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From Drew Altman

Drew Altman is president and chief executive officer of KFF, a position he has held for more than 30 years since founding the modern-day KFF organization in the 1990s. He is a leading expert on national health policy issues and an innovator in health journalism and the nonprofit field.

View full bio | Read Dr. Altman's Beyond the Data columns

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President’s Message

“KFF is an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. We have four major program areas: KFF Policy; KFF Polling; KFF Health News (formerly Kaiser Health News); and KFF Social Impact Media, which conducts specialized public health information campaigns. Learn more about the organization. 

What’s unique about KFF, however, can’t be found in any description of our programs because we’re more than a sum of our parts. KFF is a one-of-a-kind information organization. Not a policy research organization. Not a polling organization. And not a news organization. But rather, a unique combination of all three. That’s the vision behind KFF, and it's this combination that allows us to leverage our combined expertise and assets to play our national role on health policy.”

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Beyond the Data

In his “Beyond the Data” columns, Dr. Altman discusses what the data, polls, and journalism produced by KFF mean for policy and for people.

Drew Altman, KFF President and CEP is quoted on this card saying, "People are bewildered by a supercharged and polarized debate about vaccines and no longer know where to turn for scientific information they can rely on ... The vaccines are not the culprit—we and the state of our politics and the distrust in science and our scientific institutions they breed are."

The Problem Isn’t Trust in Vaccines, It’s That People Don’t Know Who to Trust

In a new “Beyond the Data” column, Dr. Altman analyzes years of KFF polling on vaccines in light of the current controversies about them. The real problem, he says, is not lack of public confidence in the safety of vaccines — few say they are unsafe — it’s that polarization and misinformation have eroded confidence in what’s true or not, and in scientific institutions people used to rely on for the facts.

View All Beyond the Data Columns

View the Latest: From Drew Altman

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  • Where To Start To Build Vaccine Confidence

    From Drew Altman

    In this Axios column Drew Altman writes about the recent attention to Republican vaccine resisters. “Republicans and rural Americans are among the most resistant vaccine holdouts and some strategies are emerging to reach them." But “far from all Republicans are resisters” and “the bigger and quicker payoff will come from prioritizing the more moveable group of 'wait and see' Americans.”

  • Vaccine Confidence Isn’t The Main Obstacle To Reaching Herd Immunity

    From Drew Altman

    In this Axios column, Drew Altman paints a more optimistic picture of the prospects for getting to herd immunity as vaccine confidence grows, but underscores the urgency of building vaccine confidence in Black and Latino communities where barriers to access and good information are obstacles to getting vaccinated.

  • Seeing Others Vaccinated May Be The Best Cure For Vaccine Hesitancy

    From Drew Altman

    In his latest Axios column, Drew Altman shows why vaccine hesitancy will naturally decrease as more and more people see their family members and friends vaccinated without adverse consequences. It’s a hopeful sign about vaccine hesitancy, and should help free up resources to focus on the remaining vaccine hesitant.

  • The Challenge Of Vaccine Hesitancy In Rural America

    From Drew Altman

    In his latest Axios column, Drew Altman looks at the challenge of vaccine hesitancy in rural America and its implications. One of them: a highly tailored outreach campaign is needed. “Addressing this hesitancy will require convincing rural Americans about the seriousness of the pandemic, and then that the vaccine is a way to protect them, their families and their way of life,” he said.

  • Joe Biden’s New Health Care Agenda (and CMS’s Big Role In It)

    From Drew Altman

    With the Georgia runoff elections giving Democrats control of the U.S. Senate, Drew Altman discusses President-elect Biden’s potential health care agenda and suggests that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services could have an expanded role and that it may be time to rename it and elevate it to a cabinet agency.