Past Conferences

Click on the year for additional information.

Year

Location

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

2000

1999

New York City, NY

Stanford University, CA

University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL

Suffolk University, MA

The Ohio State University, OH

University of Pennsylvania, PA

Johns Hopkins University, MD

University of California, Berkeley, CA

Vanderbilt University, TN

Virginia Commonwealth University, VA

Northeastern University, MA

Rush University, IL

University of Michigan, MI

University of Washington, WA

University of California, Berkeley, CA

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC

University at Albany, State University of New York, NY

University of Minnesota, MN

University of California, Los Angeles, CA

Virginia Commonwealth University, VA

Boston University, MA

University of Michigan, MI

University of California, Berkeley, CA

University of Pennsylvania, PA

University of Minnesota, MN

University of California, Berkeley, CA

The History of the OTHC


Previously known as the Healthcare Organizational Research Association (HORA), the OTHC originally started as the Health Care Organizations Conference. In 1998, Doug Wholey, Rob Burns, and Steve Shortell met for dinner while attending the Academy of Management Annual meeting in San Diego. They discussed the idea of having a small annual conference of researchers interested in organizational research in health care. The goals were to provide:


  • a forum for more extensive interaction around papers that there was typically time for in annual meetings of other professional associations
  • an opportunity to network with other health care organizational researchers

The hope was to develop collaborations and help that would improve the quality and usefulness of health care organizational research.


In January (or early February) of each year, a call for papers goes out. The submitted abstracts are reviewed by a panel consisting of individuals representing the two prior conferences and the coming conference. This present and future mixture is designed to maintain continuity in paper selection criteria. The conference focuses on empirical papers, with an hour and a half allocated to presenting and discussing each paper. The closing day of the conference includes some more general presentations that are selected by the year's conference organizers. The receptions and dinners are a key time for getting to know colleagues.

The first conference was hosted by Steve Shortell and Tom Rundall at the University of California at Berkeley in 1999.  Today, the conference is hosted back and forth across the United States (west coast, midwest, east coast) to equalize accessibility.