David C. Grabowski, PhD, is an associate professor of health care policy in the Department of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School. His research focuses on the economics of aging and health care regulation, with a particular interest in the area of long-term care. He has published a series of papers examining the economic incentives influencing nursing home quality. Specifically, his work has explored the effects of state Medicaid payment policies, certificate-of-need laws, asymmetric information, and labor prices toward explaining low-quality nursing home care.
Dr. Grabowski recently received a Career Development Award from the National Institute on Aging to study disparities in nursing home care by race and payer status. Other ongoing projects include an examination of the economic incentives associated with hospitalizations from the nursing home setting, work analyzing the relationship between Medicare and Medicaid in long-term care, and an analysis of the growth in potential substitutes for nursing home care, such as assisted living.
Dr. Grabowski has also developed a body of research examining the effect of regulation on motor vehicle safety. Because key driving behaviors, abilities, and patterns of road usage differ considerably by age, some heterogeneity may exist in the response to traffic safety laws across age cohorts. Thus, Dr. Grabowski and colleagues have examined the effects of different public policies on motor vehicle safety among older and younger drivers.
Dr. Grabowski is a coeditor of the journal Health Services and Outcomes Research Methodology, and he is a member of the editorial board of Medical Care Research & Review, The Gerontologist, and B.E. Journals in Economic Analysis & Policy. He is the 2004 recipient of the Thompson Prize for Young Investigators from the Association of University Programs in Health Administration.
Dr. Grabowski received his BA degree from Duke University and his PhD in public policy from the Irving B. Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago.