Harkness Project Title: Informed Choices: What Use Do Patients Make of Quality Information When Deciding Who To Consult and Where to Get Treated?

Mentor: Judith Hubbard, Dr.P.H.

Placement: Department of Planning, Public Policy, and Management, University of Oregon

Biography at time of Harkness Fellowship: Anna Dixon, a 2005–06 Commonwealth Fund Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy, is acting director of policy at the King's Fund in London and a lecturer in European health policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Dixon began her academic career as a research officer with the European Observatory on Health Care Systems where she focused on comparative analysis of European health systems in particular funding issues. She has advised several Ministries of Health as a short-term consultant and organized a number of intensive courses for policymakers from central and eastern Europe. Most recently Dixon had an 18-month secondment to the Department of Health (2003-2004) where she worked as a policy analyst in the Strategy Unit, advising ministers and contributing to the development of The NHS Improvement Plan. She graduated with a first class degree in social and political science from Cambridge University (1994) and an M.Sc. with distinction in health policy, planning and financing from the London School of Economics and Political Science and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (1998). She also holds a Ph.D. from LSE in the regulation of complementary medical practitioners in the U.K.

Current Position: Director of Policy, King's Fund. (Updated August 2010)

E-mail: adixon@kingsfund.org.uk

Harkness-Related Publications:

Dixon A, Greene J, Hibbard J. “Do consumer-directed health plans drive change in enrolleees' health care behavior?” Health Affairs 2008; 27(4): 1120-1131.

Hibbard J, Peters E, Dixon A, et al. "Consumer Competencies and the Use of Comparative Quality Information: It Isn't Just About Literacy," Medical Care Research and Review 2007; 64(4): 379–94.

Peters E, Dieckmann N, Dixon A, et al. "Less is more in presenting quality information to consumers," Medical Care Research and Review 2007; 64(2):169–90.