Research

Strategies to Improve the Cardiovascular Health of Rural Working-Age Adults in the United States          September 2024 - May 2028

          NHLBI, NIH; R01
          Principal Investigator: Rishi K. Wadhera

The main goals of this project are to characterize changes in access to care, as well as in the prevalence of CV risk factors, incidence of CV hospitalizations, and mortality in rural working-age adults, overall and compared with their urban counterparts, in the years that follow the pandemic; to determine the effects of expanding Medicare on health care access, screening for CV risk factors, and the treatment & control of CV risk factors in rural working-age adults; and to create a new, multidimensional data-source to evaluate if access to medical care, including telemedicine use in the outpatient and hospital settings, and CV outcomes improve in rural communities that expand broadband access.

Leveraging SNAP Policies to Improve the Cardiovascular Health of Low-Income Adults in the United States       July 2024 - June 2028

          NINR, NIH; R01
          Principal Investigator: Rishi K. Wadhera

The main goals of this project are to determine changes in food insecurity in low-income adults, including those with diet sensitive cardiometabolic risk factors, during and after the pandemic, leverage the natural experiment created by some US states ending SNAP emergency allotment policies earlier than others to evaluate their impact on health care access and affordability, the prevalence, treatment, and control of cardiometabolic risk factors, and, finally, to evaluate whether the de-implementation of SNAP emergency allotment policies led to changes in the incidence of acute cardiovascular events and associated outcomes. 

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Cardiovascular Health of Low-Income Working-Age Adults in the US:                                                                                  July 2022 - June 2027
Health Care Access, Policy, and the Pandemic  

          NHLBI, NIH; R01                                                                                                                                                          
          Principal Investigator: Rishi K. Wadhera

The goals of this project are to determine whether the prevalence, treatment, and control of cardiovascular risk factors, the incidence of acute cardiovascular events, and cardiovascular mortality were increasing in low-income working-age adults prior to the pandemic, to examine whether the pandemic was associated with short- and long- term changes in health care coverage, access, and affordability, cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, and self-reported health in low-income working-age adults, and to evaluate the effects of Medicare on health care access and affordability, the screening, treatment, and control of cardiovascular risk factors, and self-reported health in low-income adults.

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The Inflation Reduction Act and Cardiovascular Health:                                                                                                  April 2024 - March 2029
Access, Adherence, and Pharmacoequity                      

          AHA Established Investigator Award
          Principal Investigator: Rishi K. Wadhera 

The main goals of this project are to determine the effect of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) on out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs that treat cardiometabolic risk factors and conditions, evaluate whether the IRA leads to changes in cardiometabolic risk factors and cardiovascular conditions, and to determine the equity implications of this act on socially vulnerable populations.             

Accountable Care Organizations in Medicaid: Reducing Low-Value Care for Working-Age Adults          January 2024 - December 2025

          Donaghue Greater Value Portfolio Grant   
          Principal Investigator: Rishi K. Wadhera     

The main goal of this project is to evaluate how the implementation of Medicaid ACOs in Massachusetts impacted the receipt of low-value health care services for working-age adults enrolled in Medicaid, both overall and across key subgroups.

Mentorships

Evaluating Policies to Improve Heart Failure Outcomes in Medicare                                                                                      July 2024 - June 2029

          NHLBI, NIH; K23
         PI: Andrew S. Oseran 
         Primary Mentor: Rishi K. Wadhera 

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Prolonged Mechanical Ventilation: Patterns of Post-Acute Care and Patient Outcomes           

          NHLBI, NIH; K23
          PI: Anica Law
          Primary Mentor: Rishi K. Wadhera

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