Presenter

Lewis Kazis

Lewis Kazis is Professor of Health Policy and Management, Director of the Health Outcomes Unit (HOU) in the Department of Health Law, Policy and Management at Boston University School of Public Health. The HOU is a multidisciplinary division that focuses on the use of health outcome assessments spanning legacy and computer adaptive tests, and the use of large secondary data bases to address key process and outcome assessments that focus on health policy. The program is supported by federal sources, private foundations and industry. Dr. Kazis has conducted research projects for the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), NIH-National Cancer Institute and the National Institute on Aging and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the National Institute for Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) and the Shriners Hospitals for Children Research Service to name a few. He has published over 200 publications including those in health outcomes, PROMs and medication effectiveness. The HOU that he directs is dedicated to programs in research and education and includes a multidisciplinary team of investigators. Dr. Kazis was the recipient of the prestigious Research Career Scientist Award from the VA for almost a decade. Dr. Kazis has also been a special consultant to the Office of Quality and Performance in the VA and worked closely with the Veterans Health Administration pharmacy benefits management group and is currently a consultant to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for the evaluation of the Medicare Advantage Program. For over 25 years, he has been involved in the study of health status and quality of life assessments and is a recognized national expert in PROMs. Dr. Kazis is the principal developer of the VR-12 health outcome assessment which has been administered to over 7 million individuals nationally, in the VA, CMS and other programs. He currently leads a program with the NIH and Social Security Administration for developing assessments to assist in the adjudication process for those claimants with disabilities using the Work Disability Functional Assessment Battery (WD-FAB). Dr. Kazis is the principal investigator for a project/program to develop a computer adaptive test for the assessment of the social integration of burn survivors. This assessment, the LIBRE PROFILE is in the fourth year of a five year project supported by NIDILRR.