Departmental Affiliations
Center & Institute Affiliations
Karen Davis, PhD, focuses on improving coverage, financial protection, and access to care for Medicare beneficiaries, including adding dental, vision, and hearing services.
Contact Info
Research Interests
Lipitz, "health policy", Medicare
Experiences & Accomplishments
Dr. Davis is currently the Eugene and Mildred Lipitz Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management and Director of the Roger C. Lipitz Center for Integrated Health Care at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. The center strives to discover and disseminate practical, cost-effective approaches to providing comprehensive, coordinated, and compassionate health care to chronically ill people and their families.
Dr. Davis has served as President of The Commonwealth Fund, Chairman of the Department of Health Policy and Management at The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health Policy in the Department of Health and Human Services.
Dr. Davis also serves on the Board of Directors of the Geisinger Health System and Geisinger Health Plan and on the Board of Trustees of ProMedica Health System in Ohio. She is a member of the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. She was elected to the Institute of Medicine in 1975, has served two terms on the IOM governing Council (1986-90 and 1997-2000), and is a member of the IOM Committee on Geographic Variation in Health Care Spending. She is also a former member of the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research (AHRQ) National Advisory Council for Health Care Policy, Research and Evaluation, of the Panel of Health Advisers for the Congressional Budget Office, and a past chairman of AcademyHealth.
Honors & Awards
2013 Health Research & Educational Trust (HRET) TRUST Award, American Hospital Association
Distinguished Investigator Award, AcademyHealth
Baxter-Alliance Foundation Prize for Health Services Research
Healthcare Financial Management Association Board of Directors Award
Honorary Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives
Select Publications
Medicare, Payment Reform, Delivery System Reform, Comparative International Health System Performance
K. Davis, C. Schoen, S. Guterman. “Medicare Essential: An Option to Promote Better Care and Curb Spending Growth.” Health Affairs, May 2013 32(5):900-9.
R. Baron and K. Davis. “Accelerating the Adoption of Primary Care: A New Provider Type under Medicare”” New England Journal of Medicine, December 18, 2013
K. Davis, K. Stremikis, M. M. Doty, M. A. Zezza. “Medicare Beneficiaries Less Likely to Experience Cost- and Access-Related Problems than Adults with Private Coverage.” Health Affairs, August 2012 31(8):1866-75.
K. Davis, M. K. Abrams, K. Stremikis, “How the Affordable Care Act will Strengthen the Nation’s Primary Care Foundation,” Journal of Internal Medicine, October 2011, Vol.26, Issue 10 (2011): 1201-1203.
K Davis, K. Stremikus. Mirror Mirror on the Wall: How the Performance of the U.S. Health Care System Compares Internationally, 2014 Update, forthcoming Commonwealth Fund.