FVCC instructor heads to Missoula for health research

The Daily Inter Lake

A faculty member at Flathead Valley Community College has been hired by the University of Montana Bureau of Business and Economic Research as new director of health care industry research.

Gregg Davis will examine the state's health-care markets, trends, costs and other high visibility topics, according to a news release from the bureau.

Davis was an economics faculty member at Flathead Valley Community College, where he directed the Center for Business Information and Research and chaired the Division of Social Sciences.

"Health care reform, while certainly not new, is at the forefront of national policy debate today," Davis said. "How Montanans fare to new policy direction will depend on the quality of the information available to policymakers and residents of Montana. This position really aligns itself to assist in the efforts to better understand the industry, both at the local and national level."

Davis earned an undergraduate anthropology degree (1975) and economics master's degree (1977) from the University of Montana and his mineral resource doctorate (1986) from West Virginia University. He will replace Patrick Barkey, who recently became director of the Bureau of Business and Economic Research.

Following his graduate studies, Davis worked five years as a health economist for the federally funded Health Systems Agency in Helena. Throughout his career, Davis has specialized in conducting economic impact studies, including regional and wage studies for both the public and private sectors.

From 1995 to this year, Davis chaired the FVCC Division of Social Sciences. There he founded the Center for Business Information and Research, which conducts analysis and research for the state and Flathead economies.

Earlier in his career, Davis served as an associate professor of economics at Marshall University in Huntington, W. Va., where he established and directed that institution's Center for Business and Economic Research.

"We are excited to have someone with Gregg's experience and Montana-specific knowledge to fill this important role," Barkey said. "Health care policy is more of a challenge - and an opportunity - today than ever before."

The bureau, housed in UM's School of Business Administration, has provided information about Montana's state and local economies for more than 50 years.