All Research

Research Area

Patient Demand & Alignment

Understanding patient behavior, preferences, and economic factors that drive healthcare utilization and outcomes.

Overview

Understanding how patients make healthcare decisions—and how providers and systems can better align with patient needs—is fundamental to improving health outcomes. Our research applies behavioral economics and empirical methods to study healthcare demand and the design of effective incentive systems.

Key areas of investigation include:

  • Patient decision-making: How patients weigh quality, cost, convenience, and other factors when choosing providers and treatments
  • Provider incentives: Designing payment systems that align provider behavior with patient outcomes
  • Value-based care: Evaluating alternative payment models and their effects on quality and cost
  • Information and choice: How information provision affects patient choices and market outcomes

Related Publications

View all publications

Epidemiology, causes, clinical manifestation and diagnosis, prevention and control of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) during the early outbreak period: a scoping review

Adhikari, S. P., Meng, S., Wu, Yuju, Mao, Yu-Ping, Ye, R., Wang, Qingzhi, Sun, Chang, Sylvia, Sean Yuji, Rozelle, S., Raat, H., Zhou, Huan (2020)

Infectious Diseases of Poverty

DOI: 10.1186/s40249-020-00646-x

Violence against health care workers in China, 2013–2016: evidence from the national judgment documents

Cai, Ruilie, Tang, Ji, Deng, Chenhui, Lv, Guofan, Xu, Xiaohe, Sylvia, Sean Yuji, Pan, Jay (2019)

Human Resources for Health

DOI: 10.1186/s12960-019-0440-y

The impact of pay-for-percentile incentive on low-achieving students in rural China

Chang, Fang, Wang, Huan, Qu, Yaqiong, Zheng, Qiang, Loyalka, P., Sylvia, Sean Yuji, Shi, Yaojiang, Dill, Sarah-Eve, Rozelle, S. (2020)

Economics of Education Review

DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2020.101954

Structural Determinants of Child Health in Rural China: The Challenge of Creating Health Equity

Chen, Yunwei, Sylvia, Sean Yuji, Dill, Sarah-Eve, Rozelle, S. (2022)

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

DOI: 10.3390/ijerph192113845

Effect of an mHealth-Supported Healthy Future Programme to Improve Type 2 Diabetes Management in Nairobi, Kenya: A Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial

Chen, Huanhuan, Ndegwa, Stephen, Kwaro, Daniel, Otieno, Walter, Oyugi, Elizabeth, Sylvia, Sean (2023)

The Lancet Global Health

Evaluation of a Village-Based Digital Health Kiosks Program: Evidence from Two Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trials

Cheng, Fei, Yip, Winnie, Zhu, Yue, Sylvia, Sean (2022)

Health Policy and Planning

DOI: 10.1093/heapol/czac072

Evaluation of a village-based digital health kiosks program: A protocol for a cluster randomized clinical trial

Cheng, Weibin, Zhang, Z., Hoelzer, Samantha, Tang, Weiming, Liang, Yizhi, Du, Yumeng, Xue, Hao, Zhou, Qiru, Yip, W., Ma, Xiaochen, Tian, Junzhang, Sylvia, Sean Yuji (2022)

Digital Health

DOI: 10.1177/20552076221129100

Innovative Approaches of Measuring Care Quality in China's Market for Telemedicine

Cheng, Fei, Zeng, Tongxin, Sylvia, Sean, Chen, Xi (2024)

China Economic Review

DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2024.102320

Research Themes

Provider Payment

Studying how payment models—fee-for-service, capitation, bundled payments, P4P—affect provider behavior and patient outcomes.

Quality Measurement

Developing methods for measuring and reporting healthcare quality that are meaningful to patients and actionable for providers.

Patient Navigation

Understanding barriers patients face in navigating the healthcare system and designing interventions to improve access.

Collaborate With Us

We partner with health systems, payers, and policymakers to design and evaluate payment and delivery innovations.

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