Harkness Project Title: Integrated Care in the U.S.: What Can Sweden Learn?
Mentor: Vincent Mor, Ph.D. (Brown University)
Placement: Brown University, Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research
Biography at time of Harkness Fellowship: Ulrika Winblad, Ph.D., a 2014–15 Swedish Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy and Practice, is an associate professor, senior lecturer, and director of postgraduate studies in the Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences at Uppsala University. She is also the director of the Health Services Research Group at Uppsala University, which comprises researchers and doctoral students from varying disciplines. She has been the principal or coprincipal investigator on numerous grant-funded studies, receiving grants from the Swedish Research Fund (VR), Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research (FAS), and the Swedish Competition Authority. Winblad’s research interests include the marketization of health care, quality and performance in health, and elder care organizations; and the implementation of health policy. She has written 35 peer-reviewed publications including in BMJ, Social Science & Medicine, and Health Economics, Policy and Law; one book; and several book chapters and reports directed to policymakers and academics. Winblad received her Ph.D. in health services research from Uppsala University.
Project: Winblad’s project aims to understand how successfully integrated care models for frail elderly people with complex health care needs are carried out in the United States. Specifically, the study focuses on care transitions between hospital and postacute care settings, and particularly how this relationship is changing as a result of the introduction of accountable care organizations (ACOs). The objective is to discover the characteristics of integrated models that have shown good clinical outcomes, using measures such as rehospitalization rates. First, Winblad will conduct a quantitative study with the hypothesis that hospitals being part of more integrated systems, i.e., ACOs including skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), achieve lower rates of rehospitalization. Second, she will conduct case studies of successful ACOs. Stakeholders at hospitals and SNFs will be asked about their experiences of care transitions of frail elderly people and what they see as key to success. The results are significant in an American context because ACOs have been launched on a broad scale recently, yet there still exists little evidence of their clinical effects on patients.
Career Activity since Fellowship:
Current Positions: Associate Professor, Lecturer and Director of Postgraduate Studies, Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Uppsala University
Director of Health Services Research, 2016 (updated 04/2017)
Email: [email protected]
