Adam Sacarny

@asacarny.bsky.social

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Associate Professor @ Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Also NBER & J-PAL. Economics, healthcare, bikes, trains, and cats.

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If the NIH funds the R01 we submitted today

I'm excited to say this is my first week as an Associate Professor with tenure! Many thanks to my friends, family, collaborators (esp. brilliant students, RAs & TAs), and mentors who made this possible. And I'm so grateful to my dept & colleagues in Columbia HPM for their support.

Our paper on gaming Medicare payments is out AND I'm presenting it at #ASHEcon2024 today! "Turbocharging Profits? Contract Gaming and Revenue Allocation in Healthcare" @ambarlaforgia.bsky.social Atul Gupta 🔗 www.nber.org/papers/w32564 ⏰ 1:45-3:15📍Torrey Pines 2 ashecon.confex.com/ashecon/2024...

This work would not have been possible under the data policy CMS proposed (and thankfully postponed). Under that policy, we'd need to use the VRDC, which was too expensive even with our generous NIA grant. I'm hopeful CMS will keep listening to researchers' concerns here.

Our new study in JAMA Network Open finds that randomized overprescribing warning letters safely reduced antipsychotic prescribing to patients with dementia. The paper: jamanetwork.com/journals/jam... Authors: Harnisch @mlbarnett.bsky.social @coussens.bsky.social Thomas Olfson Berhane + me

Physician Antipsychotic Overprescribing Letters and Outcomes Among People With Dementiajamanetwork.com This secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial examines whether warning letters to high prescribers of quetiapine are associated with reduced

Glad to see that @CMSGov is postponing plans to end the on-site data access that has been crucial for research and policymaking. They are clearly listening to our concerns. Many thanks to the folks who pressed the administration + folks in the admin and CMS who are listening.

Wow, more construction in my building?! This is the second time today.

Earthquake in NJ!

NYC Health Econ Day is coming to NYU Stern May 3! We'll have four great paper presentations with lots of time for folks to chat. RSVP here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... More info: www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-s... Organizers: Amy Bond, Sunita Desai, Mike Dickstein, Laura Wherry + me

🚨 The deadline to submit your paper to NYC Health Econ Day is tomorrow! Submission page: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... The conference will be held May 3 at NYU Stern. More info: www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-s... Organizers: Amy Bond, Sunita Desai, Mike Dickstein, Laura Wherry + me

CMS has updated its announcement that it is closing down physical access to data. Here are some key tracked changes. Seems like some openness to adjusting the timelines for the transition - though not whether it's happening. (Announcement here: www.cms.gov/data-researc... )

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Adam Sacarny

This letter to CMS from AcademyHealth about the data access debacle is quite good I think academyhealth.org/sites/defaul...

"New CMS rules will throttle access researchers need to Medicare, Medicaid data" Excellent piece from Rachel Werner now out in @statnews.bsky.social

New CMS rules will throttle access researchers need to Medicare, Medicaid datawww.statnews.com Sleuthing with Medicare’s data is suddenly in jeopardy.

And we all spent yesterday shaking our heads at that columnist

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Adam Sacarny

"Researchers incensed over CMS data access change" (accurate), with quotes from @asacarny.bsky.social and @aschwartz.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

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Adam Sacarny

This is a total disaster!

Just got the email from CMS that they are planning to discontinue physical access to the Medicare/Medicaid research files and force everyone to use the (incredibly expensive) VRDC. In the transition, they'll charge physical data users $10K/year to renew DUAs. This is bad.

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Adam Sacarny

If you're an R shop like ours, with lots of TAF data and projects, it looks like the annual fees could be over $200K (e.g. 5 projects *$13K + 10 analyst seats*$15K). It also upends 5 years and hundreds of thousands of dollars to create an efficient software/hardware infrastructure to manage TAF.

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Adam Sacarny

This policy change from CMS will do much to degrade the quality and timeliness of health policy research in the US. While I understand the security concerns that motivated it, there has to be a middle ground that will efficiently balance security and access.

Trying to work the day after teaching a late evening class

What a great #ASSA2024! I'm already missing the thrill of potentially falling into the San Antonio River

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Adam Sacarny

A 5-minute telehealth visit for a sinus infection, scheduled through in-network Mount Sinai, cost $660 — because the "luck of the draw" doctor was out-of-network. And apparently this falls into a gray area with the No Surprises Act. #healthpolicy From @dariustahir.bsky.social:

When a Quick Telehealth Visit Yields Multiple Surprises Beyond a Big Bill - KFF Health Newskffhealthnews.org For the patient, it was a quick and inexpensive virtual appointment. Why it cost 10 times what she expected became a mystery.

NYC Health Economics Day is coming back! 💫 Save the date: it will be hosted at NYU Stern on May 3, 2024. All health economists in the greater NYC area are invited. Organizers: Amy Bond, Mike Dickstein, Sunita Desai, Laura Wherry & me More info: www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-s...

As is tradition, lighting two hanukkiahs for the second night of Hanukkah 🕎🕎

Back for day 2 👇

The @nber.bsky.social Economics of Health meeting is livestreaming with a great lineup today. Right now: @vinisingh.bsky.social with a fascinating paper on the role of power (like authority, not statistical) in health care 📋 www.nber.org/conferences/... 🎥 www.youtube.com/nbervideos

Economics of Health, Fall 2023www.nber.org

First time going into the big dig tunnels after listening to the podcast about it 💫

Total own-goal: I procrastinated booking my AEA 2024 hotel and now the room I wanted is on waitlist

Getting back to the project role I'm most comfortable in: worrier

help