The Brandeis/Harvard SPIRE Center - SUD Systems Performance Improvement Research and Engagement is a Center of Excellence that has been housed at IBH for over 20 years. It provides an example of the depth of experience and expertise both within Brandeis and outside partners. Continuing a 20 plus-year collaboration with Harvard University, its objective is to use research on payment methods and service delivery organization to synergistically expand the research base, to ensure that substance use treatment services are included in efforts to improve quality and reduce the cost of health care services, and to inform policy decisions that will profoundly affect the cost, quality and availability of substance use treatment services.
Most recently, IBH is home to the Opioid Policy Research Collaborative (OPRC), which aims to help policymakers, health officials, and other public and private stakeholders tackle the epidemic of opioid addiction and overdose deaths. Through research and evaluation, OPRC works to better inform policymakers, enabling them to implement more cost-effective strategies to reduce opioid-related morbidity and mortality.
IBH collaborates with its sister Schneider Institute, the Institute on Healthcare Systems (IHS). IHS is home to many innovations in healthcare research and policy, and is dedicated to providing rigorous technical solutions to policymakers and other stakeholders who are striving to improve quality, efficiency, and value. IHS respects the complexity of healthcare, the corresponding need for rigorous and robust approaches to meaningful and stable reform, and the vital strength of empirical illumination and validation.
The Maternal Mental Health Research Collaborative (MMHRC) was established for people with personal or professional experience with maternal mental health conditions and/or substance abuse, who want to engage in research. IBH researchers partner with the MMHRC in this peer-led, mother-centered initiative.