Project Title/Research Interests: Risk Predictors, Outcomes, and Costs of Falls Among Older Adults Living in the Community

Background:
Geoffrey Hoffman received his BA (cum laude) in General Studies (emphasis on American and British Language and Literature) from Harvard College in 1994 and an MPH from UCLA’s School of Public Health from the Department of Health Services with a concentration in health policy in 2008.  After receiving his MPH, he worked at the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Congressional Research Service for two years and then returned to UCLA to pursue a PhD. in the Department of Health Policy and Management.  His research interests pertain to the U.S. older adult population and, in particular, to the “dual eligible” population, informal and formal caregivers and older care recipients, late-life depression, and falls and fall-related injuries.  He has studied the health-related behaviors of “baby boomer” caregivers, California’s In-Home Supportive Services Program providing care to older, Medicaid recipients, and the relationship between cost-sharing and utilization of physician services among older Medicare beneficiaries. His three-part doctoral dissertation examines the relationships between receipt of formal and informal caregiving and the risk of falls and fall-related injuries; the temporal ordering of the relationship between falls, fall-related injuries, and emotional distress; and the Medicare utilization and expenditures associated with falls and fall-related injuries among U.S., community-dwelling older adults.