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Laura
Morlock
,
PhD

Professor
- Emeritus

Contact Info

615 N. Wolfe Street, Room W1513
Baltimore
Maryland
21205
US        
410-614-7871

Research Interests

Health Policy and Management;Health care management;Medical liability;Performance improvement;National health insurance;Taiwan;Risk management;Rural health care;Patient Safety;Health care organization;Health care quality
Experiences & Accomplishments
Education
PhD
Johns Hopkins University
1973
MA
Michigan State University
1968
Overview
Laura Morlock, Ph.D. is Professor and Associate Chair for Health Management Programs in the Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Morlock is a sociologist with primary research interests in how organizational and managerial factors affect the quality and costs of health care. Her current research projects include evaluations of a number of quality improvement and patient safety initiatives. She is helping to implement and evaluate an AHRQ funded national incident reporting system in Intensive Care Units, and is a member of the evaluation team of the Robert Wood Johnson sponsored national collaborative to improve the recognition and treatment of depression in nine health plans. She also is interested in efforts to secure the viability and improve the services of safety net providers. Currently she is assisting the National Association of Community Health Centers in evaluating leadership development programs, the sustainability and spread of chronic care delivery models and client satisfaction with health center and outreach services. She is the principal investigator of an AHRQ funded project to examine the impact of Federal policy changes and healthcare market forces on the organizational and management strategies, financial viability and clinical performance of U.S. rural hospitals. Dr. Morlock is also active in evaluating efforts to improve health insurance coverage. Currently she is leading a Johns Hopkins faculty team in a HRSA funded project to help the State of Maryland develop public and private sector options for expanding health insurance coverage. She has also assisted the Taiwan Department of Health in evaluating the impact of implementing a single-payer national health insurance program.
Select Publications
  • Wu A., Pronovost P, Morlock L, “ICU Error Reporting Systems”. J Crit Care, 2002 (in press)

  • Pronovost PJ, Wu AW, Dorman T, Morlock L, “Building safety into ICU Care”. J Crit Care, 2002 (in press)

  • Pronovost, P., Morlock, L. L., Dorman, T. “Creating and Maintaining Safe Systems of ICU Care.” Yearbook of Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine. Springer Verlog, (2001):695-708.

  • Pronovost, P.J., Morlock, L.L., Cassirer, C., “Creating and Maintaining Safe Systems of Medical Care: The Role of Risk Management.” In Charles Vincent (ed.), Clinical Risk Management: Enhancing Patient Safety (London: British Medical Journal Publications, 2001):369-385.

  • Pronovost, P.J., Morlock, L.L., Davis, R., Cunningham, T., Paine, L., Schedulen, J., “Using Online and Offline Change Models to Improve ICU Access and Revenues.” The Joint Commission Journal on Quality Improvement, 26:1 (2000):5-17.

Projects
Taiwan's Experience with Health Insurance Expansion