Dennis J. Cotter, M.S.E.
Dennis J. Cotter, President of MTPPI, has more than 33 years of experience in technology assessment and applied health services research related to the diffusion of medical technologies. Dennis developed his expertise through a long-standing tenure with Federal Government agencies and as the founder of the Institute. His expertise includes analysis and dissemination of information relating to safety, clinical effectiveness, and expenditures for new and emerging medical technologies.
He oversees a staff of highly skilled researchers whose studies are sponsored by pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers, biotechnology companies, government agencies and foundations and directed toward the formulation and implementation of local, national, and international health care technologies.
Dennis is a biomedical engineer and holds an M.S.E. degree from Arizona State University where he studied both chemical and biomedical engineering. He began his career in 1976 at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration assessing medical devices. As a Deputy Associate Director at the National Center for Health Care Technology, Dennis directed the evaluation of medical technologies for the Medicare and State Medicaid programs. The results of these evaluations established specific recommendations for the introduction, adoption, and coverage of new medical technologies.
As the senior staff member of the Office of Health Technology Assessment, he developed technology assessment guidelines which are still used by the government and medical community. Dennis' work in the public sector also had an international dimension: As a member of the U.S. Public Health Service, he helped establish a biomedical engineering service in Egypt. Dennis also served as a senior staff member for the Prospective Payment Assessment Commission (ProPAC) which advised the U.S. Congress and the Secretary of Health and Human Services on changes in hospital payment rates.
Before founding MTPPI in 1986, Dennis was a staff associate with the Institute for Health Policy Analysis at Georgetown University Medical Center, where he was responsible for assessing health care technologies in relation to national and international health care policy and assessing health policy issues related to Medicare/Medicaid and other third-party reimbursement. Dennis founded MTPPI to address the challenges faced by health care providers, third-party payers, and medical device and pharmaceutical manufacturers in providing appropriate and cost-effective health care.
In addition to his duties at MTPPI, Dennis holds a faculty appointment as an adjunct instructor in the Department of Family Medicine of Georgetown University Medical School. He is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Sigma XI, the research society, among other professional organizations. Dennis is the author of numerous reports on health technologies and has presented and lectured on the subject before many professional organizations and Congressional and Executive Branch agencies.
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