Laura

Morlock

,

PhD

Laura Morlock, Ph.D. is Professor and Associate Chair for Health Management Programs in the Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Morlock is a sociologist with primary research interests in how organizational and managerial factors affect the quality and costs of health care. Her current research projects include evaluations of a number of quality improvement and patient safety initiatives. She is helping to implement and evaluate an AHRQ funded national incident reporting system in Intensive Care Units, and is a member of the evaluation team of the Robert Wood Johnson sponsored national collaborative to improve the recognition and treatment of depression in nine health plans. She also is interested in efforts to secure the viability and improve the services of safety net providers. Currently she is assisting the National Association of Community Health Centers in evaluating leadership development programs, the sustainability and spread of chronic care delivery models and client satisfaction with health center and outreach services. She is the principal investigator of an AHRQ funded project to examine the impact of Federal policy changes and healthcare market forces on the organizational and management strategies, financial viability and clinical performance of U.S. rural hospitals. Dr. Morlock is also active in evaluating efforts to improve health insurance coverage. Currently she is leading a Johns Hopkins faculty team in a HRSA funded project to help the State of Maryland develop public and private sector options for expanding health insurance coverage. She has also assisted the Taiwan Department of Health in evaluating the impact of implementing a single-payer national health insurance program.