70: Thomas Rice: Behavioral Economist Discusses How Individuals Act Regarding Health Matters

The Health Crossroad with Dr. Doug Elwood and Dr. Tom Elwood

Dr. Thomas Rice is Distinguished Professor of Health Policy and Management in the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health where he teaches courses in health economics, research methodology, and current issues in health policy. He served as Vice Chancellor, Academic Personnel for the UCLA campus from 2006-11. His portfolio of published research includes the topics of physicians' economic behavior, the role of competition in health care reform, and managed care. He has testified before the U.S. Congress numerous times on various health policy issues. Dr. Rice has been the recipient of prestigious outstanding health services researcher awards from both the Association for Health Services Research and the Association for University Programs in Health Administration. He also has received the Article-of-the-Year Award from the Association for Health Services Research. His other honors include being elected to the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Rice served as Editor of the journal, Medical Care Research and Review from 1994-2000. His Ph.D. in Economics is from the University of California at Berkeley. Dr. Rice provides great insights into the relevance of behavioral economics to health, including "present bias", "loss aversion", and many other subjects in this critical element of the health domain.