Christopher C. Afendulis, PhD, a lecturer in health care policy, joined the faculty of the Department of Health Care Policy in 2006. His research interests include the impact of managed care practices on the adoption of new medical technologies. He also studies the role that reimbursement incentives play in medical providers’ referral and integration decisions, utilization and outcomes among nursing home patients, and racial and ethnic differences in treatments for mothers and infants.

Current projects include an investigation of the impacts of expanding MRI and CT availability over time on health care costs, utilization, and outcomes; the relationship between Medicare reimbursement rules, hospitals’ vertical integration decisions, and the provision of post-acute care; methods for linking Medicare enrollment and claims records with cause-of-death data; and the impact of the Medicare prescription drug benefit on hospitalization rates.

Before joining HCP, Dr. Afendulis served as a senior research analyst at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a senior research analyst at both the Stanford University Center for Primary Care and Outcomes Research and the Stanford Department of Health Research and Policy. Dr. Afendulis received his AB in political science from the University of Michigan and his PhD in political science from Harvard University.

Learn more about Dr. Afendulis' work by viewing the following featured news articles on 12/10/08 and news briefs on 9/13/07.