Byline: Dr. Debra A. Smith brings to the national healthcare debate a unique global healthcare perspective. A physician and economist, she has worked in clinical medicine, medical administration and insurance underwriting, and as a consultant in healthcare financing and public health for the World Bank and United Nations. She shares this global view on what works and what doesn't in her new book, Healthcare Solved — Real Answers, No Politics. The book is a timely dose of straight talk for an American public seeking to reform a system reeling from out-of-control costs. To learn more, visit: www.DrDebraSmith.com.
Broadcast BIO: When it comes to comprehensive healthcare reform, Americans need a dose of straight talk to cut through the politics clouding the issue on all sides. Dr. Debra A. Smith, a physician and economist who has worked in clinical medicine, healthcare administration and insurance underwriting, gives us that. In her new book, Healthcare Solved — Real Answers, No Politics, Dr. Smith details common sense reforms to cut the cost of healthcare delivery and improve quality without a government takeover and without bankrupting the country. To learn more about Dr. Smith and her work, visit: www.DrDebraSmith.com. Welcome, Dr. Smith. Why have healthcare costs gotten so out of control?
Full BIO: Dr. Smith has worked as a public health and healthcare financing consultant for the World Bank and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in the former Soviet republics of Georgia and South Ossetia. She served as Corporate Medical Director for Highmark Life & Casualty, a national employer stop-loss, disability, life, Medicare supplemental and regional workers' compensation carrier. She was also the Regional Medical Director for Disability & Workers' Compensation for Delphi Automotive, a former General Motors subsidiary. She has worked the past two years as Chief Medical Officer for International Medical Group, where she developed a worldwide medical evacuation system of quality providers and hospitals for the company's global insured customers.
Dr. Smith received her Doctorate in Osteopathic Medicine from the Nova Southeastern University, College of Osteopathic Medicine in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. She earned a Master's in Business Administration and a Master's of International Health Management from Thunderbird School of Global Management, and a Bachelor's degree in International Economics from Youngstown State University. She served her residency in Public Health & General Preventive Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. She has trained at the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and completed the summer program in Tropical Medicine and Public Health at the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health.
Dr. Smith is board certified in Public Health & General Preventive Medicine and in Occupational Medicine. She is also certified by the American Board of Quality Assurance & Utilization Review Physicians. She is a fellow of the American Osteopathic College of Occupational & Preventive Medicine, The American College of Preventive Medicine and the American Institute for Healthcare Quality. She is the immediate past president of the American Osteopathic College of Occupational & Preventive Medicine.
Dr. Smith was the first to propose the formation of the Osteopathic International Alliance in speeches she made at the 1999 and 2000 American Osteopathic Association's national conventions. She served on the founding Board of Directors of the OIA, which represents national professional organizations from 19 countries and 25 universities. She has served on multiple occasions as a Delegate for the American Osteopathic Association [AOA] and the Global Health Council to the World Health Organization's Annual Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland. Dr. Smith has served the past nine years on the AOA's Bureau of International Osteopathic Medical Education & Affairs, representing the profession before various agencies of the United Nations and other international organizations.
