about CHEAR

About CHEAR

The Child Health Evaluation and Research (CHEAR) Unit of the University of Michigan is a multidisciplinary research unit that brings together faculty from the Schools of Business, Dentistry, Law, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Public Health, and Social Work. Through interdisciplinary collaboration, the CHEAR Unit addresses the most pressing child health issues of the day.

The CHEAR Unit is designed to be entrepreneurial and flexible. While rare in a University system, this type of structure is an essential asset. It allows CHEAR to identify current and topical issues, analyze the policy implications of health care utilization and cost data, and to engage in evaluations that keep pace with the programs, issues, changes, and decisions to be made in health care. CHEAR is able to bring research-based evaluations and findings to bear on efforts to support and reform policies so that “best practices” are actually used in the organization, financing, and delivery of child health care.

We focus specifically on the evaluation of child health care and child health programs or policies in relation to other areas of social concern of child welfare policy. It is this interface, often overlooked or unrecognized, that frequently has the greatest impact on the lives of children. We examine the financial, health and social impact of programs and policies, primarily in four broad areas:

1) The structure, function and financing of the health care system for children

2) Specific governmental programs designed to produce measurable outcomes in improving children’s health and well-being

3) The mechanisms by which federal programs are implemented at the state and community level and the differential impact of state-to-state and community-to-community variation in performance

4) The interface and interaction between health and social welfare programs

The CHEAR Unit conducts projects which involve both primary data collection and secondary data analysis, and utilizes both quantitative and qualitative research methods where appropriate. A full time research staff includes data programmer/analysts, master's-level research associates, an attorney and several research assistants and support personnel.

In addition, U-M offers an elective month in pediatric health services research for a minority resident. This program is sponsored by the Division of General Pediatrics within the Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases. An online application is available for your convenience.

For more information about CHEAR, please call 734-615-0616.