Ilene Harris

Vice President

Ilene Harris (Zuckerman) is a vice president in the Health Division at AIR. With 40 years of research, clinical, analytic, and administrative experience as a chronic disease epidemiologist and pharmacist, her work focuses on drug policy, quality measures, and quality of care in older adults. She applies her clinical and analytical skills to numerous quantitative and qualitative studies and projects that address health policy and quality of care, with a focus on medications. In the Health Division, Harris contributes to strategic leadership and eminence-building; mentors staff; and provides subject matter expertise in pharmacy, public health, epidemiology, and health policy.

Dr. Harris joined AIR in 2022 after eight years at IMPAQ International and 30 years at the University of Maryland, where she served as chair of the Pharmaceutical Health Services Research Department and as associate dean for research and graduate education. While at the University of Maryland, she provided clinical pharmacy services to older adults in home health care and hospice settings and the Veterans’ Administration ambulatory care clinics.

Dr. Harris was a Senior Fulbright Scholar at Chulalongkorn University Faculty of Pharmacy in Bangkok, Thailand. She is a professor emeritus at the University of Maryland.

Ilene Harris
Expertise
Health
Chronic and Infectious Diseases
Quality Measurement and Patient Safety

Ph.D., University of Maryland Baltimore (UMB); PharmD and B.S., UMB School of Pharmacy

Contact Ilene Harris

+1.202.403.5000
Related Work
Female pharmacist helping a senior customer

No Signs COVID Disrupted Hypertension Medication Adherence for Medicare Beneficiaries, but Racial and Ethnic Disparities Persisted

28 Dec 2022
Findings from this brief suggest that steps by Medicare to relax prescribing requirements during the pandemic, such as allowing early refills and larger quantities of medication, likely helped maintain medication adherence for high blood pressure and prevent racial and ethnic disparities in adherence from worsening. ...
Woman injecting herself with insulin

Biosimilars and Cost Saving: Will Interchangeable Biosimilars Do to Biologics What Generic Drugs Did to Brand Name Medications?

28 Nov 2022
In this brief, we discuss the introduction of interchangeable biosimilars, a generic form of biologics, as well as efforts to encourage their use, particularly in the Medicare program.
Older male patient with doctor, both wearing masks

Steep but Short: COVID-19 Pandemic-Related Spending Drop for Medicare Beneficiaries with Chronic Conditions

26 Oct 2022
This study examined how spending for different categories of Medicare services—inpatient, hospital outpatient, and professional providers, including physicians, physician assistants, clinical social workers, and nurse practitioners—changed from the start of the pandemic through the end of 2021. 
Older patient having a telehealth call with physician

Telehealth for Medicare Beneficiaries with Chronic Conditions: No Panacea for COVID-19 Pandemic Access Challenges

29 Jul 2022
Despite rapid growth spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth visits offset less than half of the decline in in-person visits for elderly Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries five chronic conditions. Additional research is needed to assess the impact of ending telehealth flexibilities on equitable healthcare access and quality. ...
Older patient with doctor

Impact of COVID‐19 on Cost, Utilization, and Quality among Medicare Beneficiaries

The COVID‐19 pandemic has had a significant impact on Medicare recipients. This project aims to better understand how the combination of potentially delayed care and rise in telehealth shaped the utilization, cost, and quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries with ambulatory care sensitive conditions. ...

Medicare Coverage Tools—Part D Enrollment

AIR is supporting the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in developing online tools for Medicare beneficiaries to use when selecting Medicare health and prescription drug plans. The project centers on replacing the existing Medicare Plan Finder system that enables beneficiaries to find, compare, and ultimately enroll in coverage. ...

Spotlight on Drug Pricing

11 Jan 2021
Millions of Americans can’t afford their prescription drugs and often resort to skipping doses or going without critical medications. AIR works with clients at the federal, state, and local levels to identify and implement policies to reduce the cost burden of prescription drugs for patients.
Older man with prescription bottle

Support for Enhanced Medication Therapy Management Implementation

Designed to improve medication use and outcomes and reduce the risk of adverse events for Medicare beneficiaries, medication therapy management (MTM) programs were included as a quality improvement requirement under the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003. AIR helped the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) implement a new performance-based ...

Evaluation and Performance of Medicare Part D Organizations

To support the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in developing performance metrics to rate Medicare Part D prescription drug plans, AIR assembled a team of health economists, pharmacoepidemiologists, seasoned SAS programmers, health IT specialists, and research analysts with experience and capacity in CMS methodology and application of statistical ...