Jack Needleman, PhD, FAAN, is a Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.
Dr. Needleman’s research focuses on the impact of public policy and changing health care markets on quality and access to care, and health care provider and insurer responses to market and regulatory incentives. Dr. Needleman’s research has examined quality and staffing in hospitals and the evaluation and design of performance improvement activities. Three of Dr. Needleman’s first authored publications on quality of care and nurse staffing are designated patient safety classics by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and he was the first recipient of the AcademyHealth Health Services Research Impact Award. Quality measures he developed have been adopted by AHRQ, Medicare, the Joint Commission, and National Quality Forum and his expertise developing, testing and refining quality measures has been tapped by these and other organizations. He was lead evaluator for the Robert Wood Johnson initiative Transforming Care at the Bedside and served on the Steering Council for the NIH-funded Improvement Science Research Network. He was a member of the Institute of Medicine Committee on the Future of Nursing Report Evaluation and the Institute of Medicine Standing Committee on Nurse Credentialing Research. Dr. Needleman’s research extends beyond quality. He has directed projects on a wide range of topics, and evaluated or helped design payment systems for hospitals, physicians and nursing homes, and systems for extending insurance to the uninsured.
Dr. Needleman is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and an honorary Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.
He received his Ph.D. in Public Policy from Harvard University.