Researchers

Jack Hoadley

Jack Hoadley is a health policy analyst and political scientist with 30 years experience in the health policy field. He joined Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute in 2002, where he conducts research on health financing topics, including Medicare and Medicaid, with a particular focus on prescription drug issues. Dr. Hoadley was recently appointed to a three-year term as a member of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC). Prior to arriving at Georgetown, Dr. Hoadley held positions at the Department of Health and Human Services in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE); the Physician Payment Review Commission (PPRC) and its successor (MedPAC); the National Health Policy Forum at George Washington University; and in the office of U.S. Representative Barbara Kennelly.

While at Georgetown, Dr. Hoadley has undertaken projects for a variety of government and foundation clients, including the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Commonwealth Fund, the Jessie Ball duPont Fund, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, MedPAC, and DHHS/ASPE. In recent projects, he has studied various aspects of the Medicare Part D drug benefit, including spending trends, the use of formularies, the impact of the coverage gap, and policy options for simplifying and standardizing the program. His reports for the Kaiser Family Foundation on Medicare Part D spending, the coverage gap, and plan benefit design have received considerable attention from both media and policymakers. Findings from a new analysis of Part D claims data to assess what factors influence decisions to use generic drugs will be published in the near future. His other recent work has included projects on Medicaid reform proposals in Florida and Connecticut, consumer protections around balance billing in private insurance plans, standardization options for Medicare Advantage, the growth of retainer-based medical practices, and access to physician services for Medicare beneficiaries.

During his time in ASPE, Dr. Hoadley played a key role in the development of legislative options for Medicare modernization, especially a prescription drug benefit. He headed a Department team that released a report in April 2000, “Prescription Drug Coverage, Spending, Utilization, and Prices.” During his time at PPRC and MedPAC, Dr. Hoadley was a lead contributor to the Commission’s annual reports, including analysis of trends and developments in Medicare managed care, risk adjustment, health system reform, and Medicaid managed care.

Dr. Hoadley received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1979. He taught political science at Duke University and at the State University of New York at Stony Brook before coming to Washington as an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow in 1983-84. He has published one book, Origins of American Political Parties, 1789-1803, and several articles in professional journals.

Laura Summer

Laura Summer is a Senior Research Scholar at Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute. She joined the Georgetown faculty in 2000 and served as the Deputy Director for the Institute’s Center on an Aging Society for six years. She has over 20 years of experience in federal and state government, independent policy organizations, and academic institutions. Laura directs research that examines policy choices states make in designing and administering publicly financed health and long-term care programs. She also studies financing and delivery system models, particularly the use of managed care, for different groups of Medicaid beneficiaries.

She also studies the impact of various aspects of the Medicare program on beneficiaries’ access to and use of services. She is a member of a team that has conducted research on the Medicare Part D program since its inception. Much of Laura’s work on the Medicare program concerns the dually eligible population. She has been particularly active in research related to the challenges that Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries – especially more vulnerable beneficiaries – face in obtaining and using all of the benefits for which they are eligible. Throughout her career she has studied and written extensively about methods to increase enrollment in public programs for moderate and low-income Americans of all ages. Currently, Laura serves on the advisory panel for the National Center for Benefits Outreach and Enrollment and on the policy advisory committee for the Medicare Rights Center. She is also a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance.

Prior to joining the Georgetown faculty, Laura was a policy consultant to a number of Washington-based organizations and spent several years as a health policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. She holds a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Michigan.