The Methodist LeBonheur Center for Healthcare Economics was established in March 2003 with a grant from Methodist Healthcare and LeBonheur Systems, Inc. to address complex healthcare issues, focusing on emerging issues that affect Memphis, Shelby County, and the State of Tennessee.We are located in the Fogelman College of Business and Economics at the University of Memphis.

Why a Center for Healthcare Economics?

Health care touches the life of everyone, yet health care seems always to be in crisis. Tennessee's TennCare (Medicaid) program has been in a constant state of flux and has recently begun a total overhall of the system. Meanwhile, healthcare costs continue to escalate, forcing employers to cut back on health benefits for their current and retired employees. The cost problem is compounded by a delivery system that allocates healthcare dollars in a haphazard way, with too little money spent on health promotion and prevention and too much on expensive procedures for treating acute illnesses that are mostly preventable. These and other pressing problems require extensive research to identify their root causes so that effective policy solutions can be developed.

The Center focuses on issues of efficiency, effectiveness, and equity in healthcare through a variety of research, internship, instruction, and public service programs. Working with entities internal and external to The University of Memphis, we will provide a physical and administrative structure to facilitate the study of health care and its economic impact.

Expertise

The staff and faculty associates of the Center are experienced business and healthcare consultants. Our staff and faculty associates have established research records in:

• Access to health care
• Health insurance coverage
• Racial disparities in health care
• Gerontology
• Health care technology
• Quality improvement in health care
• Employee health benefits
• Hospital cost management
• Methodological issues in data collection and management

Our staff and faculty associates have been active in funded research and have served as principal or co-principal investigators on many research projects supported by a variety of federal, state, and local funding agencies. They have published in numerous refereed journals, such as Journal of Health Economics, Health Economics, JAMA, The Archives of Internal Medicine, Gerontology, Health Services Research, Journal of Health Politics, Policy, and Law, and Journal of Healthcare Management.

Community Involvement

• Evaluate government health care programs such as TennCare (Tennessee's Medicaid program).
• Research strategies to improve the efficiency of these programs.
• Study regional and state healthcare economic trends.
• Develop market analyses and business plans for stakeholders such as hospitals, nursing homes, and health plans.
• Disseminate best-practice models for improving employee health and cutting healthcare costs.

The Center is committed to the promotion of health and the efficient delivery of health care in Memphis and Tennessee. The staff and faculty associates of the Center serve the Mid-South community through public speaking, participation in meaningful community-based healthcare and health-related initiatives by providing their knowledge and expertise to community-oriented public service projects. We have been active in the dissemination of healthcare knowledge in popular media, such as editorial articles, commentaries, and op-ed pieces for books, magazines, and newspapers.

Annual Reports

• 2003-2004
• 2004-2005
• 2005-2006
• 2006-2007
• 2007-2008