FAIR Health Elects Marcella Alsan to Board of Directors

New Director Brings Expertise in Health Inequality to Leading, Independent Healthcare Data Organization

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Jun 16, 2021, 14:01 ET

NEW YORK, June 16, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The FAIR Health Board of Directors has elected Marcella Alsan, MD, MPH, PhD, a professor of public policy at Harvard Kennedy School, to the Board. A national, independent nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing transparency to healthcare costs and health insurance information, FAIR Health is governed by a Board comprising leaders from all parts of the healthcare sector.

Dr. Alsan received a BA from Harvard University, a master's in public health from Harvard School of Public Health, an MD from Loyola University and a PhD in Economics from Harvard University. Dr. Alsan trained at Brigham and Women's Hospital Hiatt Global Health Equity Residency Fellowship, then combined the PhD with an Infectious Disease Fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital. Prior to returning to Harvard, she was on faculty at Stanford. She is an applied microeconomist studying health inequality.

Some recent papers include "Does Diversity Matter for Health: Experimental Evidence from Oakland" and "Tuskegee and the Health of Black Men," published in the American Economic Review and the Quarterly Journal of Economics, respectively. These papers have been cited in the New York Times and other major media outlets and findings have been presented to the Association of American Medical Colleges and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Alsan is currently on the Board of Editors for Science Magazine, Co-editor of the Journal of Health Economics and Co-chair of the Health Care Delivery Initiative of Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab based out of MIT. She is a co-recipient of the 2019 Arrow Award for Best Paper in Health Economics.

"We are excited to welcome Dr. Alsan to the FAIR Health Board," said Sara Rosenbaum, Chair of FAIR Health's Board of Directors. "Her expertise in health inequality will profoundly augment the Board's conversations."

"FAIR Health is honored to have Dr. Alsan join this esteemed assembly of healthcare leaders," commented Robin Gelburd, President of FAIR Health. "Her background in medicine and microeconomics will make her a valuable addition to our Board."

About FAIR Health
FAIR Health is a national, independent nonprofit organization that qualifies as a public charity under section 501(c)(3) of the federal tax code. It is dedicated to bringing transparency to healthcare costs and health insurance information through data products, consumer resources and health systems research support. FAIR Health possesses the nation's largest collection of private healthcare claims data, which includes over 34 billion claim records and is growing at a rate of over 2 billion claim records a year. FAIR Health licenses its privately billed data and data products—including benchmark modules, data visualizations, custom analytics and market indices—to commercial insurers and self-insurers, employers, providers, hospitals and healthcare systems, government agencies, researchers and others. Certified by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) as a national Qualified Entity, FAIR Health also receives data representing the experience of all individuals enrolled in traditional Medicare Parts A, B and D; FAIR Health includes among the private claims data in its database, data on Medicare Advantage enrollees. FAIR Health can produce insightful analytic reports and data products based on combined Medicare and commercial claims data for government, providers, payors and other authorized users. FAIR Health's systems for processing and storing protected health information have earned HITRUST CSF certification and achieved AICPA SOC 2 compliance by meeting the rigorous data security requirements of these standards. As a testament to the reliability and objectivity of FAIR Health data, the data have been incorporated in statutes and regulations around the country and designated as the official, neutral data source for a variety of state health programs, including workers' compensation and personal injury protection (PIP) programs. FAIR Health data serve as an official reference point in support of certain state balance billing laws that protect consumers against bills for surprise out-of-network and emergency services. FAIR Health also uses its database to power a free consumer website available in English and Spanish, which enables consumers to estimate and plan for their healthcare expenditures and offers a rich educational platform on health insurance. An English/Spanish mobile app offers the same educational platform in a concise format and links to the cost estimation tools. The website has been honored by the White House Summit on Smart Disclosure, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), URAC, the eHealthcare Leadership Awards, appPicker, Employee Benefit News and Kiplinger's Personal Finance. FAIR Health also is named a top resource for patients in Dr. Marty Makary's book The Price We Pay: What Broke American Health Care—and How to Fix It and Elisabeth Rosenthal's book An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back. For more information on FAIR Health, visit fairhealth.org.

Contact:
Rachel Kent
Senior Director of Marketing, Outreach and Communications
FAIR Health
646-396-0795
[email protected]

SOURCE FAIR Health