Building Bridges: 2008 Policy Seminar
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Kathleen D. Gifford, J.D.
Ms. Gifford is a principal with Health Management Associates (HMA) specializing in Medicaid-related issues. Since joining HMA in 2002, she has assisted public and private sector clients with projects involving program and policy analysis, program design and improvement, and market research and analysis. Ms. Gifford has also assisted major national foundations with program and trend analysis projects and provided policy analysis to national patient advocacy organizations. Prior to joining HMA, Ms. Gifford directed the State of Indiana 's Medicaid program ? a $3 billion program providing care to over 650,000 members. She holds a bachelor's degree in political science from DePauw University and a law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center. She is based in HMA's Indianapolis office.
David C. Grabowski, Ph.D.
Dr. Grabowski is an associate professor of health economics in the Department of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School. His research focuses on the economics of aging and health care regulation, with a particular interest in the area of long-term care. Dr. Grabowski recently received a Career Development Award from the National Institute on Aging to study disparities in nursing home care by race and payer status. His research has also been funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Commonwealth Fund and other sources. He is a coeditor of the journal Health Services and Outcomes Research Methodology, and he is a member of the editorial boards of Medical Care Research & Review, The Gerontologist, and B.E. Journals in Economic Analysis & Policy. He is the 2004 recipient of the Thompson Prize for Young Investigators from the Association of University Programs in Health Administration. Dr. Grabowski received his BA degree from Duke University and his Ph.D. in public policy from the University of Chicago.
Penny Hollander Feldman, Ph.D.
Dr. Feldman is Vice President for Research and Evaluation at the Visiting Nurse Service of New York (VNSNY) and Director of the Center for Home Care Policy and Research. Prior to joining VNSNY, Dr. Feldman served on the faculties of the Kennedy School of Government and the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health, where she continued as Visiting Lecturer through June 2003. At the Center for Home Care Policy and Research, she directs projects focused on improving the quality, outcomes and cost-effectiveness of home-based care, supporting informed policy-making by long-term care decision-makers, and helping communities promote the health, well-being and independence of people with chronic illness or disability. From 1998 to 2001, she was a member of the Institute of Medicine Committee on Improving the Quality of Long-Term Care.
Peter Kemper, Ph.D.
Dr. Kemper is Professor of Health Policy and Administration at the Pennsylvania State University. Prior to that, he was Vice President of the Center for Studying Health System Change, Director of the Division of Long-Term Care Studies at the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, Director of the Madison Office of Mathematics Policy Research, Research Associate at the Institute for Poverty at the University of Wisconsin, and Assistant Professor at Swarthmore College. Dr. Kemper has published widely on managed care, long-term care, including home care of elderly persons with disabilities and lifetime nursing home use and financing. He has served on numerous advisory panels and government task forces, including the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission and the Clinton Health Reform Task Force.
Mary Jane Koren, M.D.
Dr. Koren is a senior program officer at The Commonwealth Fund where she is responsible for the Quality of Care for Frail Elders Program and, in addition, manages a grant portfolio of projects within the Quality Improvement Program to improve the coordination of care. Dr. Koren is also an internist and geriatrician. From 1997 to 2002, she was Vice President and Director at the Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation where she created and was responsible for their $4 million grants program in the field of health services and aging. Dr. Koren began her career in geriatrics at Montefiore Medical Center where she started the geriatric fellowship program. In 1986 she joined the faculty of the Department of Geriatrics at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine and was named Associate Chief of Staff for Extended Care at the Bronx VA Medical Center. In 1987 she became Director, Bureau of Long-Term Care Services, for the New York State Department of Health, a position she held for five years following which she was the Principal Clinical Coordinator for the PRO of New Jersey. She has been principal and co-principal investigator on a number of important health services research projects in the field of long-term care.
Mark Miller, Ph.D.
With more than 19 years of health policy experience, Dr. Miller has held several important policy, research, and management positions in health care. Dr. Miller served as Assistant Director of Health and Human Resources (HHR) at the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Prior to CBO, Dr. Miller was the Deputy Director of Health Plans at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS, formerly the Health are Financing Administration). Before CMS Dr. Miller was the Health Financing Branch Chief at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Prior to joining OMB, Dr. Miller was a Senior Research Associate at the Urban Institute. He earned a Ph.D. in public policy analysis from the State University of New York at Binghamton.
Deborah L. Rogal
Ms. Rogal is a Director at AcademyHealth, which was formed in June 2000 following the merger of the Alpha Center and the Association for Health Services Research (AHSR). She joined the Alpha Center in 1991. She serves as Deputy Director for The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's (RWJF) Changes in Health Care Financing and Organization (HCFO) initiative. She also serves as the project director for the Commonwealth Fund's, Building Bridges: Making a Difference in Long-Term Care strategic initiative and for the National Information Center on Heatlh Services Research and Health Care Technology's (NICHSR) HSRProj (Health Services Research Projects in Progress). In addition, she has assisted with the administration and provision of technical assistance under RWJF's State Initiatives in Health Care Reform program. For five years prior to joining the Alpha Center, Ms. Rogal was a Senior Planning Associate and then a Program Manager at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts. There she conducted analyses on utilization, cost, and demographics in support of product management for the Medicare supplementary insurance product. She then incorporated these analyses into annual rate filings, program development, and program operations.
Steven Tingus, Ph.D ABD
Mr. Tingus has served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation for Disability, Aging, and Long-Term Care Policy since July 2007. He heads one of four offices within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. His office is responsible for program planning, analysis, research, and the development of long-range policy in the areas of disability, aging, and long-term care and coordinating the Department's activities to improve the planning and management of state and local government's disability, aging, and long-term care resource programs. From 2001 until July 2007, Mr. Tingus served as Director of the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), a component of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) in the U.S. Department of Education (ED). Mr. Tingus earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1985 from the University of California, Davis, in Biological Sciences, a Master of Science degree in 1990, and a Candidate in Philosophy degree (Ph.D. ABD) in Physiology in 1994. He was engaged in biomedical research at the University of California, Davis before being appointed to serve (1995-1998) as former Governor Pete Wilson's Health Care Policy Analyst for the California Department of Health Services. Immediately prior to coming to Washington D.C. to join the Bush Administration, Mr. Tingus was Director of Resource Development and Public Policy for the California Foundation for Independent Living Centers, Inc. and its non-profit project, the Assistive Technology ?AT? Network.
