Job Title: Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Lown Institute
Bio: Adam Elshaug, Ph.D., a 2010-11 Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy and Practice, is Hanson Fellow at Adelaide Health Technology Assessment (AHTA) and senior research fellow/senior lecturer in public health at The University of Adelaide. Elshaug has focused his research in the area of refining use of low-value health services; evidentiary, clinical and policy barriers to reform and implementation. Elshaug collaborates and consults with government health agencies (federal and provincial) in Australia and internationally (Spain, U.K., Canada) to advance policy reform in this area. Elshaug is currently working with the Australian government to design and implement a formal disinvestment policy agenda within Medicare. Elshaug serves as an Associate Editor for the journal BMC Health Services Research and has published in journals such as the BMJ, Quality and Safety in Health Care, and Medical Journal of Australia. He is chief investigator on two large disinvestment research grants, is recipient of numerous awards as a new or emerging researcher, and has received over 60 invitations to address conferences as well as government, academic, insurance and health technology assessment groups internationally. Elshaug holds a Ph.D. and M.P.H. from The University of Adelaide.
Placement: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Mentors: Alan M. Garber, M.D., Ph.D., Professor, Stanford University; Jean Slutsky, P.A., M.S.P.H., Director, Center for Outcomes and Evidence, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Carolyn Clancy, M.D., Director, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Project: Enhancing Priority Decision-Making in Comparative Effectiveness Research
Description: Adam Elshaug focused on gaining insight into how policymakers translate comparative effectiveness research findings into policy and reform processes, particularly when comparative clinical ineffectiveness is identified. The project included two phases. First, for a particular health service whose effectiveness recent research has got doubt upon (vertebrolpasty and kyphoplasty), Elshaug quantified the budget impact of reducing utilization. The second phase involved semi-structured interviews with policy stakeholders, including their reaction to the budget impact metrics.
