About
CHOPR Founding Director, Dr. Linda H. Aiken, established the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research, in 1989, to explore organizational effectiveness in health care with the potential to affect patient outcomes.
“Our policy research agenda is motivated by a commitment to improving health care outcomes by building an evidence base for health service management and providing direction for national policymakers.” Linda H. Aiken, PhD, RN, FAAN, Founding Director
Who We Are
We study health system reorganization and policy changes and aim to produce research evidence to improve the quality of health care, the power of policy on hospital organizational traits and context on racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities in health care outcomes.
Our Research Focus
We explore the nursing workforce; nursing’s contribution to reduce racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities; policies such as scope of practice and nurse-to-patient ratios; nursing inputs such as education, skill mix, and work environment; and how these factors impact patient outcomes.
Early Pivotal Events
AIDS Research Projects Launch the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research
(January 1, 1988) Dr. Linda H. Aiken came to the University of Pennsylvania from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation where she served as Vice President. As one of the first Trustee Professors to join the School of Nursing, she began immediately to use the research funding component of the professorship. More
Dr. linda H. Aiken goes to WASHINGTON as Co-Chair of the Health Care Workforce SUBCOMMITTEE
(January 1993) President Clinton launched a reform effort to provide universal coverage using “managed competition” and appointed the First Lady, Hilary Rodham Clinton, to assemble the health care reform task force. The Washington Post listed Aiken as a task force leader along with the White House chief health-care policy advisor, a former deputy assistant secretary for health policies; and, a former second lady. More
Multi-Country Study of Hospital Restructuring launches with CHOPR-Led Meeting
(November 1996) The early stages of the RN4CAST International study on how organizational features of hospital care impact on nurse recruitment and retention and patient outcomes started in 1996 with the CHOPR-led meeting at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Study and Conference Center in Italy. CHOPR Founder, Dr. Linda H. Aiken, and Penn Nursing Dean, Dr. Claire M. Fagin (shown left with Dr. James Buchan) brought together experts in the hospital sector, public policy, health workforce, and health outcomes research from five countries—US, Canada, England, Scotland, and Germany. More
To Err is Human, IOM’s Landmark report on Building a Safer Health System is published
(November 1999) It is widely recognized in patient safety and health outcomes circles that CHOPR’s earliest investigations in the field played a key role in the crafting of the IOM Quality Reports. Recommendations from the landmark Institute of Medicine report still impacts hospital organization, nurse work environments and patient safety today. More
CHOPR Receives NIH funding to educate doctoral students in “Advanced Training in Nursing Outcomes.”
(January 2000) The T32 training grant provides graduate-level academic institutions with National Institute of Health (NIH) funds training for predoctoral and postdoctoral candidates. We are proud of the many brilliant nurse leaders who began their journey with the faculty of the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research and have continued to make a huge impact on health care, economics, and society.
CHOPR Racial & Ethnic Disparities Research Identifies Factors of Nursing that Influence Minority Patient Outcomes
(May 2002) The Institute of Medicine’s report, Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care documented differences in the care, treatment, and outcomes for black patients compared to white patients. At the forefront, CHOPR sought to further investigate hospital characteristics that underlie care inequalities. More
