Health Policy Research

In a first-of-its-kind study, Associate Professor Hong Xue and Professors Alison Cuellar and Lawrence Cheskin and colleagues at George Mason University's College of Health and Human Services examined associations between the amount of time spent on specific social media sites and the use of both e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes.   While most of the social media platforms reviewed in the study showed no significant association with vaping, Xue and his colleagues did find that college-age e-cigarette users who spent more time on Snapchat did have a higher prevalence of lifetime e-cigarette use as well as an increased frequency of e-cigarette use in the past 30 days. College-age e-cigarette users who are occasional or regular vapers spend an average of just over two hours a day on Snapchat, according to the study. Non-users, on the other hand, spend less than an hour each day on the app. The study also found that each extra hour on Snapchat was associated with a 4.61 percent increase in likelihood of lifetime e-cigarette use

Panelists shared insight on the role of unique partnerships in city policy and health in third Health Policy Summer Series event.

Panelists from the private, non-profit and government sectors shared their perspectives on the role of health policy in achieving housing stability.

Health Policymaking Priorities Now: the first webinar in the Health Policy Summer Series featured panelists from Capitol Hill, the Virginia Medicaid program, and the Urban Institute

The longitudinal study is an important effort seeking to improve the health of young adults.

Telehealth as a channel for delivering care has boomed in the past few years in response to the growing need for more flexible opioid treatment options and limitations to in-person care during the COVID-19 pandemic. But for states, payers, and providers to deliver on the long-term promise of telehealth, areas such as funding, infrastructure, policy, access points, and coverage must also evolve.

Policy changes strengthen state’s capacity to fight substance use and improve outcomes including increases in number of behavioral health and substance use providers and patients treated.

Transforming Behavioral Health Care in Virginia

A post-COVID reimagining of telehealth in Medicare

CHHS faculty Lawrence J. Cheskin, Alison Cuellar, and Matthew Rossheim have received a Mason Summer Impact Grant to study COVID-19's impact on underrepresented/under-resourced George Mason University undergraduate students and their peers.

Young people with cognitive disabilities more than twice as likely to use e-cigarettes

Dr. Alison Cuellar has been awarded a grant from the National Institute for Health Care Management (NIHCM) to examine how the COVID-19 pandemic changed health care for patients with chronic conditions.