Public Health Economics

Biography
Thomas Hoerger, PhD, Senior Fellow in health economics and financing, appointed in September 2005, is the director of the RTI-UNC Center of Excellence in Health Promotion Economics. He specializes in health economics, health care reform, and cost-effectiveness analysis. Dr. Hoerger has led numerous research projects for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). He has developed models for examining the cost-effectiveness of health promotion interventions and estimated the costs of diabetes, vision loss, and other conditions. He has directed a series of projects to design, implement, and evaluate competitive bidding for Medicare services. The purpose of the CDC-sponsored RTI-UNC Center of Excellence in Health Promotion Economics is to develop, evaluate, and implement health promotion recommendations, programs, and policies; to evaluate their cost-effectiveness; and, consequently, to improve upon efforts to promote health and prevent disease, disability, and injury. Read More…

Biography
Janet B. Mitchell, Ph.D., pioneered the use of claims data for research purposes and was the first researcher to successfully merge Medicare Part A and Part B claims. She has spearheaded the use of Medicare and Medicaid claims databases for studies of access and medical outcomes, as well as payment studies. Dr. Mitchell was the project director of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)-funded evaluation of Oregon's 1115 waiver demonstration. She was also one of the first investigators to link SSA disability data to Medicaid eligibility files. Dr. Mitchell recently completed a report to Congress (under contract to CMS) that evaluated the impact on dually eligible beneficiaries of state payment limitations on Medicare cost-sharing. Currently, Dr. Mitchell is directing the evaluation of CMS' Cancer Prevention and Treatment Demonstration, a project designed to reduce racial/ethnic disparities in cancer screening and treatment. Read More…

Biography

Lee Rivers Mobley, PhD, Senior Fellow in health economics, appointed December 2008, specializes in spatial epidemiology and analysis of health care markets and behaviors, using spatial modeling, spatial econometrics, spatial decision support systems, and cartographical modeling. Dr. Mobley was named an RTI Fellow in 2005. She joined RTI in July 2001, and her work at RTI has included market analysis for several Medicare reform initiatives, spatial analysis to explain cardiac risk factors in low income women, and analysis of access to and utilization of preventive care services. Her research reveals why people disenroll from Medicare HMOs or don't get regular cancer screening. Dr. Mobley is currently funded by two NIH grants, and conducts analyses of disparities among populations and across geography, examining socioecological problems where place and space are important. Her research interests include behavioral modeling, measurement of the built environment, remote sensing as a resource for data development, gap or suitability analysis, and building spatial decision support systems.

Biography
Janet O’Keeffe, DrPH, has 20 years of experience in health, long-term care, aging, disability, and social policy analysis and research. She is a nationally recognized expert on the Medicaid program and has conducted research on a number of Medicaid policy issues, including eligibility for home and community services and coverage of services in assisted living and other residential care settings. She is currently directing a multi-year study of the Federal Systems Change Grants Program for Community Living funded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. She has extensive experience as a policy analyst on a wide range of health and social policy issues related to health insurance, Medicare, retiree benefits, retiree health benefits, long-term care planning and education, mental health, reproductive health services and policy, and women’s and adolescent health. Dr. O’Keeffe also has clinical experience as a registered nurse in a range of health and long-term care settings. Read More…

Biography
Gregory C. Pope is director of RTI's health care financing and payment program. Mr. Pope has over 20 years of experience in health economics and health policy research. His specialties include management of large-scale projects; Medicare policy analysis; risk adjustment; provider payment design and incentives; program evaluation; directing the construction and analysis of large, complex claims and survey databases; statistical and quantitative analysis; and quality-of-care indicators. He has led the development and refinement of Medicare's Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' Hierarchical Condition Category and frailty risk adjustment models for managed care organization capitation payment. He is currently directing the evaluation of Medicare's Preferred Provider Organization and Physician Group Practice demonstrations and is co-developer of the Geographic Practice Cost Index used in Medicare physician payment. Mr. Pope has published more than 35 articles in the leading health economics and health policy journals and has made numerous presentations at major health services research professional conferences. Read More…

Biography
David B. Rein, PhD, is a research economist in RTI's Public Health Economics program. His work focuses on outcomes research, cost-effectiveness simulations, applied econometrics, and program evaluation. He is an expert in childhood vaccination and the epidemiology of vision-threatening diseases, HIV/AIDS, and STDs. He currently leads several projects for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Health Resources and Services Administration and leads the economic component of several other larger-scale evaluations. From 1996 until 2000, Dr. Rein worked as an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education fellow in the CDC National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention. He has extensive experience with quantitative and qualitative research methods, and he has lead-authored publications for The Lancet, Health Services Research, The American Journal of Public Health, Archives of Ophthalmology, Ophthalmology, Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology (The Green Journal), The American Journal of Managed Care, and Sexually Transmitted Diseases. Read More…