Episode 13: The impact of COVID-19 on low and high value care in Virginia

Summary:

On this episode of Smarter Care Connections, Steve Horan, PhD, CEO of Community Health Solutions and member of the Smarter Care Virginia evaluation team is back to interview John Mafi, MD and Michelle Rockwell, PhD on their research on the impact the COVID 19 pandemic had on both low and high value care.  

Our Guests:

John N. Mafi, MD, MPH is an assistant professor of medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA where he also practices and teaches general medicine and primary care. He also serves as an Affiliated Natural Scientist in Health Policy at RAND Corporation. Dr. Mafi completed his undergraduate studies at Northwestern University and then went on to complete medical school at Case Western Reserve University. He then finished his internal medicine residency training at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in 2012, where he also served as Chief Medical Resident in 2013-2014. Dr. Mafi completed the Harvard Medical School Fellowship in General Internal Medicine and Primary Care at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and earned his MPH at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in 2015.

Dr. Mafi’s research focuses on quality and value measurement and how electronic health records can improve the value of care among older adults. He has led several national analyses assessing the epidemiological trends and predictors of harmful or low value care, or patient care that provides no net benefit in specific clinical scenarios. He is currently leading several national studies and working to leverage electronic health records to measure and improve the value of healthcare delivery among older adults.

Michelle Rockwell, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Family & Community Medicine at Virginia Tech and a Senior Research Associate at Carilion Clinic in Roanoke, Virginia. Her research focuses on the measurement, evaluation, and de-implementation of low-value care in the primary care setting. She is also interested in the patient-clinician relationship and specifically exploring trust as a predictor and outcome of successful de-implementation of low-value care. With more than 20 years of experience as a Registered Dietitian, Michelle is also interested in nutrition and lifestyle approaches to disease prevention and treatment.

Resources:

Smarter Care Virginia