Kali S. Thomas is an Associate Professor of Health Services, Policy and Practice, and a Research Health Science Specialist at the Providence VA Medical Center's Center of Innovation for Long-term Services and Supports. She received her PhD in Aging Studies from the University of South Florida and completed an AHRQ-funded Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at Brown University's Center for Gerontology and Healthcare Research. Dr. Thomas' research focuses on identifying ways to improve the quality of life of older adults needing long-term services and supports (LTSS) through applied health services research. With funding from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the National Institute on Aging, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, and multiple foundations, she has led research projects and published more than 140 peer reviewed papers examining the organization, delivery, and financing of LTSS to meet older adults' medical and non-medical needs. Her research spans the LTSS continuum, ranging from in-home services to long-term care provided in institutional settings.
| Thomas, Kali S., Gadbois, Emily A., Shield, Renee R., Akobundu, Ucheoma, Morris, Andrea M., Dosa, David M. "It’s Not Just a Simple Meal. It’s So Much More”: Interactions Between Meals on Wheels Clients and Drivers." Journal of Applied Gerontology, vol. 39, no. 2, 2020, pp. 151-158. |
| Shan M, Gutman R, Dosa D, Gozalo PL, Ogarek JA, Kler S, Thomas KS. "A New Data Resource to Examine Meals on Wheels Clients' Health Care Utilization and Costs." Medical Care, vol. 57, no. 3, 2018, pp. e15-e21. |
| Harris D, McNicoll L, Epstein-Lubow G, Thomas KS. "Association between anxious symptoms and sleeping medication use among US older adults." International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, vol. 33, no. 2, 2018, pp. e307-e313. |
| Thomas KS, Cote D, Makineni R, Intrator O, Kinosian B, Phibbs CS, Allen SM. "Change in VA Community Living Centers 2004-2011: Shifting Long-Term Care to the Community." Journal of aging & social policy, vol. 30, no. 2, 2018, pp. 93-108. |
| Thomas KS, Ogarek JA, Teno JM, Gozalo PL, Mor V. "Development and Validation of the Nursing Home Minimum Data Set 3.0 Mortality Risk Score (MRS3)." The Journals of Gerontology: Series A, vol. 74, no. 2, 2018, pp. 219-225. |
| Rivera-Hernandez M, Kumar A, Epstein-Lubow G, Thomas KS. "Disparities in Nursing Home Use and Quality Among African American, Hispanic, and White Medicare Residents With Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias." Journal of Aging and Health, 2018, pp. 089826431876777. |
| Kosar CM, Thomas KS, Gozalo PL, Ogarek JA, Mor V. "Effect of Obesity on Postacute Outcomes of Skilled Nursing Facility Residents with Hip Fracture." Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, vol. 66, no. 6, 2018, pp. 1108-1114. |
| Keohane, Laura M., Rahman, Momotazur, Thomas, Kali S., Trivedi, Amal N. "Effects of Caps on Cost Sharing for Skilled Nursing Facility Services in Medicare Advantage Plans." Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, vol. 66, no. 5, 2018, pp. 992-997. |
| Fabius CD, Thomas KS. "Examining Black-White Disparities Among Medicare Beneficiaries in Assisted Living Settings in 2014." Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 2018. |
| Kosar, Cyrus M., Thomas, Kali S., Gozalo, Pedro L., Mor, Vincent. "Higher Level of Obesity Is Associated with Intensive Personal Care Assistance in the Nursing Home." Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, vol. 19, no. 11, 2018, pp. 1015-1019. |
| Thomas KS, Parikh RB, Zullo AR, Dosa D. "Home-Delivered Meals and Risk of Self-Reported Falls: Results From a Randomized Trial." Journal of Applied Gerontology, vol. 37, no. 1, 2018, pp. 41-57. |
| Silver BC, Grabowski DC, Gozalo PL, Dosa D, Thomas KS. "Increasing Prevalence of Assisted Living as a Substitute for Private-Pay Long-Term Nursing Care." Health Services Research, vol. 53, no. 6, 2018, pp. 4906-4920. |
| Singh T, Bélanger E, Thomas K. "Is Fear of Falling the Missing Link to Explain Racial Disparities in Fall Risk? Data from the National Health and Aging Trends Study." Clinical Gerontologist, vol. 43, no. 4, 2018, pp. 465-470. |
| Ogarek JA, McCreedy EM, Thomas KS, Teno JM, Gozalo PL. "Minimum Data Set Changes in Health, End-Stage Disease and Symptoms and Signs Scale: A Revised Measure to Predict Mortality in Nursing Home Residents." Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, vol. 66, no. 5, 2018, pp. 976-981. |
| Thomas KS, Boyd E, Mariotto AB, Penn DC, Barrett MJ, Warren JL. "New Opportunities for Cancer Health Services Research: Linking the SEER-Medicare Data to the Nursing Home Minimum Data Set." Medical Care, 2018. |
| Lueckel SN, Kosar CM, Teno JM, Monaghan SF, Heffernan DS, Cioffi WG, Thomas KS. "Outcomes in nursing home patients with traumatic brain injury." Surgery, 2018. |
| Lueckel, Stephanie N., Teno, Joan M., Stephen, Andrew H., Benoit, Eric, Kheirbek, Tareq, Adams, Charles A., Cioffi, William G., Thomas, Kali S. "Population of Patients With Traumatic Brain Injury in Skilled Nursing Facilities." Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, vol. 34, no. 1, 2018, pp. E39-E45. |
| Fabius CD, Thomas KS, Zhang T, Ogarek J, Shireman TI. "Racial disparities in Medicaid home and community-based service utilization and expenditures among persons with multiple sclerosis." BMC Health Services Research, vol. 18, no. 1, 2018, pp. 773. |
| Lord J, Davlyatov G, Thomas KS, Hyer K, Weech-Maldonado R. "The Role of Assisted Living Capacity on Nursing Home Financial Performance." INQUIRY: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing, vol. 55, 2018, pp. 46958018793285. |
| Li Q, Keohane LM, Thomas K, Lee Y, Trivedi AN. "Association of Cost Sharing With Use of Home Health Services Among Medicare Advantage Enrollees." JAMA Internal Medicine, vol. 177, no. 7, 2017, pp. 1012. |
| Thomas KS, Smego R, Akobundu U, Dosa D. "Characteristics of Older Adults on Waiting Lists for Meals on Wheels: Identifying Areas for Intervention." Journal of Applied Gerontology, vol. 36, no. 10, 2017, pp. 1228-1242. |
| Downer B, Thomas KS, Mor V, Goodwin JS, Ottenbacher KJ. "Cognitive Status of Older Adults on Admission to a Skilled Nursing Facility According to a Hospital Discharge Diagnosis of Dementia." Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, vol. 18, no. 8, 2017, pp. 726-728. |
| Thomas, Kali S., Silver, Benjamin, Gozalo, Pedro L., Dosa, David, Grabowski, David C., Makineni, Rajesh, Mor, Vincent. "Constructing a Measure of Private-pay Nursing Home Days." Medical Care, vol. 56, no. 5, 2017, pp. e26-e31. |
| Kosar, Cyrus M., Thomas, Kali S., Inouye, Sharon K., Mor, Vincent. "Delirium During Postacute Nursing Home Admission and Risk for Adverse Outcomes." Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, vol. 65, no. 7, 2017, pp. 1470-1475. |
| Smith, Kelly M., Thomas, Kali S., Johnson, Shanthi, Meng, Hongdao, Hyer, Kathryn. "Dietary Service Staffing Impact Nutritional Quality in Nursing Homes." Journal of Applied Gerontology, 2017, pp. 073346481668830. |
| Brostow, Diana P., Gunzburger, E., Thomas, K. S. "Food insecurity among veterans: Findings from the health and retirement study." The journal of nutrition, health & aging, 2017. |
| Thomas KS, Baier R, Kosar C, Ogarek J, Trepman A, Mor V. "Individualized Music Program is Associated with Improved Outcomes for U.S. Nursing Home Residents with Dementia." The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, vol. 25, no. 9, 2017, pp. 931-938. |
| Garrido MM, Allman RM, Pizer SD, Rudolph JL, Thomas KS, Sperber NR, Van Houtven CH, Frakt AB. "Innovation in a Learning Health Care System: Veteran-Directed Home- and Community-Based Services." Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, vol. 65, no. 11, 2017, pp. 2446-2451. |
| Thomas KS, Dosa D, Wysocki A, Mor V. "The Minimum Data Set 3.0 Cognitive Function Scale." Medical Care, vol. 55, no. 9, 2017, pp. e68-e72. |
| Thomas KS, Dosa D, Gozalo PL, Grabowski DC, Nazareno J, Makineni R, Mor V. "A Methodology to Identify a Cohort of Medicare Beneficiaries Residing in Large Assisted Living Facilities Using Administrative Data." Medical Care, 2016. |
| Thomas, Kali S., Allen, Susan M. "Interagency partnership to deliver Veteran-Directed Home and Community-Based Services: Interviews with Aging and Disability Network agency personnel regarding their experience with partner Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers." Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development, vol. 53, no. 5, 2016, pp. 611-618. |
| Thomas KS, Allen SM. "Interagency partnership to deliver Veteran-Directed Home and Community-Based Services: Interviews with Aging and Disability Network agency personnel regarding their experience with partner Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers." J Rehabil Res Dev, vol. 53, no. 5, 2016, pp. 611-618. |
| Brown, Lisa M., Christensen, Janelle J., Ialynytchev, Anna, Thomas, Kali S., Frahm, Kathryn A., Hyer, Kathryn. "Experiences of Assisted Living Facility Staff in Evacuating and Sheltering Residents During Hurricanes." Current Psychology, vol. 34, no. 3, 2015, pp. 506-514. |
| Wysocki, Andrea, Thomas, Kali S., Mor, Vincent. "Functional Improvement Among Short-Stay Nursing Home Residents in the MDS 3.0." Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, vol. 16, no. 6, 2015, pp. 470-4. |
| Rahman M, Tyler D, Thomas KS, Grabowski DC, Mor V. "Higher Medicare SNF care utilization by dual-eligible beneficiaries: can Medicaid long-term care policies be the answer?." Health Serv Res, vol. 50, no. 1, 2015, pp. 161-179. |
| Thomas, K. S., Applebaum, R. "Long-term Services and Supports (LTSS): A Growing Challenge for an Aging America." Public Policy & Aging Report, 2015. |
| Thomas KS, Akobundu U, Dosa D. "More Than A Meal? A Randomized Control Trial Comparing the Effects of Home-Delivered Meals Programs on Participants' Feelings of Loneliness." GERONB, vol. 71, no. 6, 2015, pp. 1049-1058. |
| Thomas, Kali S. "Outcomes Matter: The Need for Improved Data Collection and Measurement in Our Nation's Home-Delivered Meals Programs." Journal of Nutrition in Gerontology and Geriatrics, vol. 34, no. 2, 2015, pp. 85-89. |
| Rahman, Momotazur, Grabowski, David C., Gozalo, Pedro L., Thomas, Kali S., Mor, Vincent. "Are dual eligibles admitted to poorer quality skilled nursing facilities?." Health Serv Res, vol. 49, no. 3, 2014, pp. 798-817. |
| Thomas KS, Wysocki A, Intrator O, Mor V. "Finding Gertrude: The resident's voice in Minimum Data Set 3.0." Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, vol. 15, no. 11, 2014, pp. 802-6. |
| Shield RR, Thomas K, Ratchford R. "Health care transitions: perceptions from older patients in rhode island." Rhode Island medical journal (2013), vol. 98, no. 4, 2014, pp. 19-22. |
| Thomas KS, Rahman M, Mor V, Intrator O. "Influence of hospital and nursing home quality on hospital readmissions." The American Journal of Managed Care, vol. 20, no. 11, 2014, pp. e523-31. |
| Thomas KS, Keohane L, Mor V. "Local Medicaid Home- and Community-Based Services Spending and Nursing Home Admissions of Younger Adults." American Journal of Public Health, vol. 104, no. 11, 2014, pp. e15-e17. |
| Thomas, K. S. "The Relationship Between Older Americans Act In-Home Services and Low-Care Residents in Nursing Homes." Journal of aging and health, vol. 26, no. 2, 2014, pp. 250-260. |
| Hyer, Kathryn, Thomas, Kali S., Johnson, Christopher E., Harman, Jeffrey S., Weech-Maldonado, Robert. "Do Medicaid Incentive Payments Boost Quality? Florida's Direct Care Staffing Adjustment Program." journal of aging & Social policy, vol. 25, no. 1, 2013, pp. 65-82. |
| Dosa, David, Cai, Shubing, Gidmark, Stefanie, Thomas, Kali, Intrator, Orna. "Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use in Veterans Residing in Community Living Centers: Have We Gotten Better?." Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, vol. 61, no. 11, 2013, pp. 1994-9. |
| Thomas, K. S., Mor, V. "Providing More Home-Delivered Meals Is One Way To Keep Older Adults With Low Care Needs Out Of Nursing Homes." Health Affairs, vol. 32, no. 10, 2013, pp. 1796-1802. |
| Thomas, Kali S., Mor, Vincent. "The relationship between older Americans Act Title III state expenditures and prevalence of low-care nursing home residents." Health Serv Res, vol. 48, no. 3, 2013, pp. 1215-26. |
| Thomas, K. S., Mor, V., Tyler, D. A., Hyer, K. "The Relationships Among Licensed Nurse Turnover, Retention, and Rehospitalization of Nursing Home Residents." The Gerontologist, vol. 53, no. 2, 2013, pp. 211-21. |
| Thomas KS, Dosa D, Hyer K, Brown LM, Swaminathan S, Feng Z, Mor V. "Effect of Forced Transitions on the Most Functionally Impaired Nursing Home Residents." Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, vol. 60, no. 10, 2012, pp. 1895-900. |
| Thomas, Kali S., McIlvane, Jessica M., Haley, William E. "Effects of Diagnostic Label and Disease Information on Emotions, Beliefs, and Willingness to Help Older Parents with Osteoarthritis." Educational Gerontology, vol. 38, no. 5, 2012, pp. 314-327. |
| Thomas KS, Dosa DM. "Interviews with Australian nursing home managers reveal that various factors are associated with the decision to transfer a resident to hospital, including two factors not identified in previous research: advance care planning and support from local health services." Evidence-Based Nursing, vol. 15, no. 4, 2012, pp. 123-124. |
| Thomas, K. S., Hyer, K., Castle, N. G., Branch, L. G., Andel, R., Weech-Maldonado, R. "Patient Safety Culture and the Association with Safe Resident Care in Nursing Homes." The Gerontologist, vol. 52, no. 6, 2012, pp. 802-811. |
| Brown LM, Dosa DM, Thomas K, Hyer K, Feng Z, Mor V. "The effects of evacuation on nursing home residents with dementia." American journal of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, vol. 27, no. 6, 2012, pp. 406-412. |
| Dosa D, Hyer K, Thomas K, Swaminathan S, Feng Z, Brown L, Mor V. "To Evacuate or Shelter in Place: Implications of Universal Hurricane Evacuation Policies on Nursing Home Residents." Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, vol. 13, no. 2, 2012, pp. 190.e1-7. |
| Rotjanapan P, Dosa D, Thomas KS. "Potentially inappropriate treatment of urinary tract infections in two Rhode Island nursing homes." Arch Intern Med, vol. 171, no. 5, 2011, pp. 438-43. |
| Hahn, E. A., Thomas, K. S., Hyer, K., Andel, R., Meng, H. "Predictors of Low-Care Prevalence in Florida Nursing Homes: The Role of Medicaid Waiver Programs." The Gerontologist, vol. 51, no. 4, 2011, pp. 495-503. |
| Hyer, K., Thomas, K. S., Branch, L. G., Harman, J. S., Johnson, C. E., Weech-Maldonado, R. "The Influence of Nurse Staffing Levels on Quality of Care in Nursing Homes." The Gerontologist, vol. 51, no. 5, 2011, pp. 610-616. |
| Vongxaiburana, Elizabeth, Thomas, Kali S., Frahm, Kathryn A., Hyer, Kathryn. "The Social Worker in Interdisciplinary Care Planning." Clinical Gerontologist, vol. 34, no. 5, 2011, pp. 367-378. |
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Hyer, K., Brown, L., Thomas, K. S., Dosa, D., Bond, J., & Schinka, J. A.
"Caring for vulnerable elders in Florida nursing homes during the 2004-2005 hurricanes." Journal of Emergency Management, vol. 8, no. 1, 2010, pp. 57-66.
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| Dosa, David, Feng, Zhanlian, Hyer, Kathy, Brown, Lisa M., Thomas, Kali, Mor, Vincent. "Effects of Hurricane Katrina on nursing facility resident mortality, hospitalization, and functional decline." Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, vol. 4 Suppl 1, no. S1, 2010, pp. S28-S32. |
| Thomas, K. S., Hyer, K., Brown, L. M., Polivka-West, L., Branch, L. G. "Florida's Model of Nursing Home Medicaid Reimbursement for Disaster-Related Expenses." The Gerontologist, vol. 50, no. 2, 2010, pp. 263-270. |
| Thomas, K. S., Hyer, K., Andel, R., Weech-Maldonado, R. "The Unintended Consequences of Staffing Mandates in Florida Nursing Homes: Impacts on Indirect-Care Staff." Medical Care Research and Review, vol. 67, no. 5, 2010, pp. 555-573. |
| Hyer, Kathryn, Brown, Lisa M., Christensen, Janelle J., Thomas, Kali S. "Weathering the storm: challenges to nurses providing care to nursing home residents during hurricanes." Applied Nursing Research, vol. 22, no. 4, 2009, pp. e9-e14. |
I conduct applied health services research to inform policies and practices that secure better health and quality of life outcomes for individuals who are aging and disabled, particularly those who require long-term services and supports (LTSS). Broadly, my research focuses on the organization and delivery of LTSS, with an emphasis on measurement and quality. Funded by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the National Institute on Aging, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, and various foundations, I have led research projects related to the quality of long-term care and the role of home- and community-based services in preventing or postponing nursing home placement. I have over a decade of long-term care research experience and am an expert in using large administrative datasets (e.g., the nursing home Minimum Data Set, the home health Outcome and Assessment Information Set, Medicare claims, Medicaid Analytic eXtract) and qualitative research methods to ask and answer policy-relevant questions.
| Year | Degree | Institution |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | PhD | University of South Florida |
| Postdoctoral Fellow | Brown University, Center for Gerontology and Healthcare Research | 2011-2013 | Providence, RI |
2006 Phi Beta Kappa
2007 The Harold L. Sheppard Endowed Memorial Scholarship, USF
2008 The Everett and Anne Lee 2008 Gerontology Award
2010 University of South Florida’s Distinguished Graduate Student Achievement Award
2010 Provost’s Commendation for Outstanding Teaching by a Graduate Student, USF
2011 Richard L. Thorpe Fellowship, American College of Health Care Administrators
2011 Laurence G. Branch Doctoral Student Research Award Funded by the Retirement Research Foundation, Honorable Mention, American Public Health Association
2011 Carroll L. Estes Student Research Award, Social Research, Policy, and Practice (SRPP) Section, Gerontological Society of America
2011 Douglas Holmes Award for Quality of Life/Quality of Care, Research in Quality of Care (RESQCARE) Interest Group, Gerontological Society of America
2013 Zimmer New Investigator Research Award, Honorable Mention, American Public Health Association
2015 Providence VA Medical Center’s Research Week Poster Award Winner
2016 Salomon Award, Brown University Office of the Vice President for Research
2016 2015 Top Cited Article in Public Policy and Aging Report
2016 Carroll L. Estes Rising Star Award, Social Research, Policy, and Practice (SRPP) Section, Gerontological Society of America
2018 Dean's Award for Excellence in Mentoring, Brown University, 2018
2019 Early Career Research Achievement Award, Brown University, 2019
2019 University of South Florida School of Aging Studies Distinguished Alumni
2020 Fellow, Gerontological Society of America
2020 American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR) Terrie Fox Wetle Rising Star Award in Health Services and Aging Research
2021 Best of ARM, AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting
| Name | Title |
|---|---|
| Baier, Rosa | Director, Center for Long-Term Care Quality and Innovation, Professor of the Practice of Health Services, Policy and Practice |
| Belanger, Emmanuelle | Associate Professor of Health Services, Policy and Practice |
| Cornell, Portia | Assistant Professor of Health Services, Policy and Practice |
| Dosa, David | Associate Professor of Medicine, Associate Professor of Health Services, Policy and Practice |
| Epstein-Lubow, Gary | Associate Professor of Medical Science, Associate Professor of Health Services, Policy and Practice, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior |
| Gozalo, Pedro | Professor of Health Services, Policy and Practice (Research) |
| Gutman, Roee | Associate Professor of Biostatistics |
| Hua, Cassandra | Investigator in Health Services, Policy and Practice |
| Lueckel, Stephanie | Associate Professor of Surgery, Clinician Educator |
| Mor, Vincent | Florence Pirce Grant University Professor of Health Services, Policy and Practice, Professor of Health Services, Policy and Practice |
| Rahman, Md | Associate Professor of Health Services, Policy and Practice |
| Zonfrillo, Mark | Professor of Pediatrics, Professor of Emergency Medicine |
Gerontological Society of America
AcademyHealth
American Public Health Association
| Research Health Science Specialist. Providence VA Medical Center, 2013- |
| EMHL 2040 - Navigating the Regulatory Maze |
| PHP 2410E - Medicare: A Data Based Policy Examination |
