Public Health Interventions and Secondary Data Analysis: Applied Population Health in a Community-Based Health Insurance Setting in Central Texas

Event Date : 2020-01-14
Time : 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Location : NOSM at Lakehead University – ATAC 6030 NOSM at Laurentian University – MSE 215

The presentation will be live at NOSM at Laurentian University

Lunch will be provided.

With Dr. John Litaker

Dr. John Litaker obtained his PhD in Health Outcomes Research at the University of Texas at Austin. Previously he obtained a Master of Medical Science degree (cancer biology) from the University of Hong Kong and a Master of Public Health degree from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He is currently pursuing a medical degree at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia. Vocationally, Dr. Litaker founded and managed a management consulting firm in 2003. Based in Austin, Texas, John and his staff have provided project management, consulting, and applied health research to local, state, and federal agencies in Texas and the US. Among some of their work were assessment and remediation activities related to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the 2008 pandemic-influenza outbreak. They also conducted a comprehensive assessment and data collection from 12,000 mother-baby pairs in 118 Texas hospitals to assess first-birth dose immunization practices for hepatitis B. This work led a CDC-sponsored NQF metric for first birth dose immunization of the hepatitis B vaccine. He has also worked in areas such as school health, health equity, epidemiology, state Medicaid funding, and health care quality and efficiency.

Currently, he consults to a community-based health plan in Austin, Texas and has developed the population health/research program at this plan to improve health outcomes of its members and to support ongoing quality improvement initiatives. This work has led to a recent publication in BMC Public Health using claims data and secondary data analysis to identify the impact of opioids on emergency department use in Central Texas. John is keen to share his experience in using health claims data and how such data can be used by researchers to identify health issues/trends, but also influence policy decisions at the local level.