The following is an alphabetical list of recommended articles on methods in health services research (HSR).  A subset of papers is identified by topic area in the navigation bar to the left.

Suggestions are welcome and may be sent to  [email protected] .  Suggested articles will be reviewed and considered for inclusion in this list by the AcademyHealth Methods Council.

Articles on the field of HSR, including core competencies in doctoral education, are available in the 'About' section.

Austin, P.C. et al. “A Comparison of the Ability of Different Propensity Score Models to Balance Measured Variables Between Treated and Untreated Subjects: a Monte Carlo Study,” Statistics in Medicine, Vol. 26, No. 4, May 2006, pp. 734-753.

Basu A., and W.G. Manning, and J. Mullahy.  "Comparing Alternative Models: Log vs Cox Proportional Hazard?" Health Economics, Vol. 12, No. 8, 2004, pp. 749-765.

Berry, D.A. "Statistical Innovations in Cancer Research," Cancer Medicine, Vol. 6, 2003, pp. 465-478.

Briggs, Andrew et al. "Model Parameter Estimation and Uncertainty Analysis: A Report of the ISPOR-SMDM Modeling Good Research Practices Task Force." Medical Decision Making, Vol. 32, No. 5, September-October 2012, pp.722-732.

Brookhart, M.A. et al. “Evaluating Short-Term Drug Effects Using a Physician-Specific Prescribing Preference as an Instrumental Variable,” Epidemiology, Vol. 17, No. 3, May 2006, pp. 268-275.

Buntin, M.B. and A.M. Zaslavsky. “Too Much Ado About Two-Part Models and Transformation? Comparing Methods of Modeling Medicare Expenditures,” Journal of Health Economics, Vol. 23, No. 3, May 2004, pp. 525-542.

Caro, J. Jaime et al. "Modeling Good Research Practices--Overview: A Report of the ISPOR-SMDM Modeling Good Research Practices Task Force." Medical Decision Making, Vol. 32, No. 5, September-October 2012, pp. 667-677.

Dahabreh IJ, Chung M, Kitsios GD, Terasawa T, Raman G, Tatsioni A, Tobar A, Lau J, Trikalinos TA, Schmid CH. Comprehensive Overview of Methods and Reporting of Meta-Analyses of Test Accuracy. Methods Research Report. (Prepared by the Tufts Evidence-based Practice Center under Contract No. 290-2007-10055-I.) AHRQ Publication No. 12-EHC044-EF. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; March 2012. www.effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/reports/final.cfm.

Eddy, David et al. "Model Transparency and Validation: A Report of the ISPOR-SMDM Modeling Good Research PracticesTask Force". Medical Decision Making, Vol. 32, No. 5, September-October 2012, pp.733-743

Egger, M. and G.D. Smith. "Meta-Analysis: Potentials and Promise," British Medical Journal, No. 315, 1997, pp. 1371-1374.

Egger, M. et al. "Meta-analysis: Principles and Procedures,"  British Medical Journal, No. 315, 1997, pp. 1533-1537.

Gibbons, Robert D. et al. “A Random-Effects Probit Model for Predicting Medical Malpractice Claims,” Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 89, 1994.

Greenhalgh, T. "How to Read a Paper: Papers that Summarise Other Papers (Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses)," British Medical Journal, Vol. 315, No. 7109, pp. 672-675.

Harris, K. and D. Remler, “Who is the Marginal Patient? Understanding Instrumental Variables Estimates of Treatment Effects,” Health Services Research, No. 33, 1998, pp. 1337-1360.

Hedeker, D. and R.D. Gibbons. “A Random-Effects ordinal Regression Model for Multilevel Analysis,” Biometrics, Vol. 50, No. 4, Dec 1994, pp. 933-944.

Huang, I.C. et al. “Application of a Propensity Score Approach for Risk Adjustment in Profiling Multiple Physician Groups on Asthma Care,” Health Services Research, Vol. 1, No. 40, 2005, pp. 253-278.

Hughes, M. and P. Williams. “Challenges in Using Observational Studies to Evaluate Adverse Effects of Treatment,” New England Journal of Medicne, No. 356, 2007, pp.1705-1707.

Karnon, Jonathan et al. "Modeling Using Discrete Event Simulation: A Report of the ISPOR-SMDM Modeling Good Research Practices Task Force". Medical Decision Making, Vol. 32, No. 5, September-October 2012, pp. 701-711

Leamer, E. "Let's Take the Con out of Econometrics," The American Economic Review, Vol. 73, No. 1, 1983, pp. 31-43.

Maciejewski, M. et al. "Common Methodological Terms in Health Services Research and Their Symptoms,"  Medical Care, Vol. 20, No. 6, 2002, pp. 477-484.

Mandelblatt, Jeanne et al. "Building Better Models: If We Build Them, Will Policy Makers Use Them? Toward Integrating Modeling into Health Care Decisions". Medical Decision Making, Vol. 32, No. 5, September-October 2012, pp. 656-659.

Manning, W.G. “The Logged Dependent Variable, Heteroscedasticity, and the Retransformation Problem,” Journal of Health Economics, Vol. 17, No. 3, 1998, pp. 283-295.

Manning, W.G. and J. Mullahy. “Estimating Log Models: To Transform or not to Transform?,” Journal of Health Economics, Vol. 20, No. 4, July 2001, pp. 461-94.

Manning WG, Basu A, Mullahy J (2005) "Generalized Modeling Approaches to Risk Adjustment of Skewed Outcomes." Journal of Health Economics. Vol. 24, No. 3, 2003, pp. 465-488.

Mennemeyer, S. “Can Econometrics Rescue Epidemiology?,” Annals of Epidemilogy, Vol. 7, 1997, pp. 249-250.

Neil, Nancy. "Transparently, with Validation". Medical Decision Making, Vol. 32, No. 5, September-October 2012, pp. 660-662.

Newhouse, J.and M. McClellan. “Econometrics in Outcomes Research: The Use of Instrumental Variables,” Annual Review of Public Health, Vol. 19, 1998, pp. 17-34.

Normand, Sharon-Lise T. et al. “Assessing the Accuracy of Hospital Clinical Performance Measures,” Medical Decision Making, Vol. 27, Jan 2007, pp. 9-20.

Permutt, T. and J.R. Hebel. “Simultaneous-Equation Estimation in a Clinical Trial of the Effect of Smoking on Birth Weight,” Biometrics, Vol. 45, No. 2, Jun 1989, pp. 619-622.

Pitman, Richard et al. "Dynamic Transmission Modeling: A Report of the ISPOR-SMDM Modeling Good Research Practices Task Force". Medical Decision Making, Vol. 32, No. 5, September-October 2012, pp. 712-721

Pittman, P.M. et al. “U.S.-Based Recruitment of Foreign-Educated Nurses: Implications of an Emerging Industry,” American Journal of Nursing, Vol. 110, No. 6, June 2010, pp. 38-48.

Pizer, S.D. "An Intuitive Review of Methods for Observational Studies of Comparative Effectiveness." Health Services and Outcomes Research Methodology. Vol. 9, No. 1, March 2009, pp. 54-68.

Roberts, Mark et al. "Conceptualizing a Model: A Report of the ISPOR-SMDM Modeling Good Research Practices Task Force." Medical Decision Making, Vol. 32, No. 5, September-October 2012, pp. 678-689.

Rubin, DB. “Using Propensity Scores to Help Design Observational Studies: Application to Tobacco Litigation,” Health Services and Outcomes Research Methodology, Vol. 2, No. 3-4, Dec 2001, pp. 169-188.

Shah, N., Holve, E., Papa, K., Johnson, B., and Kelley, B. “HSRProj Update: Public Health Services and Systems Research, 2003-2011.” AcademyHealth, 2012. Also see http://www.hsrmethods.org/HSRProjUpdates.

Sidik, K. and J.N. Jonkman. “A Comparison of Heterogeneity Variance Estimators in Combining Results of Studies,” Statistics in Medicine, Vol 26, 2007, pp. 1964-1981.

Siebert, Uwe et al. "State-Transition Modeling: A Report of the ISPOR-SMDM Modeling Good Research Practices Task Force". Medical Decision Making, Vol. 32, No. 5, September-October 2012, pp. 690-700

Smith-Spangler, Crystal M. "Transparency and Reproducible Research in Modeling: Why We Need It and How to Get There". Medical Decision Making, Vol. 32, No. 5, September-October 2012, pp. 663-666.

Stukel, T. et al. "Analysis of Observational Studies in the Presence of Treatment Selection Bias: Effects of Invasive Cardiac Management on AMI Survival Using Propensity Score and Instrumental Variable Methods," The Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 297, 2007, pp. 278-285.

Stukel et al. “Using Observational Data to Estimate Treatment Effects,” Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 297, 2007, pp. 2078-2079.

Teddlie, C. and F. Yu.  "Mixed Methods Sampling: A Typology With Examples," Journal of Mixed Methods Research, Vol. 1, 2007, pp. 77-100.

Terza, Joseph V. and W. D. Bradford and C. E. Dismuke. "The Use of Linear Instrumental Variables Methods in Health Services Research and Health Economics: A Cautionary Note," Health Services Research, 2007.

Tooze, Janet A. “Analysis of Repeated Measures Data with Clumping at Zero,” Statistical Methods in Medical Research, Vol. 11, No. 4, 2002, pp. 341-355.

Wolfe, R. and J. Hanley "If we're so different, why do we keep overlapping? When 1 plus 1 doesn't make 2." Canadian Medical Association Journal, Vol. 166, No. 1, 2002, pp. 65-66.

Zhang, J. and F. Kai. “What's the Relative Risk? A Method of Correcting the Odds Ratio in Cohort Studies of Common Outcomes,” The Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 280, 1998, pp. 1690-1691.

Zohoori, N. “Does Endogeneity Matter? A Comparison of Empirical Analyses With and Without Control for Endogeneity,” Annals of Epidemiology, Vol. 7, 1997, pp. 258-266.

Zohoori, N. and D.A. Savitz. “Econometric Approaches to Epidemiologic Data: Relating Endogeneity and Unobserved Heterogeneity to Confounding,” Annals of Epidemiology, Vol. 7, 1997, pp.251-267.