This career development award supports the growth of Dr. Susmita Pati into an independent health services researcher focusing on health care access for medically underserved children and families. Dr. Pati brings to this award her prior experience as a pediatrician with particular expertise in underserved populations and fellowship training in epidemiology. Dr. Pati's career development will be guided by a multidisciplinary team of nationally recognized research mentors including Donald F. Schwarz, MD MPH (longitudinal cohort studies, career development, health policy), Daniel Polsky, PhD (research development, methodology, health care access), Trevor Hadley, PhD (mental health services research, health policy), and Avital Cnaan, PhD (advanced statistical methods). Her program will consist of formal didactics and practical experience gained through conduct of original research, complemented by intensive mentorship. The proposed projects will allow her to utilize and further develop her skills in population-based primary research (i.e. study design, sampling and survey techniques, advanced statistical analysis) to examine predictors of stable health care access among medically underserved populations. The mentoring relationships, advanced formal training and education, and protected time afforded by this career development award will raise the sophistication, rigor and quality of her work and significantly facilitate her transition to a highly successful, independent, patient-oriented clinical investigator. Dr. Pati's research plan primarily examines associations between child, maternal, policy-level factors and stability of Medicaid coverage at the national and local level through two linked studies. In the first study, she investigates national trends (1997-2001) in various dimensions of health care access (insurance status, coverage gaps, access barriers) by low-income children and families, both welfare-recipients and non-recipients, using nationally representative datasets. In the second study, she conducts a longitudinal cohort study of medically underserved children from Philadelphia to identify child, maternal, and policy predictors of discontinuous Medicaid coverage and she begins to examine links between unstable coverage and child health care utilization and child health. The analyses from the first study will anchor the results from the second study in a national context and guide variable definition in the subsequent analysis. The cohort study is closely tied to her educational goals to gain practical experience in the design, conduct, and analysis of population-based cohort studies involving primary data collection. In the future, these projects will lead to examination of the relationship between unstable Medicaid coverage, child health care utilization, and, ultimately, child health and developmental outcomes.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
Type
Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award (K23)
Project #
5K23HD047655-04
Application #
7388261
Study Section
Pediatrics Subcommittee (CHHD)
Program Officer
Spittel, Michael
Project Start
2005-04-01
Project End
2010-02-28
Budget Start
2008-03-01
Budget End
2009-02-28
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
2008
Total Cost
$133,272
Indirect Cost
Name
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Department
Type
DUNS #
073757627
City
Philadelphia
State
PA
Country
United States
Zip Code
19104
Pati, Susmita; Calixte, Rose; Wong, Angie et al. (2018) Maternal and child patterns of Medicaid retention: a prospective cohort study. BMC Pediatr 18:275
Pati, Susmita; Huang, Jiayu; Wong, Angie et al. (2017) Do changes in socio-demographic characteristics impact up-to-date immunization status between 3 and 24 months of age? A prospective study among an inner-city birth cohort in the United States. Hum Vaccin Immunother 13:1141-1148
Pati, Susmita; Siewert, Elizabeth; Wong, Angie T et al. (2014) The influence of maternal health literacy and child's age on participation in social welfare programs. Matern Child Health J 18:1176-89
Bevans, Katherine B; Bhatt, Suraj K; Pascoe, John M et al. (2013) Measurement of maternal instrumental support: findings from three population-based cohort studies. Matern Child Health J 17:14-22
Pati, Susmita; Feemster, Kristen A; Mohamad, Zeinab et al. (2011) Maternal health literacy and late initiation of immunizations among an inner-city birth cohort. Matern Child Health J 15:386-94
Pati, Susmita; Mohamad, Zeinab; Cnaan, Avital et al. (2010) Influence of maternal health literacy on child participation in social welfare programs: the Philadelphia experience. Am J Public Health 100:1662-5
Feudtner, Chris; Pati, Susmita; Goodman, Denise M et al. (2010) State-level child health system performance and the likelihood of readmission to children's hospitals. J Pediatr 157:98-102.e1
Satchell, Marlon; Pati, Susmita (2005) Insurance gaps among vulnerable children in the United States, 1999-2001. Pediatrics 116:1155-61