CLIFTON R. GAUS, Sc.D.
Health Professor, Inc
509 65th Street
Holmes Beach, FL 34217
(805) 907-1010
E-mail: clif@clifgaus.com
 
Clif is founder and President of Health Professor, Inc, an Internet technology company providing web-based training to healthcare workers in regulatory compliance, quality improvement, and executive development. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Lucile Salter Packard Children’s Hospital, Stanford University, and is Founder and President of Health Reform USA, Inc. (www.HealthReformUSA.com)
 
Previously, Clif was the Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of WellPoint Health Networks Inc, one of the nation’s largest publicly traded health insurance companies. Reporting to the CEO, Leonard Schaeffer, he was responsible for all of WellPoint’s physician and hospital networks, medical policy, public affairs, human resources, market research and product branding. Prior to joining WellPoint, he was Senior Vice President, Research and Development of the national Kaiser Permanente Health System in Oakland, California.
 
From 1993 to 1997 he was the Administrator of the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research reporting directly to Donna Shalala. Now the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ] in the Department of Health and Human Services, it is the lead federal agency in studying health care organization, financing, quality, and technology. During his tenure, he successfully fought efforts of the 1994 Congress to abolish the Agency, implemented the grant program for Evidence-Based Practice Centers, developed and funded with the managed care industry the CAHPS survey of consumer satisfaction; established with the AMA and AAHP the National Clinical Practice Guideline Clearinghouse; and supported numerous initiatives to improve quality and competition in the health care marketplace.
 
Clif has a diverse background as a public servant, entrepreneur and academic. He has served in senior health positions under Presidents Nixon, Ford and Carter, as well as in the Clinton Administration. In the 1970’s, he worked for the Social Security Administration and became the first Associate Administrator for Policy, Planning and Research for the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) when it was created in 1976. His responsibilities included development of legislation and regulations for the Medicare, Medicaid, and the quality programs of HCFA and the actuarial management of the Medicare trust funds. During his tenure, he was responsible for the development of many health-financing innovations, including the DRG hospital payment system, RBRVS physician payment system, Medicare Hospice Programs and Medicare payment of Physician Assistants.
 
Clif has held faculty positions at The Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health and at Georgetown University Medical School. He holds a master’s degree in hospital administration (MHA) from the University of Michigan and a Doctorate of Science (Sc.D.) in health care management from The Johns Hopkins University.