Louis F. Rossiter, Ph.D.

Louis F. Rossiter, Ph.D., is a professor, director of research for the Center for Excellence in Aging and Geriatric Health, and director of the Schroeder Center for Healthcare Policy at The College of William & Mary. Dr. Rossiter is a health economist, who has completed studies examining veterans care in state operated facilities in Virginia, Medicare and Medicaid managed care, the impact of disease management programs, and internet-based monitoring and benchmarking in ambulatory surgery centers. He has published more than 50 articles, edited 14 books, and published the bookMedicare Managed Care in 2001. In addition to his academic appointments, Dr. Rossiter serves on the boards of AcademyHealth and four Virginia health care companies.

Dr. Rossiter received his B.A. from Lenoir-Rhyne College , his M.A. in economics from University of South Carolina , and his Ph.D. in economics from University of North Carolina , Chapel Hill . He taught health economics at the Medical College of Virginia at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) for 18 years. While at VCU, he became the founding director of the David G. Williamson, Jr. Institute for Health Studies. From 1989 to 1992, he served as deputy for policy to the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). He also has served as Virginia 's Secretary of Health and Human Resources. He has participated in numerous federal and state technical advisory panels and as a consultant to a variety of prestigious non-profit and for-profit corporations, including Merck and Co. and Kaiser Permanente Health Plans.

Recently, Dr. Rossiter was the principal investigator for a HCFO - sponsored study examining the emerging market of pharmacogenomics and health care competition. Pharmacogenomics (PGx) is the study of how inherited variations in genes dictate a person's reaction to a drug. The objective of the study was to explore whether the current health care financing, delivery, and payment environment has the necessary features to facilitate the development and adoption of this emerging science. He found that the existing system is not designed for, and is therefore inadequate for, PGx products and services to reach their maximum treatment potential. More funding needs to be directed toward PGx cost-effectiveness research and competing products in order to inform public and private policy. Dr. Rossiter believes that the findings support the development of a new payment system that pays more for competing technologies that lower system costs and reduce the risk of current drugs and therapies. See the March 2007 HCFO Findings Brief for more details on this study: files/hcfo/HCFOfindings_pharmacogenomics.pdf

For more information on Dr. Rossiter and a list of selected publications, see http://lfross.people.wm.edu/.