Bio: Ruth Lopert, a 2006-07 Commonwealth Fund Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy, is a public health physician and pharmacoepidemiologist, and is currently principal adviser in the Pharmaceutical Policy Taskforce in the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing in Canberra, Australia. Prior to the establishment of the Taskforce in 2005 Lopert held the position of senior medical adviser in the Pharmaceutical Benefits Branch of the Department, providing clinical and policy advice in relation to the operation of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) and acting as an adviser to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC). Previously, Lopert was a senior lecturer in the Department of Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Newcastle, NSW where she was involved in the clinical and economic evaluation of new drugs proposed for listing on the Australian PBS. She is a member of the WHO Expert Advisory Panel on Drug Policies and Management, and was the primary negotiator of the pharmaceutical provisions of the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement. Lopert has published and presented internationally in pharmacoeconomics and has particular interests in pharmaceutical policy, pharmaceutical IP, drug pricing and access to medicines.
Placement: The George Washington University
Mentors: Bruce Stuart, Ph.D.; Marilyn Moon, Ph.D.; Sara Rosenbaum, J.D.
Project: Comparing Cost, Coverage, and Access to Pharmaceuticals Under Australian and United States Policy Frameworks
Description: The objectives of Ruth Lopert's research were to analyze the formulary, coverage, and cost of Medicare Part D drug plans, and compare these to the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. She interviewed representatives of the top ten Part D providers as well as representatives of the pharmaceutical and health insurance industries, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and the United States Pharmacopeia Inc. Data on Part D plan prices and characteristics came from CMS; data on the Australian scheme were available online.