Impact of Health Care Utilization and Informal Caregiving for Primary Systemic Vasculitis
Presented: April 27, 2016
Speaker: Carolyn T. Thorpe, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor, University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy and Therapeutics, and a Core Investigator in the Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Healthcare System’s Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion (CHERP)
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In this webinar, Dr. Thorpe provides an update on her VF-funded study examining the cost of health care for patients with vasculitis. Individuals with systemic vasculitis (SV) often require significant health care services and may rely on family members and friends to provide additional caregiving support. Until now, very little has been known about patterns of health care utilization and costs among SV patients, or how family and friends are impacted by serving as informal caregivers to SV patients. Characterizing the burden of formal and informal care for SV from the perspectives of patients, family members, and the US health care system, is critical to raising awareness of the illness among policymakers and garnering additional resources to support those affected by it.
Dr. Thorpe is a health services researcher and behavioral scientist with interests in quality medication prescribing and medication adherence in older adults with multiple chronic conditions. Dr. Thorpe’s projects are aimed at understanding how we might better support medication adherence in older adults, especially those patients who are dependent on informal caregivers to help manage their daily medications. Her work in these areas has been supported by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
