Centre for the Business and Economics of Health

Dr Sabrina Lenzen

Research Fellow
Centre for the Business and Economics of Health
+61 7 344 31320
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Sabrina Lenzen in Great court

About

I’m a Research Fellow and Health Economist at The University of Queensland’s Centre for the Business and Economics of Health (CBEH). My expertise is in applied economics, using econometric and discrete choice modelling techniques. I am particularly passionate about improving the lives of older people with a focus on cognitive decline, dementia, informal and formal aged care.

My research is funded through competitive grants from the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF), Australian Research Council (ARC), and National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). I am a Chief Investigator on two MRFF grants; one is evaluating the costs and benefits of a hearing and vision intervention in home care and another evaluating alcohol harm reduction interventions. I am a postdoc on an ARC grant that utilises economic methods to align population needs to health care and service provision, and on an NHMRC grant developing and testing new models for understanding and improving the treatment of youth substance use.  I was recently awarded the Junior Research Fellowship at the University Duisburg-Essen in Germany that allowed me to visit the Health Economics group at CINCH for the winter semester 2024 who I continue to colloborate with.

Research interests

Applied Econometrics: Applying econometric techniques to large administrative and survey datasets, stuying the impact of health policies on health outcomes and complex real-world problems.

Discrete Choice Modelling (DCE): Utilising experimental designs, stated preference techniques, and choice experiments to estimate the value people place on alternative attributes of health and services in order to understand why people behave in a certain way and to predict future behaviour.

Health Economics: Studying issues related to efficiency, effectiveness, value and behaviour in the production and consumption of health and health care to determine how to improve health outcomes and lifestyle patterns.

Aged Care: Examining the significant reform agenda of the aged care sector in Australia, as well as considering broader policy issues, existing challenges and future implications.

 

Research impact and partnership

My work has been influential in informing and impacting health policy.

  • I was recently involved in an evaluation of an increase in the midwife-to-mother ratio in Queensland hospitals.  A cabinet-in-conference report was tabled by us and legislative changes in earli 2024 followed to increase nursing and midwifery ratios on a permanent basis on Queensland public hospitals.
  • At the beginning of the year, I worked with the Department of Health and Aged Care and the UQ Centre for Health Services Research on developing risk adjustment models for aged care facilities in Australia. which are being implemented to improve the recently introduced Star Rating among residential aged care facilties.
  • I am co-founder and convenor of the special interest group on Aged Care, Ageing and Dementia within the Australian Health Economics Association (AHES) and I work closely with aged care providers on several external grants.

Contact

To find out how we can collaborate and bring value to your organisation, I can be contacted via:
 Email - s.lenzen@uq.edu.au
Connect with Sabrina on LinkedIn or

https://sites.google.com/view/sabrina-lenzen/

Publications

Journal Articles (8)
Thesis (1)

Journal Articles

Pocuca, Nina, Campbell, Gabrielle, Barnett, Anthony, Beck, Alison K., Ellem, Rhiannon, Quinn, Catherine A., Kelly, Peter J., Larance, Briony, Baker, Amanda L., Connor, Jason P., Marsden, John, Chan, Gary C. K., Connelly, Luke, Lenzen, Sabrina, Farrell, Michael, Stirling, Robert, Hudson, Suzie and Hides, Leanne (2025). A mixed‐methods study of staff perspectives on the barriers and facilitators to the implementation of patient‐reported routine outcome measures and feedback in alcohol and other drug treatment. Drug and Alcohol Review, 44 (3), 759-771. doi: 10.1111/dar.14007
Lenzen, Sabrina, Gannon, Brenda, Norman, Richard, Bennett, Sally, Clemson, Lindy and Gitlin, Laura (2024). Exploring the social value and design preferences for a home-based dementia community program in Australia. The European Journal of Health Economics. doi: 10.1007/s10198-024-01738-3
Pocuca, Nina, Tisdale, Calvert, Campbell, Gabrielle, Beck, Alison K., Ellem, Rhiannon, Quinn, Catherine A., Kelly, Peter J., Larance, Briony, Baker, Amanda L., Connor, Jason P., Marsden, John, Chan, Gary C. K., Connelly, Luke, Lenzen, Sabrina, Farrell, Michael and Hides, Leanne (2024). Routine outcome monitoring and feedback in alcohol and other drug treatment: A qualitative study of client perspectives on implementation. Drug and Alcohol Review, 44 (1), 226-238. doi: 10.1111/dar.13962
Koomson, Isaac, Lenzen, Sabrina and Afoakwah, Clifford (2024). Informal care and financial stress: Longitudinal evidence from Australia. Stress and Health, 40 (4) e3393, 1-20. doi: 10.1002/smi.3393
Lenzen, Sabrina, Gannon, Brenda, Rose, Christiern and Norton, Edward C. (2023). The relationship between physical activity, cognitive function and health care use: a mediation analysis. Social Science and Medicine, 335 116202, 1-12. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116202
Lenzen, Sabrina and Birch, Stephen (2023). From population numbers to population needs: Incorporating epidemiological change into health service planning in Australia. Social Science and Medicine, 328 115972, 1-8. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.115972
Lenzen, Sabrina, Bakx, Pieter, Bom, Judith and van Doorslaer, Eddy (2021). Health care use and out-of-pocket spending by persons with dementia differ between Europe and the United States. Medical Care, 59 (6), 543-549. doi: 10.1097/MLR.0000000000001539
Lenzen, Sabrina, Gannon, Brenda and Rose, Christiern (2020). A dynamic microeconomic analysis of the impact of physical activity on cognition among older people. Economics and Human Biology, 39 100933, 100933. doi: 10.1016/j.ehb.2020.100933

Thesis

Lenzen, Sabrina (2021). Microeconomic models of physical activity, cognition and health care utilization in the aging population. PhD Thesis, School of Economics, The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/91ddc43

Areas of research

Enhanced models of care and prevention
Future-focused health workforces