Sara Rosenbaum, JD

Sara Rosenbaum is Chair of the Department of Health Policy and Harold and Jane Hirsh Professor of Health Law and Policy. She also holds an appointment as Professor of Health Care Sciences at GW's School of Medicine and Law.

• Phone: (202) 994-4230
• Fax: (202) 296-0025
• Email: sarar@gwu.edu

As a scholar, an educator and a national leader, Professor Rosenbaum has dedicated her career to promoting more equitable and effective health care policies in this country, particularly in the areas of Medicaid and Medicare, managed care, employee health benefits, maternal and child health, community health centers and civil rights in health care systems. Her commitment to strengthening access to care for low-income, minority and medically underserved populations has had a transforming effect on the lives of many Americans, particularly children.

In addition to her responsibilities as Chair of the Department of Health Policy, which she founded and developed, Professor Rosenbaum is Director of the Center for Health Policy Research, the institutional home for many of the Department's research activities, and Director of the Hirsh Health Law and Policy Program. As a mentor, she is drawn to young people interested in improving health care for the poor. "I am always on the lookout for students who have a keen desire not only to learn health policy, but to apply their knowledge to systemic problems that disproportionately affect low-income, medically underserved, or disabled children and adults," she says.

Professor Rosenbaum has been named one of the nation's 500 most influential health policy makers by McGraw Hill. Among other honors, she has received the Investigator Award in Health Policy from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and has been recognized by the Department of Health and Human Services for distinguished national service on behalf of Medicaid beneficiaries. As a member of the White House Domestic Policy Council under President Clinton, she directed the drafting of the Health Security Act and oversaw the development of the Vaccines for Children program.

Education

Bachelor of Arts, Wesleyan University, 1973
Juris Doctor, Boston University School of Law, 1976

Teaching

PubH 283-Health Services Law, Department of Health Policy
PubH 292-Life, Death and Human Subjects, Department of Health Policy
Health Care Law, Department of Health Policy (at GW Law School)
Independent Study - Public Health Leadership (doctoral)

Research

Professor Rosenbaum's research focuses on the many ways in which the law intersects with the nation's health care and public health systems, with a particular emphasis on civil rights, quality of care, insurance coverage and managed care. She is co-author of Law and the American Health Care System, a widely used health law textbook.

Community Service

Public officials and health care safety net organizations regularly seek Professor Rosenbaum's expertise. She serves on the board of numerous national organizations, including AcademyHealth, the National Board of Medical Examiners and the Committee on Child Health Research of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and in an advisory capacity to the March of Dimes and the CDC's National Center on Birth Defects and Disabilities, among many others. Professor Rosenbaum is currently advising the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee in John B. v Goetz, a class action suit that challenges the adequacy of children's health services in Tennessee.

Departments

• Health Policy
• Health Services Management and Leadership

Institutes & Centers

• Center for Health Policy Research
• Geiger Gibson Program in Community Health Policy
• Hirsh Health Law and Policy Program

Community Activities

• Geiger Gibson Program in Community Health Policy

Publications

• Health center's role as safety net providers for Medicaid patients and the uninsured.
  Rosenbaum S, Shin P, et al. Health center's role as safety net providers for Medicaid patients and the uninsured. Washington: Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation; 2000.
• SCHIP-enrolled children with special health care needs: An assessment of coordination efforts between state SCHIP and Title V programs.
  Markus A, Rosenbaum S, Cyprien S. SCHIP-enrolled children with special health care needs: An assessment of coordination efforts between state SCHIP and Title V programs. Washington, D.C.: Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured; 2004.
• Public health insurance design for children: The evolution from Medicaid to SCHIP.
  Rosenbaum S, Markus A, Sonosky C. Public health insurance design for children: The evolution from Medicaid to SCHIP. Suffolk J Health Biomed Law 2004; 1 (1): 1-47.
• State eligibility rules under separate state SCHIP programs: Implications for children's access to health care.
  Rosenbaum S, Markus A. State eligibility rules under separate state SCHIP programs: Implications for children's access to health care. [Policy Brief #4] Washington, D.C.: Center for Health Policy Research, School of Public Health and Health Services, The George Washington University; 2002.
• A profile of federally funded health centers serving a higher proportion of uninsured patients.
  Markus A, Roby D, Rosenbaum S. A profile of federally funded health centers serving a higher proportion of uninsured patients. [Issue Paper] Washington, D.C.: Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured; 2002.
• Devolution of authority and public health insurance design: National SCHIP study reveals an impact on low-income children.
  Rosenbaum S, Smith B, Sonosky C, Repasch L, Markus A. Devolution of authority and public health insurance design: National SCHIP study reveals an impact on low-income children. Houston Journal of Health Law & Policy 2001;1 (5): 33-61.
• State benefit design choices under SCHIP: Implications for pediatric health care.
  Rosenbaum S, Markus A, Sonosky C, Repasch L. State benefit design choices under SCHIP: Implications for pediatric health care. [Policy Brief #2] Washington, D.C.: Center for Health Policy Research, School of Public Health and Health Services, The George Washington University; 2001.
• U.S. civil rights policy and access to health care by minority Americans: Implications for a changing health care system.
  Rosenbaum S, Markus A, Darnell J. U.S. civil rights policy and access to health care by minority Americans: Implications for a changing health care system. Medical Care Research and Review Supplement 2000;57 (1):200-163.
• Law and the American health care system.
  Rosenblatt R, Law S, Rosenbaum S. Law and the American health care system. In: Rosenblatt RE, Law SA, Rosenbaum S. Law and the American health care system. Westbury, N.Y.: Foundation Press; 1997.
• Racial inequality in health care.
  Rosenbaum S, Teitelbaum J. Racial inequality in health care. In: Mechanic D, editor. Policy challenges in modern healthcare. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press; 2005.
• National health reform and America's uninsured.
  Rosenbaum S. (ed.) National health reform and America's uninsured. J Law Med Ethics 2004;32 (3).
• Public health insurance design for children: The evolution from Medicaid to SCHIP.
  Rosenbaum S, et al. Public health insurance design for children: The evolution from Medicaid to SCHIP. Suffolk Jour. of Health & Biomedical Law (March 2005) pp. 1-71.
• An analysis of medical necessity decisionmaking in health insurance. Rockville (MD): Department of Health and Human Services/Substance Abuse and Mental Health
  Rosenbaum S, et al. An analysis of medical necessity decisionmaking in health insurance. Rockville (MD): Department of Health and Human Services/Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (US); 2003. Contract No.: 2001-1933.
• Civil rights and public accommodations: Moving the discussion to race.
  Teitelbaum J, Rosenbaum S. Civil rights and public accommodations: Moving the discussion to race. J Law Med Ethics 2003; 31(3): 177-220.
• The impact of U.S. law on medicine as a profession.
  Rosenbaum S. The impact of U.S. law on medicine as a profession. JAMA 2003;289 (12):1546-56.
• Civil rights enforcement in the modern healthcare system: Reinvigorating the role of the federal government in the aftermath of Alexander v. Sandoval.
  Rosenbaum S, Teitelbaum J. Civil rights enforcement in the modern healthcare system: Reinvigorating the role of the federal government in the aftermath of Alexander v. Sandoval. Yale J Health Policy Law Ethics 2003;3 (2):215-52.
• Managed care and public health: conflict and collaboration.
  Rosenbaum S, Kamoie B. Managed care and public health: conflict and collaboration. J Law Med Ethics 2002;30(2):191-200.
• Medicaid.
  Rosenbaum S. Medicaid. N Engl J Med 2002;346(8):635-40.
• Evaluation of agreements between managed care organizations and providers of community based mental illness and addiction disorder treatments.
  Rosenbaum S, Mauery DR, Teitelbaum J, Warren RV. Evaluation of agreements between managed care organizations and providers of community based mental illness and addiction disorder treatments. Am J Managed Care 2002;8:2.
• Olmstead v. L.C.: implications for Medicaid and other publicly funded health services.
  Rosenbaum S, Teitelbaum J, Stewart A. Olmstead v. L.C.: implications for Medicaid and other publicly funded health services. Health Matrix 2002;12(1):93-138.
• Medicaid: What any serious health reform needs to consider.
  Ferguson C, Riley P, Rosenbaum S. Medicaid: What any serious health reform needs to consider. In: Meyer JA, Wicks EK, editors. Covering America: real remedies for the uninsured, vol. 2. Princeton: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; 2002.
• Racial and ethnic disparities in health care: Issues in the design, structure and administration of federal healthcare financing programs supported by direct public financing.
  Rosenbaum S. Racial and ethnic disparities in health care: Issues in the design, structure and administration of federal healthcare financing programs supported by direct public financing. In: Committee on Health Care Disparities, Institute of Medicine. Unequal treatment. Washington, DC: 2002.
• Implementation and management of public health programs in relation to the law of public health.
  Kamoie B, Rosenbaum S, Stange P. Implementation and management of public health programs in relation to the law of public health. In: Detels R. Oxford textbook of public health. 4th ed. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press; 2002.
• Medicaid reforms and SCHIP: health care coverage and the changing policy environment.
  Rosenbaum S, Sonosky C. Medicaid reforms and SCHIP: health care coverage and the changing policy environment. In: De Vita CJ, Mosher-Williams R. Who speaks for America's children? the role of child advocates in public policy. Washington, D.C.: Urban Institute Press; 2001.
• Devolution of authority and public health insurance design.
  Rosenbaum S, Smith B, Sonosky C, Repasch L, Markus A. Devolution of authority and public health insurance design. Houston J Health Law and Policy 2001;1:1 Symposium.
• U.S. civil rights policy and access to health care by minority Americans: Implications for a changing health care system.
  Rosenbaum S, Markus A, Darnell J. U.S. civil rights policy and access to health care by minority Americans: Implications for a changing health care system. MCRR Supplement 2001; 57(1): 236-259.