As director of the Health Policy Institute at the University of Pittsburgh, Mr. James’ primary research interests include health law and policy, malpractice reform, comparative effectiveness and delivery systems research.
He served as the 25th Pennsylvania Secretary of Health and oversaw the regulation of all of the hospitals, nursing homes and managed care plans in the state. He managed 1700 employees of the Pennsylvania Department of Health and a nearly $1 billion dollar annual budget for the implementation of disease surveillance and prevention programs. In his role, Mr. James was responsible for successfully implementing the statewide smoking ban, as well as the most comprehensive law in the country to eliminate health care-acquired infections and new regulations ensuring independent, timely hearing of insurance appeals.
Before his role as Secretary of Health, Mr. James was a partner in the office of LeBoeuf, Lamb law firm in Washington, D.C. His firm focused on insurance and health care corporate law and regulatory matters. Mr. James has served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Service Industries and Finance at the U.S. Department of Commerce.
He advises the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC on health reform implementation and leads the collaborative Comparative Effectiveness Research program that evaluates clinical effectiveness of treatments and services in terms of health outcomes.
He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for his undergraduate studies, and proceeded to obtain a law degree from Illinois Institute of Technology-Chicago Kent College of Law. Mr. James earned his MBA from Illinois Institute of Technology’s Stuart School of Business.
A $26 billion health care provider and insurer, Pittsburgh-based UPMC is inventing new models of patient-centered, cost-effective, accountable care. The largest nongovernmental employer in Pennsylvania, UPMC integrates 95,000 employees, 40 hospitals, 800 doctors’ offices and outpatient sites, and a 4.5 million-member Insurance Services Division, the largest medical insurer in western Pennsylvania. In the most recent fiscal year, UPMC contributed $1.5 billion in benefits to its communities, including more care to the region’s most vulnerable citizens than any other health care institution, and paid more than $900 million in federal, state and local taxes. Working in close collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences, UPMC shares its clinical, managerial and technological skills worldwide through its innovation and commercialization arm, UPMC Enterprises, and through UPMC International. U.S. News consistently ranks UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside among the nation’s best hospitals in many specialties and ranks UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh on its Honor Roll of Best Children’s Hospitals. For more information, go to UPMC.com.
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