Molly M. Jeffery, Ph.D.

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SUMMARY

Molly M. Jeffery, Ph.D., is a health economist and health services researcher at the Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery. Dr. Jeffrey studies how people use healthcare and health insurance. Much of Dr. Jeffery's work involves using large databases of administrative data, including health insurance claims and electronic health records. She is particularly interested in the choices patients and healthcare professionals make. She studies how these choices affect patient and system outcomes such as health status, cost, spending and sustainability. She designs and conducts clinical trials, quality initiatives and large database studies aimed at understanding and improving the care people receive in the emergency department.

Focus areas

• Using administrative data to gain insight into the opioid epidemic. Dr. Jeffery uses data from health insurance claims and electronic health records to generate insight into the use of prescription opioids in the United States. Her work includes analysis of where people get their first opioid prescription. This first prescription could be from the emergency department (ED), a surgeon or their primary care professional. Dr. Jeffery looks at whether the source of the prescription is associated with the risk of long-term opioid use. She also studies the impact of policy interventions on people's use of opioids and other pain treatment methods.
• ED care. Dr. Jeffery and colleagues developed the Minnesota Algorithm, which measures whether an ED visit could have been done by a primary care professional. She studies factors affecting the number of individuals who leave the emergency department without being seen. Dr. Jeffery researches the treatment of children presenting to the ED with pain, ambulance and EMS services, and the treatment of opioid use disorder in the emergency department.
• Healthcare needs and gaps in services provided to vulnerable groups. Dr. Jeffery is interested in understanding the needs of individuals at risk for poor outcomes. Some of the issues she studies include the potential underuse of omalizumab, a biologic used to treat asthma uncontrolled by standard treatments. Other studies include people with diabetes at risk for readmission due to poor care transition and Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries lacking access to primary care.

Significance to patient care

Dr. Jeffery's research improves people's care by creating understanding of how healthcare services and policies affect individuals and healthcare professionals. Her work helps identify areas where people's care and safety can and should be improved in the United States, including high-risk opioid prescribing practices.

Professional highlights

• Scientific director, Research, Department of Emergency Medicine, Mayo Clinic, 2016-present.
• Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Honored Investigator in the Science of Health Care Delivery II, Mayo Clinic, 2023-present.
• AcademyHealth:
  • Past chair, 2023.
  • Chair, Health Economics Interest Group Advisory Committee, 2022.
  • Vice chair, 2021.