare delivery and health policy.
Evaluating private-sector midwives’ potential to help bridge the growing gap between services the public sector needs to deliver and the shortage of qualified health professionals in less developed countries impacted by HIV/AIDS.
Insight: The Private Sector Partnerships-One project collected data in Ghana, Indonesia, Peru, Zambia, and Uganda and determined that supporting private-sector midwives ability to deliver quality services, business sustainability, and links to the formal health sector will enable them to become frontline providers of primary care services in many less developed countries.
Client Impact: Mortality in less developed countries can be reduced if services such as care for children under 5 years old and the management of acute and chronic illnesses and trauma in all age groups can be provided by private practice midwives.
Helping USAID deliver HIV/AIDS treatment services to remote regions of Zambia of Zambia
Insight: Because many remote regions with high HIV prevalence rates have few screening or healthcare services a “mobile clinic” was created to take a medical team to train local staff to detect HIV and AIDS, provide counseling services, and administer antiretroviral therapy (ART).
Client Impact: The vehicle’s first mission to the district of Chienge validated the mobile clinic as a viable approach to reaching rural people needing HIV counseling and treatment and the team is encouraging other districts to adopt the same model.
Conducting a cost-benefit analysis of a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) survey hospitals will use to gather standardized data on patients' perspectives on their care (the first time comparable patient satisfaction data would be made available to the public for most hospitals)
Insight: CMS commissioned the study to determine the relative benefit of using a long-form survey vs. a shorter alternative. Researchers concluded that the marginal costs associated with the longer version were small and it would likely offer consumers better information.
Client Impact: The full 27-item survey was approved for use. The effort by CMS and the Hospital Quality Alliance resulted in the data becoming available to the public April 1, 2005, at the Hospital Compare website.
Completing the first-ever comprehensive national survey of mental health services for school children
Insight: Our research for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) identified the mental health problems most frequently encountered in the U.S. public schools as well as the mental health services schools are delivering to address these problems. This first national survey was based on a nationally representative sample of the approximately 83,000 U.S. public elementary, middle, and high schools and their associated school districts.
Client Impact: The findings of the research provide "baseline" information on the multiple challenges schools face in addressing the mental health issues of students. By identifying the nature and extent of the mental health issues of students, and the services currently provided by schools, the findings provide policymakers with important information as they consider future policy and funding options.
Understanding the impact of a new drug on oral mucositis, a side effect of chemotherapy for breast cancer, with a Phase III Clinical Trial
Insight: Patients reviewing chemotherapy often develop painful, difficult-to-treat mouth ulcers. We assisted our client in receiving a "fast track designation" for a new product from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) based on the product’s potential to address a serious unmet need with few other treatment options. We then designed and carried out a crossover study to determine the efficacy and safety of the product.
Client Impact: We designed and carried out a crossover study to determine the efficacy and safety of the product that resulted in the FDA granting an expedited review of the results, and could lead to a promising new treatment foe chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis in the near future.
Describing effective private industry practices for containing prescription drug costs for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
Insight: We used a literature review and interviews with authors and industry experts to identify effective strategies for containing prescription drug costs and to select five private organizations for detailed case studies. The results provided insight into how diverse organizations have been successful in achieving pharmaceutical cost savings, including influencing institutional partners; creating physician commitment; facilitating physician compliance; utilizing health information technology; and prioritizing identification of opportunities for savings.
Client Impact: The intended impact of this work is to facilitate the adoption of the best practices identified in our work through wide dissemination of the results on the HHS website, through other government policy channels, and through distribution by the five best practice organizations themselves, thus helping to contain rising healthcare costs.
Addressing critical shortage of public sector health works in Cote d'Ivoire — a serious impediment to achieving goals for the treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS — for U.S. Agency for International Development
Insight: We determined that the shortage of health workers had several causes, including dislocation of workers due to civil strife, poor wages, and hiring freezes in the public sector, which led meany workers to seek employment in the private sector or to emigrate to countries where wages are higher.
Client Impact: By identifying the underlying causes of these shortages, Abt Associates was able to make specific policy recommendations that the government, in collaboration with development partners, is now implementing to mitigate the shortages of health workers in Cote d'Ivoire. These recommendations may benefit the entire West Africa region.
