Research
Our current research portfolio includes studies aimed at reducing the burden of mental illness and everyday stress by screening patients for mental health disorders during their inpatient stays for somatic health conditions; an analysis of mixed-payment schemes to determine conditions under which physicians comply with optimal thresholds; a cluster-randomized trial aimed at testing the effect of a structured pharmacotherapy optimization intervention on preventable drug-related hospital admissions; a randomized controlled trial to assess the effectiveness of performance-specific quarterly premiums to facilities in the Congo DRC; an analysis of the outcomes of hip surgeries in Switzerland across different settings; and a project aiming at developing digital solutions to mitigate the impacts of antimicrobial resistance. These projects rely on close collaborations with the health sector, NGOs, international agencies such as the World Bank as well as with industry partners.
There are several pressing issues the BCHE would like to address in our research, including, but not restricted to the following:
- How can service quality enter the reimbursement of care?
- How can patient protection be strengthened?
- What options are there to compensate therapies for rare diseases?
- How can the provision with essential medicines and local services be maintained?
- How can market access for generics be improved?
- What are possible regimes to organize property rights about health data allowing the transfer and sharing of information?
- What are optimal financial incentives for health facilities and providers to achieve high patient satisfaction and high quality of care?
- How can co-payment systems be structured to encourage improved health behaviors in the general population and reduce unnecessary health resource utilization?
- How can health services be provided efficiently and remain affordable?
- What are the regulatory conditions to foster pharmaceutical innovation?
- What role is there for digitalization in all these questions?
- How health economic data can support real-world translation efforts towards societal impact?