Department of Health Policy and Health Services Administration

Community-Engaged Health Policy

The department promotes initiatives to enhance health equity and access to care while focusing on person-centered outcomes and evidence-based policy development.

Academic focus areas include:

• Improving Health Equity: Working to reduce health disparities and improve health outcomes for individuals in South Texas.
• Enhancing Access to Care: Identifying and addressing barriers to medical care, especially social needs and social determinants of health, and creating solutions to overcome these barriers.
• Person-Centered Outcomes: Concentrating on health outcomes that matter most to patients, their families, and communities, such as quality of life, experience of care, and financial hardships related to healthcare.
• Organizational Leadership: Evaluating leadership practices, strategies, and effectiveness within healthcare organizations to enhance overall performance.
• Policy Development: Creating, analyzing, implementing, and sharing policies aimed at improving access to care, health outcomes, and the value of healthcare.
• Data-Driven Insights: Establishing and using large datasets to better understand factors affecting healthcare services, improving data sharing, and assessing how health information technology can enhance outcomes and reduce costs.