About News News Subscribe Economics Health Policy Political Science Domestic Policy & Politics Leadership Virginia Politics & Policy Facet Area of Focus - News Ian H. Solomon Craig Volden Brian N. Williams Christine Mahoney Benjamin Castleman Kirsten Gelsdorf Gerald Warburg Gabrielle Adams Philip Potter Daphna Bassok Jay Shimshack John Holbein Lucy Bassett Andrew S. Pennock David Leblang Allan Stam Sarah Turner Sophie Trawalter Timothy L. Davis Bala Mulloth Benjamin Converse Sebastian Tello Trillo Eileen Chou Jeanine Braithwaite Jennifer Lawless Jill Rockwell Todd S. Sechser Alexander Bick James H. Wyckoff Paul S. Martin Peter Johannessen Steve Hiss Daniel W. Player Gerard Robinson Laura Toscano Michael D. Williams Noah Myung William Shobe Brooke Lehmann Harry Harding James R. Detert Jazmin Brown-Iannuzzi Jeff Chidester Kyle S. H. Dobson Larry Terry Margaret Foster Riley Molly Lipscomb Abigail Scholer Adam Leive Allison Atteberry Andrew Simon Brad Carson Derek Wu Frederick P. Hitz Galen Fountain Gerald Higginbotham Isaac Mbiti Michele Claibourn Sally Hudson Tim Layton Xiao Wang Adam Roux Amanda Crombie Andy Ortiz Ashley Jardina Brendan J. Boler Brooke Ray Charles J. Rush Charles J. Rush Diane Biesecker George Foresman Jieun Pai Justin H. Kirkland Kimberly Jenkins Robinson Melissa Thomas-Hunt Pam Cipriano Paul Becker Tim Layton (-) Raymond C. Scheppach (-) Christopher J. Ruhm Facet People - News Facet UVA Partner - News Research and Commentary Faculty In Action Facet News Type - News Apr 28, 2025 UVA Batten a Hub for Health Economics Research The health economy is one of the most extensive and complex systems in modern life, impacting people on a deeply personal level. UVA Batten is honored to have three outstanding faculty members whose research expertise is focused on various policy aspects of the field, including Medicaid and Medicare, COVID-related mortality rates, and other topics. Learn more Jul 30, 2024 How State Policies Impacted Death Rates During COVID In a paper published in JAMA Health Forum, Professor of Public Policy and Economics Chris Ruhm finds that stringent COVID-19 restrictions saved lives during the pandemic based on a state-by-state analysis of health policies and COVID deaths. Learn more Dec 13, 2023 Ruhm Named SEA Distinguished Fellow Chris Ruhm, Batten professor of public policy and economics, has received a Distinguished Fellow Award from the Southern Economic Association in recognition for his “substantial record of exceptional scholarly achievement and long-term involvement and service to the association.” Learn more Jun 23, 2022 We May Not Have Been as Anxious, Depressed in Pandemic's First Year as Once Thought Health Policy Findings from the Batten School's Christopher Ruhm and colleagues at Harvard question the accuracy of the CDC’s Household Pulse survey on mental health. Learn more Apr 05, 2022 Ray Scheppach on Virginia's State Budget Process Virginia Politics & Policy Domestic Policy & Politics Batten professor Ray Scheppach shares his knowledge on the Virginia state budgeting process as a guest on the WTJU podcast Bold Dominion. Learn more Jul 12, 2021 Did US States Get More Money Than They Needed for COVID-19 Relief? Domestic Policy & Politics Interviewed for The Conversation, Batten’s Raymond Scheppach says the flood of federal money may have been a rare occurrence in federal-state relations: too much of a good thing. READ IN UVA TODAY May 17, 2021 How to target opioid funding to states that need it most Health Policy Economics According to new research from Batten’s Christopher J. Ruhm, the federal government’s opioid grant funding structure favors the least populous states, which are not always the states with greatest need. In an op-ed for The Hill, Ruhm suggests several ways to improve the targeting of federal grants that aim to assist states with opioid problems. Read in The Hill May 03, 2021 Federal Opioid Grant Funding Favors Least Populous States, Not Those With the Greatest Need Economics Health Policy In a new paper published in the journal Health Affairs, Batten’s Christopher J. Ruhm and co-author Bradley A. Katcher find that the federal government’s opioid grant funding structure favors the least populous states, which are not always the states with greatest need. Learn more Apr 30, 2021 Why States Didn’t Go Broke From the Pandemic Economics Political Science The headlines were inescapable: States faced a financial disaster of epic proportions because of COVID-19. But, the predictions were wrong. In an article for The Conversation, Batten's Raymond Scheppach explains why the disaster never happened. Read in The Conversation Mar 01, 2021 Why Using Reconciliation to Pass Biden’s COVID-19 Stimulus Bill Violates the Original Purpose of the Process Political Science Economics In 1974, Congress invented the reconciliation process to reduce deficits. More recently, reconciliation has been used in ways that increase the deficit. Batten’s Ray Scheppach spoke with The Conversation to explain the process. Read in The Conversation Jul 08, 2020 Scheppach on the Opportunity States Have to Attack Income Inequality Political Science As they rebuild their education, health-care and tax systems after the devastation of COVID-19, they can take important steps that can significantly narrow income and wealth disparities. Read in Governing Jun 16, 2020 Scheppach: COVID-19 Will Turn the State Pension Problem Into a Fiscal Crisis Health Policy You may be wondering why, over the last few months, the state pension problem – normally not a subject of widespread discussion – has been in the news. The problem – and it’s a big one – is that many of the public employee pension plans run by states don’t have enough money in them to make upcoming pension payments to retired state workers. Read in The Conversation Pagination Current page 1 Page 2 Next page Next › Stay Up To Date with the Latest Batten News and Events Subscribe
Apr 28, 2025 UVA Batten a Hub for Health Economics Research The health economy is one of the most extensive and complex systems in modern life, impacting people on a deeply personal level. UVA Batten is honored to have three outstanding faculty members whose research expertise is focused on various policy aspects of the field, including Medicaid and Medicare, COVID-related mortality rates, and other topics. Learn more
Jul 30, 2024 How State Policies Impacted Death Rates During COVID In a paper published in JAMA Health Forum, Professor of Public Policy and Economics Chris Ruhm finds that stringent COVID-19 restrictions saved lives during the pandemic based on a state-by-state analysis of health policies and COVID deaths. Learn more
Dec 13, 2023 Ruhm Named SEA Distinguished Fellow Chris Ruhm, Batten professor of public policy and economics, has received a Distinguished Fellow Award from the Southern Economic Association in recognition for his “substantial record of exceptional scholarly achievement and long-term involvement and service to the association.” Learn more
Jun 23, 2022 We May Not Have Been as Anxious, Depressed in Pandemic's First Year as Once Thought Health Policy Findings from the Batten School's Christopher Ruhm and colleagues at Harvard question the accuracy of the CDC’s Household Pulse survey on mental health. Learn more
Apr 05, 2022 Ray Scheppach on Virginia's State Budget Process Virginia Politics & Policy Domestic Policy & Politics Batten professor Ray Scheppach shares his knowledge on the Virginia state budgeting process as a guest on the WTJU podcast Bold Dominion. Learn more
Jul 12, 2021 Did US States Get More Money Than They Needed for COVID-19 Relief? Domestic Policy & Politics Interviewed for The Conversation, Batten’s Raymond Scheppach says the flood of federal money may have been a rare occurrence in federal-state relations: too much of a good thing. READ IN UVA TODAY
May 17, 2021 How to target opioid funding to states that need it most Health Policy Economics According to new research from Batten’s Christopher J. Ruhm, the federal government’s opioid grant funding structure favors the least populous states, which are not always the states with greatest need. In an op-ed for The Hill, Ruhm suggests several ways to improve the targeting of federal grants that aim to assist states with opioid problems. Read in The Hill
May 03, 2021 Federal Opioid Grant Funding Favors Least Populous States, Not Those With the Greatest Need Economics Health Policy In a new paper published in the journal Health Affairs, Batten’s Christopher J. Ruhm and co-author Bradley A. Katcher find that the federal government’s opioid grant funding structure favors the least populous states, which are not always the states with greatest need. Learn more
Apr 30, 2021 Why States Didn’t Go Broke From the Pandemic Economics Political Science The headlines were inescapable: States faced a financial disaster of epic proportions because of COVID-19. But, the predictions were wrong. In an article for The Conversation, Batten's Raymond Scheppach explains why the disaster never happened. Read in The Conversation
Mar 01, 2021 Why Using Reconciliation to Pass Biden’s COVID-19 Stimulus Bill Violates the Original Purpose of the Process Political Science Economics In 1974, Congress invented the reconciliation process to reduce deficits. More recently, reconciliation has been used in ways that increase the deficit. Batten’s Ray Scheppach spoke with The Conversation to explain the process. Read in The Conversation
Jul 08, 2020 Scheppach on the Opportunity States Have to Attack Income Inequality Political Science As they rebuild their education, health-care and tax systems after the devastation of COVID-19, they can take important steps that can significantly narrow income and wealth disparities. Read in Governing
Jun 16, 2020 Scheppach: COVID-19 Will Turn the State Pension Problem Into a Fiscal Crisis Health Policy You may be wondering why, over the last few months, the state pension problem – normally not a subject of widespread discussion – has been in the news. The problem – and it’s a big one – is that many of the public employee pension plans run by states don’t have enough money in them to make upcoming pension payments to retired state workers. Read in The Conversation