Christopher E. Johnson, Ph.D. is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy and a former infantry officer in the United States Marine Corps. He received his PhD in Health Services Research, Policy, and Administration from the University of Minnesota. He is currently an Associate Professor of Health Services, Director, Graduate Program in Health Services Administration, and the Austin Ross Chair in Health Administration in the Department of Health Services in the School of Public Health at the University of Washington. Dr. Johnson is best known for work that seeks to understand how health care organizations and communities impact health care outcomes for veterans, underserved populations, and the elderly. Dr. Johnson and colleagues at the Department of Veterans Affairs Rehabilitation Outcomes Research Center of Excellence studied the impact of community and Veterans Affairs nursing homes on the provision of care to residents diagnosed with stroke and the general quality of care for veterans within the long-term care system. Dr. Johnson was in the first group to be awarded a Veterans Affairs Health Services Research & Development Merit Review Entry-level Program Career Development Award, a non-clinical Ph.D. highly competitive multi-year grant designed to assist new researchers transition to mid-career success.
Dr. Johnson’s early work focused on the provision of care within medical groups within managed care environments, which resulted in two national best paper awards, including one from the AcademyHealth. Dr. Johnson previously evaluated three different Medicaid demonstration programs (Provider Service Networks and Minority Physician Networks) as well as studying the impact of Health Services and Resources Administration’s Community Access Program on the availability of insurance and health services to underserved populations in South Florida. He examined quality indicators and the impact of litigation on nursing homes in Florida and in the United States. This research was crucial in the passing of a long-term care reform bill in Florida that addressed concerns about decreasing quality and the impact of litigation on the financial viability of the long-term care system. This work in Florida continues and the follow-up examinations of nursing home staffing were funded by The Commonwealth Fund. He has led and participated in grants funded by the National Science Foundation, The Commonwealth fund, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Veterans Affairs Health Services Research & Development, State of Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration, Novartis, and HealthGrades, Inc. He was a founding member of the National Science Foundation’s Center for Health Organization Transformation, a national Industry/University Cooperative Research Center. This partnership with Texas A&M University, Georgia Tech University, Penn State University, Northeastern University, Rush University, and University of Michigan brings together 20 large health systems around the United Stated together for applied research projects in their settings.
Dr. Johnson is a member of the Editorial Board of the journal Health Care Management Review, is an officer in the Health Care Management Division of the Academy of Management, and currently serves as a Fellow for the Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Management Organizations.