About the Healthcare Assessment Research Branch

The Healthcare Assessment Research Branch (HARB) is one of three branches in NCI's Healthcare Delivery Research Program.

Our mission is to promote population-based research on demographic, social, economic, and health system factors as they relate to providing screening, treatment, and survivorship services for cancer.

The Branch carries out its mission by assessing:

• cancer-related health services utilization and outcomes among individuals in the general population and among selected population subgroups;
• the dissemination and effective delivery of cancer-related health services by community-based health care providers and health care delivery organizations; and
• the role of economic factors related to the equitable, efficient, and effective provision of cancer-related health services.

Furthermore, the Branch works towards its mission by developing, improving, and disseminating:

• data resources to support policy-relevant research on economic and health services research questions across the cancer continuum; and
• methods and techniques of economics and health services research related to cancer.

The ultimate purpose of this research is to improve cancer outcomes, reduce cancer-related health disparities, and reduce the burden of cancer to patients, their families, and society.

Current Initiatives

• Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) Cancer Survivorship Supplement
• National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) Cancer Control Supplement
• Patterns of Care/Quality of Care Studies
• Physician Surveys
• Population-based Research to Optimize the Screening PRocess (PROSPR)
• SEER-Medicare Linked Data Resource

Meet Our Staff