Emily Martin, Ph.D., M.P.H., was honored with a 2020 IHPI Impact Accelerator Award for her data-driven approach to informing the state of Michigan and U-M’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as her efforts to communicate the science behind the virus, vaccines, and public health measures to diverse audiences nationwide. In August 2021, Martin and her team published an IHPI brief about the COVID-19 data tracking tools they developed to inform public health responses in Michigan throughout the pandemic. Read more >

Scale-up of COVID-19 diagnostic testing: A framework for decision-makers, a project to identify bottlenecks within the COVID-19 testing supply chain and current delivery models in Michigan, then provide operational and policy options for effectively scaling up COVID-19 diagnostic testing to reopen the economy safely. The team conducted more than 20 interviews with stakeholders to gain diverse insights into this complex issue, publishing an IHPI briefwith the findings and policy implications, and outlined policy options. Project lead Ravi Anupindi, Ph.D., M.E., M.S., provided written testimony to the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs for a May 2021 hearing on the issue, and also engaged with policymakers at the Michigan Health & Hospital Association and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services through the project, informing them of relevant findings and policy options.

Workforce policies to sustain behavioral telehealth during COVID-19 recovery, a project to examine providers’ perspectives on such policy changes, identifying barriers and promising practices and assessing their perceptions of how the policy changes have aided this work. The team, led by Angela Beck, Ph.D., published a report and accompanying IHPI briefs(one each for state and federal audiences) that assessed Michigan behavioral health providers’ experiences with virtual care and outlined policy considerations to sustain and improve access to telebehavioral health.

Views of parents and guardians of school-age children on public school opening during the COVID-19 pandemic, a project to better understand the degree to which families were planning to send children back to school and assess support for risk mitigation strategies, such as masks, staggered arrival times and random COVID-19 testing. The team published an IHPI briefthat examined parents’ plans in Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio for in-person school and support for 15 potential measures to reduce the risk of COVID-19 in schools, and later published their findings in Academic Pediatrics. Project lead Kao-Ping Chua, M.D., Ph.D., also presented a webinar with guidance for policymakers in Michigan, including the Governor’s office, the Return to School Advisory Council, and key staff from the Michigan House of Representatives and Senate.

Variation in primary care telehealth adoption during COVID-19 and the association with acute care utilization for ambulatory care-sensitive conditions to analyze the relationship between virtual care adoption among Michigan primary care practices and emergency department visits or hospitalizations amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The team, led by Kathleen Li, M.D., and Chad Ellimoottil, M.D., M.S., published their findings and policy considerations in an IHPI briefand in JAMA Network Open.