Health Interventions

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A Promising New Program Treats Co-Occurring Mental Health and Opioid Use Disorders

People who have an opioid use disorder and either clinical depression or PTSD are hard to reach, hard to treat, and hard to hold onto. A new collaborative care model called CLARO aims to help patients who otherwise might disappear into the cracks of the U.S. health care system.

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Outrage Is Not Enough: Preventing Sexual Violence Starts with a Skilled Prevention Workforce

Preventing sexual assault requires a myriad of competencies including an understanding of the contributing factors so that intervention programs can be designed or adapted to address them. RAND developed a first-of-its-kind tool to assess whether sexual assault prevention practitioners have the core competencies to do their job well.

Joie D. Acosta, AnnaMarie O'Neill

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Everyone Over 21 Has a 'License to Drink.' When Should It Get Suspended?

Excessive drinking creates massive economic costs because of its effects on workplace productivity, health care expenditures, and crime. This raises the question: Should some people be required to stop drinking?

Beau Kilmer @BeauKilmer, Nancy Nicosia

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Supporting the Mental Health Needs of National Guard and Reserve Members

Over one million U.S. military service members are members of the National Guard or reserves. These troops are being tested like never before, but they do not receive the same physical and mental health care coverage provided to their active-duty counterparts. It may be time to explore policy solutions to ensure that these service members have access to high-quality mental health care.

Justin Hummer, Kimberly A. Hepner @KimberlyHepner

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Reducing Disparities in Infant Mortality: Using Big Data to Help Babies at Risk

Black babies in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania—and across America—face much higher mortality rates than white babies. Researchers pulled together thousands of data points on more than 150,000 births to better predict who is at risk and how to help.

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Balancing Public Health and Economic Effects of Physical Distancing: Q&A with Jonathan Welburn

Jonathan Welburn, an operations researcher at RAND, has spent years studying how economic shocks ripple outward like a contagion through the economy. He recently helped develop an online tool that policymakers can use to manage the health and economic effects of COVID-19 interventions.

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Relaxing COVID-19 Restrictions Presents Stark Health and Economic Choices

RAND's new COVID-19 interventions impact tool uses epidemiological and economic models and continually refreshed data to estimate what could happen as restrictions are eased. The tool won't make the choices confronting state leaders less painful. But it can provide clear, evidence-based estimates of the health and economic trade-offs.

Jeanne S. Ringel @JeanneRingel, Raffaele Vardavas, et al.

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Reopening America, China's 'Mask Diplomacy,' State Police Powers: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on a RAND tool that estimates the public health and economic effects of reopening America, China's “mask diplomacy,” using police powers for pandemic response, and more.

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Reopening America—The Health and Economic Trade-Offs: Q&A with RAND Experts

Local and state officials are thinking through whether, when, and how to lift social-distancing restrictions. We asked three RAND researchers about the complex problem of reopening.

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At the Interface of the Health Care System and the Community: Insights from an Academic-Community Partnership in Camden, New Jersey

Asthma is a common and expensive childhood condition that erodes quality of life for kids and families. Researchers sought to identify patient-centered interventions to reduce avoidable asthma-related acute care use and improve outcomes. They found that the solutions lie at the nexus of the health care system and the community.

Mahshid Abir, Jane Forman, et al.

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After School Shootings, Children and Communities Struggle to Heal

School shootings leave wounds that affect students, school staff, families, and communities for years. Building community resilience, implementing evidence-based mental health support early, and providing access for survivors and the community immediately and in the long term could help promote healing and prevent more tragedy.

Ariella Iancu, Lisa H. Jaycox, et al.

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Measuring Progress Toward a Culture of Health... at the Library

Libraries can provide much more than books and internet access. Libraries across the United States are evolving to play a bigger role in community health. Many offer nutrition programs, mental health support, and even free bike-shares.

Carolyn Miller, Anita Chandra

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Local Development of a Culture of Health: Learning from Sentinel Communities

The Culture of Health project focuses on making health a priority in communities. As the United States grapples with health care spending and changing demographics, the Sentinel Communities project will illuminate stories from local communities and paint a picture of the ways communities strive to improve population health.

Anita Chandra, Todd Rogers, et al.

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Raising Awareness of the Need for Collaborative Care to Treat PTSD

Post-traumatic stress disorder affects nearly 8 percent of American adults from all walks of life. Research suggests that more work is needed to improve and adapt models of care for PTSD.

Lisa S. Meredith

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A New Tool to Assess the Costs and Effectiveness of Traffic Crash Interventions

Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death in the U.S. An online tool can help policymakers understand the available evidence-based interventions that can help prevent crash injuries and deaths, what they will cost, and how effective they will be in their state.

Liisa Ecola, Jeanne S. Ringel @JeanneRingel