Director, Research Institute

Harold S. Luft, Ph.D., received his A.B., M.A., and Ph.D. in economics, specializing in health sector economics and public finance, from Harvard University. He is a senior investigator for PAMF's Department of Health Policy Research, as well as Caldwell B. Esselstyn Professor Emeritus of Health Policy and Health Economics and former director of the Institute for Health Policy Studies (IHPS) at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

Dr. Luft's experience in research and teaching has covered a wide range of areas, including medical care utilization, health maintenance organizations, hospital market competition, volume, quality and outcomes of hospital care, risk assessment and risk adjustment, and health care market reform. He has been involved in postdoctoral training for over 35 years, having served as director of the IHPS postdoctoral program and associate director of the Health and Society Scholars program sponsored jointly by UCSF and University of California, Berkeley.

He is a member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and served six years on the IOM Council. He was a member of and chaired the National Advisory Council of the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (now the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality). He also served on the board of AcademyHealth for 10 years and was co-editor-in-chief of the journal Health Services Research.

Dr. Luft has authored, co-authored or edited five books, including "Total Cure: The Antidote to the Health Care Crisis" (Harvard University Press, 2008) and over 200 articles in scientific journals.

Dr. Luft in the News

How to Save Health Reform: A reinsurance plan that Democrats and Republicans should embrace, Forbes.com. September 14, 2009

On Socialism, Corporate Giveaways and Harold Luft's ''Total Cure'' , Forbes.com, August 31, 2009

Debate on MRI Payments Just one Hurdle for Reform , Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel, August 11, 2009

Health Care Reform — Toward More Freedom and Responsibility for Physicians , New England Journal of Medicine, August 6, 2009

Obama Calls Health Care Pitch a Move to Reform , San Francisco Chronicle, May 12, 2009

Take This Opportunity to Reform Health Care , Huffington Post, April 29, 2009

Take This Opportunity to Reform Health Care , San Francisco Chronicle, April 27, 2009

Health Economist Hal Luft Proposes a National Health Care System Devoid of Insurance Companies - and Delivering Better Care for All , Palo Alto Weekly, April 10, 2009

Institute for the Future Launches Research Into the Next Decade in Health and Health Care , Institute for the Future, April 7, 2009

Making the Public and Private Sectors Partners in Healthcare Reform , Los Angeles Times, April 6, 2009

A 'Total Cure' for Health Care? , Palo Alto Weekly, April 5, 2009


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