Kentucky 45th in the
Nation for Healthcare

Source The Commonwealth Fund

LISA McGIFFERT - Senior Policy Analyst on Health Issues
Campaign Director, www.StopHospitalInfections.org

Lisa McGiffert is a Senior Policy Analyst on Health Issues and the Campaign Director for StopHospitalInfections.org, a project of Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports. 

McGiffert directs CU’s national campaign to reduce hospital-acquired infections by raising public awareness and seeking publication of hospital infection rates. This highly successful campaign has initiated infection reporting legislation across the country; 23 states now have laws requiring hospital infection rates to be published. The campaign collaborates with local groups and individuals with personal hospital infection experiences. McGiffert routinely speaks as the consumer voice on this issue at conferences and with the media. She was appointed to serve as a consumer representative on the National Quality Forum Healthcare-associated Infections Steering Committee, serves as a liaison to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee, and advises consumer representatives serving on states’ hospital-acquired infection advisory committees. In 2008 the campaign is being expanded to include other forms of medical harm, drug safety and physician accountability. 

From 1991-2003, McGiffert directed CU advocacy efforts on health issues in Texas. She advocated for access, fairness, and accountability for health care consumers by working with state legislators, state agencies, and through public education, including public speaking and work with local, state, and national media. Her areas of expertise include access to public and private health insurance; hospital and health care provider quality of care; prescription drugs; consumer protections in health insurance; and accountability of charitable health care organizations.

Prior to joining CU, Lisa was a policy analyst and legislative coordinator for the Texas Senate Committee on Health and Human Services where, for seven years, she was actively involved in the development and implementation of state health and human services policy. She was a juvenile probation/parole officer and volunteered for 10 years in the movement to end domestic violence, during which she helped to start a shelter and served on the board of the Texas Council on Family Violence. While she was chair of the board, TCFV was awarded the federal contract for the National Domestic Violence Hotline.

McGiffert has a BA in psychology from Midwestern State University, Texas.