Simone M. Cummings, M.H.A., Ph.D.

DEPARTMENT OF Health Administration
Keywords: access to care, community health, health services research, utilization, emergency department

My research focuses on studies designed to examine access to care for vulnerable patient populations. Specifically, I am interested in the impact of insurance status on treatment modalities and access to care; the relationship between a patient’s residence and health facility locations on access and utilization and the development of interventions designed to encourage more efficient use of health care services. I am currently working on a funded grant designed to better understand the use of the emergency department (ED) among patients in a large community health center. The purpose of this research is to determine: 1) reasons for utilization of the ED for non-emergent care; 2) reasons for non-utilization of the community health center’s urgent care center; and 3) potential interventions for decreasing utilization of the ED and increasing utilization of the urgent care center instead.