Dr. David Gifford

Biography

David Gifford, MD, MPH, is a geriatrician and currently serves as the Chief Medical Officer of the American Health Care Association (AHCA). He has played a significant role in creating the Quality Department within AHCA and assists providers in quality improvement efforts while working with administration officials on regulations and policies impacting the profession. Dr. Gifford established the Center for Health Policy Evaluation in Long-Term Care at AHCA and currently oversees the AHCA’s Long Term Care Data Cooperative, which is a National Institute of Aging funded initiative aimed at linking EMR data from nursing homes to enhance care. He is a board member of the Baldrige Foundation and chairs the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs Geriatric and Gerontology Advisory Committee, a congressional-chartered committee that advises the U.S. Secretary of Veteran’s Affairs on geriatric services for veterans. Gifford has also served as the Director of the Rhode Island State Department of Health from 2005 to 2011, during which time he received the National Governor’s Distinguished Service Award for his management of the H1N1 influenza outbreak. He has held prior positions as Chief Medical Officer at Quality Partners of Rhode Island and directed a national nursing home-based quality improvement effort for CMS. Dr. Gifford holds a faculty appointment at Brown University Medical School and the School of Public Health, and has previously worked as a medical director in several Rhode Island nursing homes.

Research Interests