Jeff Bauer

Dr. Bauer is an internationally recognized futurist and economist who has specialized in the health industry. As an independent industry thought leader, he forecasts the evolution of health care and develops practical approaches to improving the medical sector of the American economy. He is widely known for his specific proposals to create an efficient and effective health care delivery system through multi-stakeholder partnerships and other initiatives focused in the private sector. He also applies his general business knowledge and forecasting background outside health care, bringing a fresh and innovative perspective on the future to other industries. 

Dr. Bauer has published more than 250 articles, books, Web pages, and videos. He speaks frequently to national and international audiences about key trends in science, technology, big data, public policy, marketplace reform, and creative problem-solving. Dr. Bauer is quoted often in the national press and writes regularly for professional journals. 

His latest books are Paradox and Imperatives in Health Care: Redirecting Reform for Efficiency and Effectiveness (2015) and Upgrading Leadership's Crystal Ball: Five Reasons Why Forecasting Must Replace Predicting and How to Make the Strategic Change in Business and Public Policy (2014).  Previous books include Statistical Analysis for Health Care Decision-Makers (CRC Press, 2009), Telemedicine and the Reinvention of Health Care: The Seventh Revolution in Medicine (McGraw-Hill, 1999) and Not What the Doctor Ordered (McGraw-Hill, 1998).  

As a consultant, he has assisted hundreds of organizations with strategic planning and performance improvement. He served as Vice President for Health Care Forecasting and Strategy for ACS, a Xerox Company, from 1999 to 2010. His previous consulting firm, The Bauer Group, specialized in consumer-focused strategic planning from 1984 to 1992. In addition, Dr. Bauer has extensive academic experience. He was a full-time teacher and administrator at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver from 1973 to 1984, where he held appointments as associate professor and as Assistant Chancellor for Planning and Program Development. He also served for four years as Health Policy Adviser to Colorado Governor Richard D. Lamm. From 1992 to 1998, Dr. Bauer was a visiting professor in Administrative Medicine at the Medical School of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he taught physician leaders how to evaluate research reports and other published studies. Prior to his career in health care, he worked as a research meteorologist for the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

He received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He graduated from Colorado College in Colorado Springs with a B.A. in economics and completed a certificate in political studies at the University of Paris (France). During his academic career, he was a Boettcher Scholar, a Ford Foundation Independent Scholar, a Fulbright Scholar (Switzerland), and a Kellogg Foundation National Fellow. He is an elected member of the Association of Managers of Innovation and of the Institute of Medicine of Chicago. Dr. Bauer lives in Chicago, where he occasionally displays his paintings in local art galleries. He is an avid fan of music and member of the Governing Board of the Chicago Symphony Association.