HSPP / Health Services, Policy & Practice

Young adults are turning to AI chatbots like ChatGPT for mental health advice, highlighting a massive shift in how people seek support. In this interview Dr. Ateev Mehrotra discusses the urgent need to balance AI's capacity for providing accessible, cost-effective care with its potential to cause harm.

A Brown University School of Public Health analysis shows Oregon’s cap on hospital payments for the state employee health plan led to major savings without reducing services, staffing or patient satisfaction.

Gabriella Stern details the challenge of fighting geopolitical scapegoating and false narratives amid America’s abrupt exit from the WHO at the latest Public Health in Practice Seminar.

Associate Professor Christopher Whaley comments on why health care is so expensive in the US and what can be done.

Researchers from RAND, Brown University School of Public Health and Harvard report that young people are turning to generative AI tools, like ChatGPT, for mental health advice at unexpectedly high rates.

Researchers from Brown University School of Public Health, Harvard and RAND report that young people are turning to generative AI tools, like ChatGPT, for emotional support at unexpectedly high rates.

A new study linking pharmacy and Medicare data sheds light on pain management regimens for hip fracture patients in rehabilitation, and raises concerns about potentially dangerous drug-drug interactions.

At the Children’s Health Defense conference in Texas, Craig Spencer saw what public health is up against at the anti-vaccine movement’s biggest gathering

The work highlights how current rules may allow health care giants that run both insurance and doctor networks to profit in ways that drive up costs and limit patient choice.

A study by researchers at the Center for Health System Sustainability shows that a rising premature death rate means Medicare isn’t helping as many people as intended.

In a new report, STAT Network highlights increasing threats and shows how states are rewriting playbooks in real time to protect American health, safety and economic vitality.

The number of Rhode Island households experiencing food insecurity more than doubled from 18% in 2021 to 38% in 2024, according to survey data from the School of Public Health and Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island.

Dean Ashish Jha explains why undermining vaccines will endanger Americans’ freedom in the Boston Globe.

Kaley Hayes, associate director of pharmacoepidemiology at Brown University’s Center for Gerontology and Healthcare Research, interviewed on pharmacy deserts.

Assistant Professor of Health Services, Policy and Practice and Biostatistics Alyssa Bilinski and her work on the impact of excluding pregnant women from controlled trials of medications a focus of this news feature.

Experts from the Center for Advancing Health Policy through Research comment on this Providence Journal investigation.

As the U.S. population ages, a study on the Older Americans Act Nutrition program reveals it delivers more than just food—recipients say it prevents nursing home placements, supports caregivers and provides a crucial daily social link.

The Trump administration’s claims about Tylenol and autism — and the weak science used to support them — must be called out for what they are: reckless, disappointing, and dangerous, says Ashish K. Jha.

Keeping women out of randomized controlled trials has let uncertainty flourish, says Alyssa Bilinksi.

Dr. Ashish Jha, Dean of the School of Public Health at Brown University, joins ‘Fast Money’ to discuss new government guidance on Tylenol use during pregnancy, why leading studies show no link to autism, the reaction from obstetricians, and the challenges facing women navigating medication options, and much more.

Republicans pushed for more oversight, or complete removal, of nonprofits’ tax-exempt status. Democrats warned restrictions could cause hospital closures. Christopher Whaley, associate director of Brown University’s Center of Advancing Health Policy through Research comments.

“It is estimated that essential medicines are unaffordable or unavailable to 1 in 4 people worldwide,” wrote the authors of a recent article published in a JAMA Health Forum that was led by Olivier J. Wouters, PhD, of Brown University School of Public Health.

Professor Ellen McCreedy is a musician and gerontologist whose research harnesses the power of music to recall memories. Driven to give dementia sufferers, and their caregivers, a moment of having themselves back again, McCreedy joined Humans in Public Health to discuss her work, its challenges and the grandmother who first showed her music’s power to break through Alzheimer’s disease.

Under the guidance of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., rather than relying on evidence-based recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to inform vaccination decisions, it is now recommended that vaccination involve a discussion between patients and their physicians, says Scott Rivkees, a professor of practice at the Brown School of Public Health.

The Pandemic Center celebrated its inaugural cohort of Biosecurity Game Changers with a completion ceremony highlighting the far-reaching impact of the fellows’ work.

Ashish Jha comments on the Food and Drug Administration scrutinizing the common practice of giving coronavirus and flu shots together.

A study of how three popular artificial intelligence chatbots respond to queries about suicide found that they generally avoid answering questions that pose the highest risk to the user, such as for specific how-to guidance. But they are inconsistent in their replies to less extreme prompts that could still harm people.

New findings about loneliness among adults with disabilities underscore the need for accessible, targeted interventions.

Stephanie Psaki writes that our best chance to reverse the decline in births is through a pro-family policy that gives Americans the freedom and support to build the lives—and families—they want.

Randomized controlled trials should include pregnant women by Alyssa Bilinski, Peterson family assistant professor of health policy.

A big, new study shows women who are victims of stalking are at significantly higher risk of heart disease. Liz Tobin-Tyler comments.

Professor Liz Tobin-Tyler’s course explores the historical, social and legal forces that shape reproductive rights in the U.S.

Dr. Ashish K. Jha is dean of Brown University School of Public Health and a contributing Globe Opinion writer:

Over the past decade, the United States has made meaningful progress in expanding health coverage and improving care for millions of Americans. But that progress is now in jeopardy. The newly passed “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” will have far-reaching consequences for the health insurance of millions of Americans. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that nearly 10 million Americans could lose their health insurance by 2034 as a result of the new legislation. In Massachusetts, officials estimate 300,000 people are at risk of losing their health coverage.

“You’re not going to restore trust in public health until you take some accountability for the mistakes you’ve made,” says Ashish Jha, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator under President Joe Biden. “Then you’ve got to just keep spreading good information and you’ve got to build allies to do that across the political aisle.”

Since the 1980s, the U.S. has experimented with various forms of managed health care. But none of them has managed to control costs or improve health outcomes, argues Senior Fellow Hayden Rooke-Ley. The radical new idea from CAHPR researchers for delivering lower health care costs is actually quite old-fashioned: a return to fee-for-service.

Craig Spencer, an associate professor of public health and emergency medicine at Brown penned this guest essay on the moral imperative of global health care. 

Ellen McCreedy, associate professor of health services, policy, and practice at the Brown University School of Public Health, is studying a toe-tapping alternative that could reduce reliance on antipsychotic medications. The university’s ongoing study, “Music and Memory,” looks at how music can be used as a non-pharmacological intervention for people with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a budget bill that promises a sweeping dismantling of critical public programs that millions of people rely on, including food stamps, Medicaid, and federal education loans. Buried inside the bill’s thousand-plus pages are provisions that specifically target healthcare for transgender people, including an outright ban on Medicaid coverage for transgender people of all ages.

The United States maintains more than 750 military bases around the world—not just to fight wars, but to prevent them. That same principle has guided U.S. investment in the global footprint of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)—the agency tasked with protecting the health and security of Americans—to build and “forward deploy” critical defenses against biological threats worldwide.

Balancing the demands of a Ph.D. program in public health is hard enough—try doing it while starring in “Into the Woods.” This Brown University doctoral student proves you don’t have to choose between data and drama.

When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was appointed secretary of Health and Human Services, some hoped that the responsibility of public office would temper his long-standing hostility toward vaccines. Instead, he is doing exactly what many of us feared: dismantling the systems that protect Americans from preventable infectious diseases.

Dr. Ashish Jha, Dean of Brown University's School of Public Health, tells CNN's Wolf Blitzer why he calls HHS Secretary Kennedy's reasoning for firing all members of the CDC's vaccine advisory committee "nonsense."

Developed by researchers in Brown University’s School of Public Health, the MediCode tool shows how coding practices in Medicare Advantage lead to billions in overspending.

Medicaid, the largest payer for long-term care facilities, covers around 2 in 3 nursing home residents, and reducing dollars to the massive, yet already resource-limited, program could have disastrous effects on older adults’ health, safety and quality of life. Vincent Mor, professor of health services, policy and practice at the Brown University School of Public Health, comments.

Professor Alyssa Bilinski has found that systematically including pregnant participants in trials would speed up the detection of adverse effects and increase uptake of beneficial medications.