# Improving Health Outcomes for an Aging Population

> **NIH NIH P01** · NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH · 2021 · $1,702,917

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Improving Health Outcomes for an Aging Population
This application extends a long-running NBER program project on the health and wellbeing of an aging
population. Our research plan focuses on better understanding health trends and disparities, the determinants
of health, and the effective use of health care resources to improve outcomes for an aging population in an
evolving landscape. Project 1 (Case and Deaton) explores variations in health trends across geography, race
and ethnicity, education, and cohort, identifying and analyzing the life circumstances of those whose health
and wellbeing have worsened. Project 2 (Maestas) focuses on the increasing prevalence of pain and opioid
use, and their relationship to health outcomes, work, and disability program enrollment. Project 3 (Duflo)
analyzes the rapid rise in chronic disease in aging, poorer populations (focusing on India), and the potential
role of public policy interventions in improving health in a global context. Project 4 (Baicker and Obermeyer)
applies machine learning tools to administrative data to identify overuse (reflecting care with little health benefit
relative to its cost or risks) and underuse (reflecting missed opportunities for health benefits) of medical
services, focusing on the case of diagnostic testing. Project 5 (Kolstad and Handel) analyzes the impact of
information technology in physician treatment decisions, and the potential health benefits of expanded use of
IT in health care. Project 6 (Chandra and Sacarny) looks at how information about provider quality affects
patients' decisions about their medical care, and whether information on quality improves health care market
performance through competition. Project 7 (Baicker and Finkelstein) looks at the effect of public health
insurance on health care and outcomes for poor adults, using a randomized controlled design enabled by
Oregon's health insurance lottery. Project 8 (Williams) looks at policies that stimulate or impede research and
innovation in medicine, and the degree to which the “new uses” problem results in underinvestment in
innovations with a potentially positive social value. The program project leverages synergies in methods, data
sources, and health issues addressed, building on common themes of health trends and disparities, the role of
information for patients and providers, and the potential for different policies to improve health. This research
has particular importance in the context of societal changes in demographics, population health, health policy,
health care organization, and medicine. The program project will also continue to serve as the organizational
foundation for a much larger community of scholars engaged in health-related research at the NBER, attracting
some of the most talented scientists from each new generation of economists to the study of health issues.
Linking this community to health researchers in other disciplines, particularly in medical and cli...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10224045
- **Project number:** 5P01AG005842-33
- **Recipient organization:** NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH
- **Principal Investigator:** Katherine Baicker
- **Activity code:** P01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $1,702,917
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1997-02-01 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10224045

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10224045, Improving Health Outcomes for an Aging Population (5P01AG005842-33). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10224045. Licensed CC0.

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