Student Paper Award Winners
The following papers were chosen because they exemplify innovative and creative applications of statistical analysis to address pressing issues in health policy.

“Near/Far Matching: Building a Stronger Instrument,” by Mike Baiocchi of the University of Pennsylvania

“Bayesian Semiparametric Analysis of Case-Control Studies with Time-Varying Exposures,” by Dhiman Bhadra of the University of Florida

“Full Bayesian Procedure for File Linking to Analyze End-of-Life Medical Costs,” by Roee Gutman of Harvard University

“Assessing Privacy Using the Area Under the Receiver-Operator Characteristic Curve,” by Gregory Matthews of the University of Connecticut

“Regression Adjustment and Stratification by Propensity Score in Treatment Effect Estimation,” by Jessica Myers of The Johns Hopkins University

The winners will present their papers during a JSM session on August 3. The awards presentation will take place during the HPSS mixer on August 2.

The Health Policy Statistics Section (HPSS) has a full program forJSM this year that displays the range of topics associated with health policy research and applications. HPSS is the primary sponsor of two invited sessions, eight topic-contributed sessions, six contributed sessions, a speaker luncheon, poster presentations, two A.M. roundtables, and one P.M. roundtable. These can be identified in the online program by selecting “Health Policy Statistics Section” as the sponsor.

The annual section mixer and business meeting will be held on August 2 at Steamworks Brewing Company (375 Water Street, a short stroll from the convention center) and feature free food and drink, amiable company, and the presentation of the HPSS student awards. HPSS members, organizers, speakers, discussants, and friends are invited. This year’s HPSS Student Award winners will give their presentations on August 3.

Roundtables

Roundtables allow people to learn about new topics while meeting others with similar interests. Be sure to register before the meeting or soon after arrival; tickets must be purchased at least 24 hours before the event, and roundtables often sell out. HPSS-sponsored roundtables include the following:

August 2, 12:30 p.m. – 1:50 p.m.
Issues of Data Capacity and Statistical Quality  to  Support  Health  Care Modeling and Microsimulation Efforts, led by Steve Cohen of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. There is a growing demand for timely, high-quality, and precise estimates of health care parameters at the national and subnational levels and associated readily accessible data resources to inform health care policy and practice. Analytic efforts directed at modeling current and future states include developing economic models projecting health care expenditures and utilization; estimating the impact of changes in financing, coverage, and reimbursement policy; and determining who benefits and who bears the cost of a change in policy. High standards of data quality and statistical integrity for these modeling and microsimulation efforts are needed to ensure policymakers understand the level of uncertainty associated with the model-based estimates. This roundtable discussion will focus on issues of data capacity, statistical quality, and evaluations to improve the utility of these efforts.