Overview
Dr. Kaufman is a health services researcher focused on improving the value of care for older adults with complex care needs, such as serious illness or developmental disability. She brings expertise in causal inference as well as Medicaid and Medicare value-based payment models to inform evidence-based program design. Her work prioritizes the evaluation of health disparities for underserved communities and seeks to inform whole-person models of care that integrate traditional clinical services with behavioral health, socioeconomic and social supports to address older adults’ diverse needs and reflect their preferences for care. She worked with the CMS Innovation Center as a 2022-2023 Health and Aging Policy fellow, and she is core faculty with the Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy.
Dr. Kaufman received her Master of Science in Public Health and PhD in Health Policy and Management from the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
Current Appointments & Affiliations
Recent Publications
The Business Case for Family Caregiver Skills Training: Results From a Multisite Trial in the Veterans Health Care System.
Journal Article J Am Med Dir Assoc · December 15, 2025 Full text Link to item CiteQuality-of-life factors at home and in health care settings for people living with dementia.
Journal Article Gerontologist · October 22, 2025 BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Person-centered "home time" measures track time spent in health care versus home using claims data. These measures can indicate patient preferences, quality of care, or quality of life. However, for people living with dementia, t ... Full text Link to item CiteSex Differences in Mortality and Health Care Utilization After Dementia Diagnosis.
Journal Article JAMA Neurol · October 1, 2025 IMPORTANCE: Sex differences may contribute to disparities in dementia outcomes. OBJECTIVE: To understand the association between sex and mortality and health care services use after dementia diagnosis. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This nationwide coh ... Full text Link to item CiteRecent Grants
Improving the lives of persons living with dementia and their families through person-centered measurement of home time
ResearchCo Investigator · Awarded by National Institute on Aging · 2021 - 2027EXpanding Technology-Enabled, Nurse-Delivered Chronic Disease Care (EXTEND)
ResearchCo Investigator · Awarded by National Institute of Nursing Research · 2021 - 2026NC Medicaid Value-Based Payment Implementation
Public ServiceAdvisor · Awarded by NC Medicaid · 2022 - 2026View All Grants