As a clinician-investigator, I spend the majority of my time engaged in health policy research. My research focuses on three areas: (1) the impact of delivery innovations on quality, access, and spending, (2) consumerism with a focus on price shopping for health care, and (3) payment reform.

I have studied a wide range of delivery innovations including retail clinics, personal health records, eConsults, eVisits, and telemedicine. In recently funded RO1s, we are assessing the impact of telemental health on outcomes, how telemedicine can increase treatment of opioid use disorder, and the impact of telestroke on mortality and morbidity. There is wide spread interest in how consumerism and price transparency can be used to improve quality and decrease spending. I am interested in using the burgeoning data in electronic health records for physician quality measurement. In a RO1 funded by the National Cancer Institute, we developed a natural language processing tool that takes free-text reports to measure the colonoscopy quality of individual physicians. More recent work has evaluated the impact of price transparency initiatives, reference pricing models, and rewards programs. On the topic of payment reform, I have studied the impact of pay-for-performance programs, Maryland’s global budget program, and bundled payments.

My clinical activities include caring for patients as a hospitalist at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. One of my passions is mentoring junior researchers from undergraduates to junior faculty. I currently serve as a primary mentor to many medical students, residents, post-doctoral fellows, and junior faculty. Finally, teaching is a key component of my career. For three years I led the health policy component of a first-year Harvard Medical School class and have also served as the overall course director.