Research

The Long COVID Initiative will:

Synthesize and share emerging evidence on the clinical, epidemiologic, social, and economic aspects of Long COVID.

Generate knowledge to fill evidence gaps, with a focus on the social and economic impacts of Long COVID.

Apply an equity lens to all aspects of the work, taking into account the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on vulnerable and disadvantaged populations.

Evaluate the healthcare utilization cost of Long COVID.

Provide employers with tools to appropriately work with impacted employees.

Long COVID is so new, very little is known about its broader impact on people, communities, workplaces, healthcare, and society as a whole. Our initiative is applying a diverse set of research tools to address these knowledge gaps.

Stakeholder roundtables

We are holding a series of roundtable discussions with key groups affected by Long COVID, such as patients, employers and employees, or clinicians. The goal is to develop consensus on best practices and recommendations for government, private sector, and health systems on how to effectively manage Long COVID.

National patient and employer surveys

Targeted surveys are being deployed to identify the social, financial, and equity impact of Long COVID. The surveys will also inform our mathematical modeling, which will estimate the population-level economic impacts of Long COVID.

Evidence review

New studies on the clinical features and other impacts of Long COVID are published on a daily basis. We periodically review this emerging literature, and share key findings on our research page.

Learning from claims data

To understand the burden of Long COVID on hospitals and healthcare costs, we will be diving into routinely collected health data such as administrative claims and electronic medical records. Analysis of these data will provide pragmatic evaluations of health outcomes, healthcare utilization, and costs related to Long COVID in large samples that represent the US population.

For inquiries related to the Long COVID Initiative, please contact [email protected]