Christopher R. Cochran, Ph.D. is Professor and Chair of Department of Health Care Administration and Policy, in the School of Community Health Sciences at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. Dr. Cochran teaches the U.S. Health Care System: Programs and Policy and the Health Care Administration Capstone course. He has authored and co-authored numerous articles on access to care for underserved populations and safety net resources including management issues and patient safety and quality improvement public and private health care organizations. His recent focus has been on substance abuse and mental health treatment in hospital emergency rooms. His earlier research related to management relationships in community health centers in the U.S., and relationship marketing for health care services. Other research has focused on using information technology to improve bio-surveillance of infectious outbreaks in high volume resort communities. He is a current member of the American College of Healthcare Executives, Nevada HIMMS and Nevada ACHE. Dr. Cochran worked in the field of substance abuse and mental health services and was the executive director of a large public substance abuse treatment program from 1987-1992.
Current research interests
• Understanding the relationship of secondary diagnoses of mental health conditions on preventable primary diagnoses medical conditions in hospital emergency rooms
• Improving patient safety in the hospital environment
• Examination of hospital responses to reduce readmissions