Research

Laurel brings over two decades of health policy and applied health care research experience to OIPA. She has had academic research appointments in both the U.S. and Australia.  She has written extensively about health and long-term care financing and reform including co-authoring the book "Sharing the Burden: Strategies for Public and Private Long-Term Care Insurance" while at the Brookings Institution, a U.S. think tank. Active in both state and federal governments, Laurel served in the Executive Office of the President where she was responsible for developing the Medicare and Medicaid budgets during the Clinton Administration, was on the staff of a U.S. Congressman, and on the Minnesota Health Care Commission.

Laurel’s research interests are primarily in health and long-term care policy and reform, with a particular focus on the following areas:

• Acute and long-term care integrated service delivery models
• Financing through public and private long-term care insurance
• Organisational innovation in community-based care

Funded research: 

• New South Wales Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care. Community Aged Care Service Capacity Mapping
• Hartford Hospital Research Funds. Quantification of Factors that Prolong Length of Stay in the Institute of Living Geriatric Unit. With Karen Blank
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation to the Brookings Institution. Updating the Brookings-ICF Long-term care Financing Model. With Joshua Wiener
• Merrill Lynch to the Brookings Institution. Evaluation Public and Private Long-Term Care Insurance 
• Kaiser Family Foundation to The Brookings Institution. Evaluating Public and Private Long-Term Care Insurance. With Joshua Wiener
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Care Financing Administration to the University of Minnesota. Quality of Home Care. With Robert and Rosalie Kane
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Care Financing Administration to the University of Minnesota. Qualitative Analysis of the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly. With Robert Kane
• John A. Hartford Foundation to the University of Minnesota. Meshing services with housing: lessons from adult foster care and assisted living in Oregon. With Rosalie Kane
• State of Oregon, Department of Senior and Disabled Services to the University of Minnesota. Evaluation of Adult Foster Care Program. With Rosalie Kane

 

Recent professional commitments

• University of Oxford, Oxford Institute of Population Ageing, Oxford, UK. Research Fellow. 2012 to present.

• University of New South Wales, Australian Institute for Population Ageing Research, Sydney, Australia. Senior Lecturer and Research Associate. 2011-2012.

• University of Technology, Sydney, Faculty of Health, Centre for Health Services Management, Sydney, 

  Australia. Senior Lecturer. 2006-2010.

• Yale University, School of Management, MBA for Executives: Leadership in Healthcare. New Haven, 

  Connecticut. Lecturer and Executive Director for Academic and Student Affairs, 2005-2006.

• Arizona State University, Department of Health Management and Policy, Tempe, Arizona. Clinical Professor, 2004-2005.

• Braceland Center for Mental Health and Aging, The Institute of Living, Hartford, Connecticut. Senior Scientist, 2002-2004

• Commonwealth Fund, Program on Medicare's Future and Program on Frail Elders, New York, New 

  York. Senior Program Officer, 2000-2001

• Minnesota Department of Health, Health Economics Program, St. Paul, Minnesota. Research Scientist,1999-2000

• Minnesota Health and Housing Alliance, St. Paul, Minnesota. Strategic Projects Director for Managed Care and Integrated Services,1996-1999

• Minnesota Health Care Commission, St. Paul, Minnesota. Research Scientist, 1995-1996.

• Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget, Health Financing Branch, Program Analyst, Washington, DC. 1994-1995

• Brookings Institution, Economic Studies Program, Washington, DC.  Senior Research Analyst,1991-1994.

• University of Minnesota, Division of Health Services Research and Policy, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Research Fellow, 1988-1991.

• American Public Welfare Association, Medicaid Management Institute, Washington, DC. Senior Research Analyst, 1987-1988

• National Association of Retired Federal Employees, Retirement Life magazine, Washington, DC. 

  Assistant Editor, 1986-1987.

• Lewin and Associates, Health Practice, Washington, DC. Research Assistant, 1985.

• University of North Carolina, School of Public Health, Program on Aging, Chapel Hill, NC. Research Assistant, 1984-1985.

• U.S. House of Representatives, Select Committee on Aging, Subcommittee on Health and Long-Term Care, Washington, DC. Staff Assistant to Chairman Claude Pepper, 1983-1984. 

Courses Taught:

• Health policy & leadership (doctoral level)
• Knowledge utilization and health policy (doctoral level)
• Health planning & evaluation (masters level)

Academic Awards:

• Health Services and Practice Research Degree Development Award, 2012
• Psi Psi Psi Memorial Fund for Graduate Studies, 1984

Recent publications and presentations

 

Books and book chapters:

• Sharing the burden: public and private long-term care financing (Brookings Institution). With JM Wiener and RJ. Hanley. 1994.
• Private insurance options for long-term care financing. In New Agendas in Community Care for the Elderly, D Challis, B Davies, and K Traske, editors (British Society of Gerontology Press). With JM Wiener, 1994. 
• The good, the bad, and the ugly: comparing models of long-term care financing. In A Secure Old Age: Approaches to Long-Term Care Financing, EL Schneider, editor (Springer Publishing), 1995.
• Health care organization, financing and policy. In Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences, LK George and RH Binstock, editors, (Academic Press). With JM Wiener. 1996.
• Integrating health and supportive care: policy and practice. In Long-term care reforms in OECD countries: Successes and Failures, JL Fernandez and C Gori, editors, in press.  

Journal articles:

• Choosing and living in an adult foster care home in Oregon: Comparison with Life in a Nursing Home. Am J Pub Health, September 1991. With RA Kane, RL Kane, and JA Nyman.
• Financing long-term care: how much public? How much private? Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, Fall 1992. With JM Wiener and RJ Hanley.
• Qualitative analysis of the program of all-inclusive care for the elderly. The Gerontologist, December 1992. With RL Kane and N Miller.
• Health care reform: six questions for President Clinton. The Brookings Review, Spring 1993. With JM Wiener.
• Options for long-term care financing reform: public and private strategies. Journal of Long-Term Care Administration, Fall 1993. With JM Wiener.
• How to share the burden: long-term care reform in the 1990's. The Brookings Review, Spring 1994. With JM Wiener.
• Health care reform in the 1990s: where does long-term care fit in? The Gerontologist, June 1994. With JM Wiener.
• Home care quality: concept and measurement. Health Care Financing Review, Fall 1994. With RA Kane, RL Kane and NN Eustis.
• The Substitutability of Adult Foster Care for Nursing Home Care in Oregon. Medical care, 1997. 35(8), pp. 801-813. With J. Nyman, M. Finch, RA Kane, and RL Kane. 
• Determinants of Geropsychiatric Inpatient Length of Stay. Psychiatric Quarterly, April 2005. Vol. 76, No. 2.  With K. Blank, C Gruman, J Robison, G Hickey and H Schwartz. 
• Sharing the Burden: Understanding the Roles of Public and Private Insurance in Financing Aged Care, Economic Papers, September 2011, Vol. 30, Issue 3, pp. 316-325.
• Environmental and Organizational Factors Associated with Integrated Aged Care Delivery Structures in New South Wales, under review.  
• The Culture of Innovation in Community Aged Care Providers: Results from a New South Wales Survey, in progress.

 

Technical reports: 

• Appropriate public policy objectives in nursing home reimbursement. Requirement for MSPH degree. April 1986.
• Adult foster care in Oregon: evaluation. Oregon Department of Human Resources. May 1989. With RA Kane, RL Kane, and JA Nyman.
• Quality of home care: concept and measurement. Health Care Financing Administration. April 1990. With RA Kane, N Eustis, and RL Kane.
• Meshing service with housing: lessons from adult foster care and assisted living in Oregon. John A. Hartford Foundation. May 1990. With RA Kane, RL Kane, and JA Nyman.
• A strategic plan for integrating acute and long-term care in Minnesota. Minnesota Health Care Commission, Report to the Legislature, January 1996.
• Developing a comprehensive set of services to supplement Medicare: options for low-income Minnesotans. Minnesota Department of Health, Health Economics Program, Report to the Legislature. January 2000.
• Adding long-term care coverage to Medicare supplemental insurance. Minnesota Department of Health, Health Economics Program, Report to the Legislature. January 2000.
• Home care provider trends in Minnesota: 1994-9. Minnesota Department of Health, Health Economics Program, Issue Brief. July 2000.
• Medicare prescription drug choices in the U.S.: A Challenge to rational behavior (working paper).
• Community Aged Care Service Providers Mapping Project: Final Report (2009) accessed at: http://www.adhc.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/file/0019/236305/community_aged....

Media commentary:

• Bush's health care plan: skimpy proposal won't stop the pain. The San Diego Union-Tribune, February 16, 1992. With JM Wiener.
• Welfare reform: it's just not that simple. The Hill Rag, May 1992.
• Health care: is rationing the way? Newsday, June 2, 1992. With JM Wiener.
• Six key questions on health reform. The Chicago Tribune, January 23, 1993. With JM Wiener.
• Look at the people the cuts will effect (August 9, 2011) The Financial Times http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/793647e8-c1d6-11e0-bc71-00144feabdc0.html...
• A Way Forward on Aged Care (August 10, 2011 ) http://blogs.unsw.edu.au/knowledgetoday/page/6/
• Place for private market in aged care (September 15, 2011) Australian Financial Review

 

Complete CV >