Join us as we kick off the Stone Inequality Seminar Series with our first guest, Marcella Alsan, Director of the Health Inequality Lab and the Angelopoulos Professor of Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School. In this seminar, Alsan will present her joint research with Crystal Yang, discussing how accreditation affects health care quality and mortality among incarcerated individuals in the U.S..
Abstract
The U.S. has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world, with approximately 10 million individuals admitted to jails each year. These incarcerated individuals are the only group in the U.S. that have a constitutional right to receiving “reasonably adequate” health care. Yet, there is little oversight and funding for health care in jails, where illness and mortality are rampant. In this study, we randomize the offer of health care accreditation to 44 jails across the U.S. We find that accreditation improves quality standards and reduces mortality among the incarcerated. Surveys of staff indicate that better coordination between health and custody staff is a key mechanism.
Event Details
Date: October 8, 2024
Time: 3:30 – 5:00 PM
Location: Iona 533, 6000 Iona Dr, Vancouver, BC
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Marcella Alsan received a BA from Harvard University, a master’s in public health from Harvard School of Public Health, a MD from Loyola University, and a PhD in Economics from Harvard University. Alsan trained at Brigham and Women’s Hospital Hiatt Global Health Equity Residency Fellowship – then combined the PhD with an Infectious Disease Fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital. Prior to returning to Harvard she was on faculty at Stanford. She is an applied microeconomist studying health inequality.
Alsan is an Associate Editor at the Quarterly Journal of Economics and the Journal of Economic Literature. She is the Co-Chair of the Health Care Delivery Initiative of Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) based out of MIT. She is additionally Co-Chair of the Economics of Health Equity Interest Group at the American Society of Health Economists. She is a member of the National Academy of Medicine.