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William E. Lafferty
Professor
I believe that there are enormous opportunities to improve health. Most are based on ameliorating social problems such as poverty, racism, and violence. The greatest value from medical practice will come when all people have equal access to high quality preventive care.
MD  
University of Kansas, 1978
Medicine
BA  
University of Kansas, 1975
Microbiology
Adjunct Professor, Department of Medicine

Department of Health Services Program Affiliations:
  -  Health Care and Population Health Research Track, (MPH program)
  -  PhD program in Health Services
  -  Master of Health Administration Program

William Lafferty teaches two introductory courses, an advanced health & health policy course, and is director of the Health Care and Population Health Research Track. A specialist in Internal Medicine with infectious disease subspecialty training, his research interests include assessment of STD services provided by Medicaid and the private sector. He works on projects that seek to balance cost, access, and quality of health care in new areas of public interest such as Complementary and Alternative Medicine. From 1985-1993, he was office director for the Washington State HIV/AIDS epidemiology office. From 1993-1996, he was Medical Director of the Broadway STD Clinic for the Seattle-King County Department of Public Health.

Contact Information
(office)  H-690, Health Sciences Building
University of Washington
1959 NE Pacific Street
Box:  357660
Seattle, WA 98195-7660
(voice)  206-616-5085     (fax)  206-543-3964
billlaf@u.washington.edu
(staff contact):  Alice Gronski
(voice)  206-543-7952     (fax)  206-543-3964
agronski@u.washington.edu
Teaching Interests
Clinician training in population health principles. Mentoring student projects that look at HIV/STD epidemiology, STD control, complementary and alternative medicine.
  • HSERV 511   (Clinical Fellows Program)
    Introduction to Health Services and Public Health
  • HSERV 511
    Introduction to Health Services and Public Health
  • HSERV 514
    U.S. Health and Health Care: Health Policy Research
Research Interests
Complementary and alternative medicine, STD prevention and control, managed care, health care finance, access to care, HIV
Projects
Insurance Financing of Integrative Medicine (2001 - 2008)
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine RO1 ATOD 891-01. To measure the extent to which 1995 legislation requiring coverage of every category of health care provider has increased the integration of CAM into conventional health care financing.
A Randomized Trial of CAM at the End of Life (2003 - 2007)
Principal Investigator for a randomized trial of Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the End-of-Life. The project was funded by NIH and NCI for $1,869,511.
Use of Complementary and Alternative Medical (CAM) Providers by Cancer Patients (2005 - 2008)
This study is a collaboration with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
External Funding (sampling of current and past involvement)
Naturopathic Physician Research Education Project -subcontract
Bastyr University
PI:   Schneeweiss           Dates:    07/2006 - 06/2010
The main goal of this project is to enhance the knowledge of Naturopathic faculty and students about the medical scientific research methods in order to be better able to evaluate the medical literature using an evidence based medicine approach.

Use of Complementary and Alternative Medical (CAM) Providers by Cancer Patients
National Institutes of Health
PI:   Lafferty           Dates:    09/2005 - 09/2008
This project will define the relationship between cancer patients, complementary and alternative medical practitioners, and conventional providers in the care for patients with cancer.

Competitive Continuation of Insurance Financing of Integrated Medicine
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine
PI:   Lafferty           Dates:    09/2005 - 05/2008
This study will measure the extent to which the legislation requiring coverage of every category of healthcare provider has increased the integration of CAM use for specific conditions for which CAM use has proven efficacy.

A Randomized Trial of CAM Comfort at the End of Life
National Institutes of Health
PI:   Lafferty           Dates:    09/2003 - 08/2007
The long-term goal of this project is to improve the quality of patient dying and death by the appropriate use of complementary medicine (CAM).

Race and Herbal Medications among Medicare Recipients
National Institutes of Health
PI:   Lafferty           Dates:    09/2004 - 08/2005
The purpose of this study is to perform a secondary analysis of survey data from the Cardiovascular Health Study that have been collected from approximately 6,000 Medicare recipients.

Insurance Financing of Integrated Medicine
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine
PI:   Lafferty           Dates:    09/2001 - 05/2005
The proposed study will use claims data from the two largest insurance plans in WA to describe the economics of CAM integration under the state model, to identify predictors of CAM utilization and cost, to investigate whether CAM is used more frequently as a complement to or an alternative for traditional care, and to locate patient groups whose healthcare costs might decrease by substituting CAM for traditional services.

Medicaid Cost Data
WA State
PI:   Lafferty           Dates:    07/2000 - 06/2001
The goal of this study is to determine whether case management of certain Medicaid populations result in cost savings to the Medical Assistance Administration without unacceptable consequences to the patient or provider.

Evaluation of STD Clinics
Tacoma-Pierce County Health Dept.
PI:   Lafferty           Dates:    07/1997 - 12/1997
Evaluating existing services of STD Clinics in Tacoma - Pierce Co. and services to former clients Supplement of $2000 awarded 12/97.


Selected Publications

Lafferty WE, Coombs RW, Beneditti J, Critchlow C, Corey L: Recurrences afer Oral and Genital Herpes Simplex Virus Infection: Influence of Anatomic Site and Viral Type, New England Journal of Medicine, 1987;316:1444-8.

Lafferty WE, Hopkins SG, Honey J, Harwell JD, Shoemaker PC, Kobayashi JM: Hospital Charges for People with AIDS in Washington State: Utilization of a Statewide Hospital Discharge Data Base, American Journal of Public Health, 1988;78:949-952.

Lafferty WE Downey L, Cleum C., and Wald A. Genital HSV-1 as a Cause of Genital Herpes: Impact on Surveillance and Prevention, Journal of Infectious Disease, 2000;181(4) 1454-7.

Lafferty WE, Tyree PT, Bellas AS, Watts CA, Lind BK, Sherman KJ, Cherkin DC, Grembowski DE. Insurance Coverage and Subsequent Utilization of Complementary and Alternative Medicine Providers. The American Journal of Managed Care. 2006;12(7):397-404

Dissertation, Thesis and Capstone Committees (recent graduates)
2006
Chair, thesis committee for Ian Maki
For better or for worse: Societal health and same-sex marriage bans

2006
Chair, thesis committee for Pamela Kohler
Inclusion of birth control teaching in formal sexual education: Implications for abstinence-only-policy

2006
Chair, thesis committee for Victoria Hughes
Self identification of a mental health concern as a subsequent predictor of a mental health diagnosis

2005
Chair, dissertation committee for Bonnie Lind
The use of complementary and alternative medicine under insurance coverage in Washington State

2005
Member, thesis committee for Robert Oh
Fish oil for Secondary Prevention Of Cardiovascular disease: A Survey of Knowledge, Attitudes and Practice of Washington State Family Physicians

2004
Chair, thesis committee for Roque Miramontes
Population risk factors for West Nile Virus: does crop production make a demographic area more susceptible to a higher incidence rate of disease