Meet the Team
David Kraus, JD, MSPH
David Vincent Kraus is a senior executive, attorney, and educator with over 35 years of experience in health law, academic medicine, and the healthcare business. His unique expertise includes managed care contracting, payment methodologies, provider affiliations, joint ventures, accountable care organizations, health benefits, and quality/value payment programs. Early in his career, Mr. Kraus worked in medical malpractice defense but has spent most of his career in academic medicine. Mr. Kraus developed the first managed care contracting function for UC San Diego Health and, more recently, throughout the entire University of California health system of UCLA, UC Irvine, UC Davis, UCSF, and UCSD, as part of the Office of the President (UCOP). During his career as Chief Contracting Officer, Mr. Kraus has spearheaded the negotiation of payer contracting for UC, valued at over $115B. His financial acumen, legal training, and understanding of the clinical side of health care achieved payment increases averaging over 7% annually and yielding additional revenue to UC of over $8B. Mr. Kraus was instrumental in creating the first-ever UC self-funded health plan for its employees and crafted a first-of-its-kind UC-wide Accountable Care Organization.
Mr. Kraus' skills include crafting contracts, complex terms of payments, methods of payment for value & quality, joint ventures, affiliations, health benefit structures, and regulatory compliance. He has served on a task force for the California State Controller and developed systems of improvement for municipality contracts. Mr. Kraus has authored and co-authored scholarly articles on topics such as Injuries in Skiing & Snowboarding, Environmental Risk Management and Quality Integration in a clinical network of academic and community providers.
As adjunct faculty, Mr. Kraus has taught over 50 graduate-level courses in health law at the University of San Diego School of Law and the San Diego State School of Public Health.
Mr. Kraus completed his undergraduate degree in Kinesiology at UCLA and a Master’s of Science in Public Health focused on health policy at UCLA. In addition, he completed a law degree (Juris Doctor) at the University of San Diego School of Law. Mr. Kraus is a licensed attorney, admitted practicing in the California State Bar, California state courts, and the Southern District of the U.S. Federal Court. He is married to Dr. Jennifer Kraus, an environment scientist, with whom they have raised two (now adult) daughters, both attorneys. He is an avid outdoorsman, fly fisherman, snow skier, and scuba diver.
Jennifer L. Kraus, MPH, PhD
Dr. Jennifer Kraus has over thirty years of experience in the supply chain compliance and transparency, EHS, and sustainability fields. She has been a leader in implementing projects in the U.S., Mexico, Canada, and Central & South America. Dr. Kraus is the Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer for Source Intelligence, a technology company that specializes in supply chain compliance and sustainability solutions. She was President of Global Environmental Consulting Company (GECCo, Inc.), a boutique consulting practice based in San Diego, CA. Before GECCo, Dr. Kraus was an Associate with Dames & Moore, an Environmental Manager for General Dynamics Electronics, and a Safety Engineer with Litton Guidance and Control Systems. The Clinton Administration appointed Dr. Kraus to the Good Neighbor Environmental Board, a congressional advisory committee on environmental and infrastructure issues along the US-Mexico border. In addition, she was established by the Governor Schwarzenegger Administration to the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board. Dr. Kraus was certified as a Professional Environmental Auditor for Environmental Compliance and EMS-ISO 14000 Plus by the Board of Environmental, Health and Safety Auditor Certifications (BEAC). Dr. Kraus has published articles on conflict minerals compliance, environmental management systems, sustainability, pollution prevention, and auditing. She has also received grants for research in environmental management systems and occupational injury rates, pollution prevention, and alpine skiing and snowboarding injuries. Dr. Kraus was raised in Puerto Rico and is fluent in Spanish. She completed her Ph.D. in Public Health and epidemiology at the UCSD School of Medicine and the San Diego State University Graduate School of Public Health. She received her Master’s Degree in Public Health from UCLA and her Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Princeton University.
