Faith M. Knabe (Faith K. Goldschmidt) MA, MPH

Faith M. Knabe (Faith K. Goldschmidt) M.A., MPH, is recognized by Continental Who’s Who with the 2015-2016 Lifetime Achievement Award as a result of 50 years of excellence in the field of Healthcare.   Faith’s areas of concentration are varied and include public health; research; information analysis; report writing; grant writing and monitoring; project management; education and training; database creation and management; institutional review board participation and chairing; healthcare systems; quality of care; cost of care and treatment pattern analysis; community health; health needs interviews; community coalition building; online education; and the clinical microbiology research areas of wound care and burn care. Now retired, Faith most recently was a Research Scientist and Manager of Data Evaluation with the New Jersey Department of Health (DOH), Division of HIV, STD and TB Services (DHSTS), HIV/AIDS Care and Treatment Unit.

spent almost 25 years with the State of New Jersey, first in the Division of Health Planning and Resources Development, and then in DHSTS in the DOH. Faith was a member and Chair of the Department’s Institutional Review Board (IRB), which oversees all research on human subjects for almost ten years. She also spent four years at New Jersey Medical School as a Research Scientist, Coordinator of Research projects, and liaison with University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey’s IRB. While in HPRD, Faith was one of the creators, implementers and administrators of New Jersey’s Diagnosis Related Group (DRG) system of hospital payment, which was adopted by Medicare in 1983 as the basis for its Prospective Payment System (PPS).

As a Unit Director, Faith coordinated and managed the tasks of five teams (30 staff), which ran New Jersey’s DRG System (Clinical and Quality of Care, Development, Certificate of Need, Financial Feasibility and Audit, and Data Teams). Considered an expert on the DRG system, Faith presented testimony on the System to numerous federal and state committees, and gave many lectures on various aspects of the DRG system. The PPS and various adaptations of it still exist as the federal method of payment for hospitals, federally qualified health centers, home health agencies, etc. In the Division of HIV, STD and TB Services, Faith oversaw the collection, management and analysis of data from agencies funded by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Ryan White CARE Act by the State, through the Department of Health. She oversaw report creation for HRSA, the State and other requestors.

She was also the Chairperson of the Data Group charged with linking Division and external databases to determine trends and outcomes in the HIV epidemic, and efficiency and efficacy of care and treatment. Faith was also Chairperson of the Division Security and Confidentiality Policy Committee, which created the Division Security and Confidentiality Policy for data collected by the Division. She reviews, updates and trains employees on the Policy on an annual basis. A second function of the Chairperson is to serve as Data Security Officer for the Division. Faith worked with the State Office of Information Technology, the Department’s Office of Information Technology Services and State Security Officers to ensure security and confidentiality of HIV/AIDS information. Another function of the Chairperson is to formally investigate potential breaches of confidentiality and security of HIV/AIDS data, document and make recommendations to upper management, Legal and Regulatory Affairs, the Office of the Attorney General and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as necessary. 

With 12 years of experience in community health and online education, Faith served as both an independent consultant and as a member of two Local Advisory Boards (liaison organizations between communities and the State Department of Health) on various projects such as county health needs surveys, community focus groups, primary and secondary data analyses, sudden cardiac death, Automated External Defibrillators, and services for juveniles at risk or in the juvenile justice system. S

 

he also analyzed and trained hospital staff in three New York hospitals to analyze their clinical, financial and personnel information collected in a proprietary database system created to identify growth, profit and problem areas. She helped initiate the online Master of Health Administration program, and taught two courses online for a New Jersey university for four years. Faith started her career in healthcare in 1967 as a Research Scientist in the Clinical Microbiology Section of the Research Division of Johnson & Johnson. During her 11-year tenure, she developed, organized, coordinated and managed projects to test and identify effective and efficient new and existing products for wound care, burn care and topical therapies. Faith earned her M.A. in Microbiology from Smith College in 1963. She also holds a Master’s of Public Health degree in General Public Health from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health (1978). In addition, Faith received a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Clark University in 1962 and is currently a member of the NY Academy of Science, Sigma Xi; and the National Association of Professional Women.