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Institute for Bioethics logo
Howard B Degenholtz

Howard B. Degenholtz, PhD

Core Faculty

Professional Statement

Howard B. Degenholtz is Professor of Health Policy and Management in the School of Public Health and the Center’s Associate Director of Research. He was the Founding Director of the Doctoral Program in Health Services Research and Policy. Dr. Degenholtz’s research focuses on aging, long-term services and supports, and Medicaid policy. He directs a major, mixed-methods study of Medicaid Managed LTSS in Pennsylvania and is evaluating the Age-Friendly Nursing Home Collaborative. He is a co-PI on a 5-year study of expanding access to care for people with long-COVID. He is an Associate Editor of The Gerontologist and on the editorial boards of Innovation in Aging and the Journal of Aging and Social Policy.

Appointments

  • Professor Department of Health Policy and Management School of Public Health
  • Faculty Medicaid Research Center Health Policy Institute
  • Faculty Center for Research on Health Care Department of Medicine, School of Medicine
  • Core Faculty Institute for Bioethics

Education and Training

  • PhD, University of Minnesota, 1997
  • BA Philosophy, The Johns Hopkins University, 1990

Representative Publications

  1. Zionts ND, Reifsnyder J, Franke EK, Dickson C, Campbell K, Degenholtz HB. Enhancing Academic–Practice Partnerships With Age-Friendly Health Systems: Overview of the Revisiting the Teaching Nursing Home Pilot Initiative (2021 to 2023). Journal of Gerontological Nursing. 2025;0(0):1-6. doi:10.3928/00989134-20251010-07 

  2. Cai, Y., Schwartz, B., McMahon, T., Schlenk, E. A., Kazakoff, M., Degenholtz, H. B., Campbell, K., & Dunbar-Jacob, J. (2026). Clinical Course Development on Age-Friendly Health Systems 4Ms Care in Nursing Homes. Journal of Nursing Education, 65(3), 149–156.

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  3. Degenholtz, H. B., Lampenfeld, N., Kastner, K., Yauch, J., Mentch, H., Szymanski, G., Pierce, J., Hancock, K., & Albert, S. M. (2025). Can Age-Friendly Communities Also be Disability Friendly: What do Surveys of Older Adults and People With Disabilities Tell Us? Journal of Applied Gerontology, 0(0).

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  4. Van Cleve, R., Cole, E., Drake, C., Martsolf, G., & Degenholtz, H. (2024). Risk of Hospitalization Associated with Use of Consumer-Directed Attendant Care. J Aging Soc Policy, 1-13.

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  5. Jacobs BL, Lopa SH, Yabes JG, Nelson JB, Barnato AE, Degenholtz HB.  Change in functional status after prostate cancer treatment among Medicare Advantage beneficiaries. 2019; Urology 131: 104-111.

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  6. Degenholtz HB, Creppage K, DaCosta, D, Drozd A, Enos M, Himber M, Lazzara K, Razdan M, Resnick A, Shaw Y. The Patients Save Lives Program to Facilitate Organ Donor Designation in Primary Care Offices. 2019; Progress in Transplantation.  2019; 29(3):2014-212. DOI: 10.1177/1526924819853836 

Recent Funding

  • Pennsylvania Department on Aging , Direct Care Workforce Blueprint , PI, 2025-2027
  • Jewish Healthcare Foundation and John A. Hartford Foundation , Teaching Nursing Home Coalition: Independent Evaluation , PI, 2023-2026
  • Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Health Policy Institute/Medicaid Research Center), Enhancing and Strengthening Quality Improvement Activities for the Living Independence for the Elderly Program (LIFE) in Pennsylvania also known nationally as the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) , PI, 2022-
  • AHRQ (1U18HS029924-01), The Pitt IMProving Access to Culturally relevant long COVID care and Treatment (IMPACCT) Program (MPI: Morris, A., Sciurba F. University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine) , MPI, 2023-2028
  • Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Health Policy Institute/Medicaid Research Center) , Community HealthChoices Evaluation, Lead, 2015-
  • Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Health Policy Institute/Medicaid Research Center), Evaluating the Philadelphia Behavioral Wellness Program, Lead, 2025-2027

Media

  • The Gerontologist Podcast Podcast