Future Now
The IFTF Blog
Ideas for Keynote Speaker #2 -- Local
Here are the names of five local health care policy wonks, the first at Stanford, the others in Berkeley and SF.
Alan Garber, MD, PhD
Director, Center for Health Policy, Stanford
Garber is the founding director of both the Center for Health
Policy (CHP) and the Center for Primary Care and Outcomes Research
(PCOR) at Stanford University, where he is the Henry J. Kaiser Jr.,
Professor; a professor of medicine; and professor, by courtesy, of
economics and of health research and policy. His research focuses on
methods for improving healthcare delivery and financing - particularly for the elderly - in settings of limited resources. He has developed methods for determining the cost-effectiveness of health interventions, and he studies ways to structure financial and organizational incentives to ensure that cost-effective care is delivered. In addition, his research explores how clinical practice patterns and healthcare market characteristics influence technology adoption, health expenditures and health outcomes in the United States and other countries. He is principal investigator of the Center on Advancing Decision Making in Aging and the Center on the Demography and Economics of Health and Aging, multidisciplinary research efforts both based at Stanford University. He also leads the Global Healthcare Productivity project, which includes collaborators from 19 nations.
Garber is a staff physician at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System,
associate director of the VA Center for Health Care Evaluation, and
research associate and director of the health care program of the
National Bureau of Economic Research. He chairs the Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services' Medicare Coverage Advisory Committee
and serves on the senior advisory board of the Gates Global Health
Policy Research Network. He is a member of the national Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association Medical Advisory Panel, the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Advisory Council on Aging (under the National Institutes of Health). He has served as a consultant to the Institute of Medicine, the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, and the Clinical Efficacy Assessment Project of the American College of Physicians, and has also served as chair of the Medical and Surgical Procedures Panel of the Medicare Coverage Advisory Committee.
. . . He received an AB, MS and PhD - all in economics - from Harvard University, and an MD from the Stanford School of Medicine.
(see content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/25/2/w51 for article related to use of technology in medicine--may or may not indicate an interest in role of mobile technology for improving health outcomes)
Hal Luft, PhD
Director, PAMF Research Institute
To take the work of the PAMF Research Institute to a new level, PAMF
has named professor of health policy and health economics at the
University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and internationally
renowned health economist Harold S. "Hal" Luft, Ph.D., as the Institute's new director beginning June 23.
For the last 14 years, Dr. Luft has directed the UCSF School of Medicine's Institute for Health Policy Studies (recently renamed the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies for its founder and PAMF Board member, Dr. Lee). Dr. Luft first joined the UCSF faculty in 1978, and before that, he was an assistant professor at Stanford University Medical School for five years. Dr. Luft received his doctorate in economics (specializing in health sector economics and public finance) from Harvard University. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine, and has served on numerous national health care-research advisory boards and as a former editor-in-chief of the journal Health Services Research.
A prolific author, Dr. Luft has published four books and more than 200 articles in peer-reviewed journals. His latest – due out in October – is Total Cure: The Antidote to the Health Care Crisis (editorial reviews on Amazon). It focuses on how the American health care system can be reshaped to provide equity, improve quality, and reduce costs.
His research has focused on numerous topics, including the relationship between the volume of surgical procedures in a hospital and patient outcomes, the performance
of managed care organizations, the competition among health care
providers and health plans, ways to assess quality in health care, and methods to compensate for differences in patient risk. At the PAMF Research Institute, he will be continuing these research interests, in part utilizing the strengths of the Foundation's electronic health record, as well as helping PAMF apply research results to improve its patient care.
Molly J. Coye, M.D., M.P.H.
CEO, Health Technology Center
Dr. Molly J. Coye is founder and CEO of the Health Technology Center
(HealthTech), a non-profit education and research organization established
in 2000 to advance the use of beneficial technologies in promoting
healthier people and communities.
Today HealthTech provides objective technology forecasts, innovative
decision-making tools, and expert learning networks for 45 Partner
organizations. Partners include nearly 25 percent of the nation’s
hospitals, as well as the country’s leading health plans and
the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, which together cover more
than half of all insured Americans.
Dr. Coye has extensive experience in both the public and private
sectors. She served as Commissioner of Health for the State of New
Jersey and Director of the California Department of Health Services, in addition to heading the Division of Public Health at the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, leading marketing and product development for interactive health communication and disease management at HealthDesk Corp, serving as Executive Vice President for the Good Samaritan Health System, and directing The Lewin Group’s West Coast office.
As a member of the Institute of Medicine, Dr. Coye co-authored
the reports To Err is Human and Crossing the Quality Chasm, chaired the Committee on Access to Insurance for Children, and co-chaired the Committee on Patient Safety Data Standards.
Dr. Coye is on the Board of Trustees of the American Hospital Association and the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), one of the largest and most creative nonprofit organizations working in international health. She was a founding board member of The California Endowment, the largest private health care philanthropy in California.
Dr. Coye has her M.D. and M.P.H. degrees from Johns Hopkins University and is board certified by the American College of Preventive Medicine. In 2005, she was selected one of the 100 most influential leaders in health care - and the 25 most influential women in health care - by Modern Healthcare magazine.
James (Jamie) Robinson, PhD, MPH
Distinguished Professor of Health Economics, UC Berkeley School of Public Health
The Kaiser Permanente distinguished professor of health economics at Berkeley's School of Public Health. He also chairs Berkeley's division of health policy and management, co-chairs its health and policy program with the Goldman School of Public Policy, and is a core faculty member of the Haas School of Business health management program. Recently named editor-in-chief of Health Affairs, one of the most prestigious peer-reviewed journals in the field.
Current Research Interests
• Biotechnology policy and strategy
• Health insurance
• Physician payment methods
• Health care finance
• Nonprofit and for-profit organization
See coeh.berkeley.edu/people/faculty/robinson.htm
(teaches seminars on health care technology policy and strategies--may or may not indicate an interest in the role of mobile technology in improving health outcomes)
Richard Scheffler
Director, Petris Center on Health Care Markets & Consumer Welfare (at UCB's School of Public Health)
Scheffler has been the Director of the Nicholas C. Petris Center since its inception in 1999. He is a Distinguished Professor of Health Economics and Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and holds the Chair in Health Care Markets & Consumer Welfare endowed by the State of California Office of the Attorney General. His research is on health care markets, health insurance, the health workforce, mental health economics, social capital and health, pharmacoeconomics, and international health systems. Professor Scheffler is a recipient of the American Public Health Association's Carl Taube Award, which honors distinguished contributions to the field of mental health services research. He was a Rockefeller and a Fulbright Scholar, and served as President of the International Health Economists Association 4th Congress. He has been a Scholar in Residence at the Institute of Medicine and the World Bank. He also served as an advisor to the World Health Organization in the area of human resources. He has published more than 150 papers and edited and written six books. His newest book will be published by Stanford University Press in September 2008—Is There a Doctor in the House: Market Signals and Tomorrow’s Supply of Doctors (summary/editorial reviews on Amazon).