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Thomas C. Tsai, MD, MPH

Department of Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital

1153 Centre Street
Boston, MA 02130
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Thomas C. Tsai, MD, MPH
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  • I am currently on a short term leave from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health serving as Senior Advisor for the COVID-19 Response and Testing and Treatment Coordinator on the White House COVID-19 Response Team in the Biden-Harris Administration. 

    I am an Assistant Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School and Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. I engage in multidisciplianry research across the fields of health policy, public health, and data science. I am a faculty associate of the Center for Surgery and Public Health, Ariadne Labs, the Harvard Global Health Institute, and the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics.

    As a practicing surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital, my clinical interests are in minimally invasive surgery for GERD and other benign gastrosophageal disorders; metabolic and bariatric surgery; and complex abdominal wall reconstruction. 

    My research focuses on understanding the impact of health policy efforts on achieving value in our healthcare system by reducing spending and improving outcomes. Using national Medicare claims data, my work has examined the relationship between hospital quality and readmissions; patient experience as a measure of quality; and racial and socioeconomic disparities in readmission rates. From 2014-2015, I served as a senior advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) in the Office of Health Policy at the US Department of Health and Human Services. I currently serve as the Vice-Chair of the Council on Graduate Medical Education (COGME) and am actively engaged in advising federal policies on the physician workforce, graduate medical educaiton, and rural/urban disparities in medical care. My recent focus is on 1) achieving value in the Medicare system with projects focused on bundled payments and low-value care in Medicare Advantage (private Medicare) vs traditional Medicare (fee-for-service) 2) understanding the effect of hospital mergers on site of care optimization and outcomes; and 3) developing models to prepare the US health system for pandemic resilience. 

    During the COVID-19 pandemic my work has focused on understanding the effect of the pandemic on the US health care system as well as in developing testing targets to inform state and federal pandemic response and preparedness (www.globalepidemics.org).

     

Recent Publications

  • The effect of Massachusetts health reform on access to care for Medicaid beneficiaries
  • Hospital Factors Associated With Care Discontinuity Following Emergency General Surgery
  • Potential impact of Affordable Care Act-related insurance expansion on trauma care reimbursement
  • Cured into Destitution: Catastrophic Health Expenditure Risk Among Uninsured Trauma Patients in the United States
  • The Association Between Medicare Eligibility and Gains in Access to Rehabilitative Care: A National Regression Discontinuity Assessment of Patients Ages 64 Versus 65 Years
  • Better Patient Care At High-Quality Hospitals May Save Medicare Money And Bolster Episode-Based Payment Models
More
  • Pandemic Preparedness and Response
  • Bio
  • Publications
  • Harvard Global Health Institute
  • Center for Surgery and Public Health
  • Ariadne Labs
  • Media Coverage
  • Harvard Business Review: Hospital Management and COVID-19
  • Health Affairs Blog - US Hospital Capacity in Response to COVID-19
  • NYT - These Places Could Run Out of Hospital Beds as Coronavirus Spreads
  • WBUR/NPR All Things Considered - COVID-19 Hospital Capacity Gap
  • Wharton Business Radio - Health Care Changes and Corporate Board Governance
  • Better Patient Care at High-Quality Hospitals May Save Medicare Money
  • Wharton Business Radio - Patient Satisfaction and Healthcare
  • Medicare tackles disparities in common operations
  • Problems at home after surgery? Go back to same hospital, study says
  • Hospital Consolidation isn't the key to lower costs and raising quality
  • One in seven surgical patients is readmitted after 30 days

Twitter

  • tomtsai46
    tomtsai46 Excited for the announcement of @NIH @NIBIBgov @ASPRgov Home Test to Treat Program Test at home, Telehealth from home, antivirals delivered to your home All part of the @WHCOVIDResponse commitment to make testing and treatments accessible to communities t.co/xd23TdSpsb
    3 weeks 3 days ago.
  • GawandeUSAID
    GawandeUSAID Huge news that Paxlovid will now become available in lower-cost, generic form for almost one hundred lower income countries. Thank you to @WHO’s @MedsPatentPool. t.co/kxLRmI18oU
    1 month 5 days ago.
  • tomtsai46
    tomtsai46 New study from @HHS_ASPE shows 10-fold increase in oral antiviral use this year Paxlovid and Lagevrio have speeded recovery, reduced hospitalizations, and prevented deaths for individuals with chronic conditions Building on this will help get us through this winter t.co/v6jb7ozYP2
    1 month 1 week ago.
  • POTUS
    POTUS COVID cases are going up across the country. But we have the tools, infrastructure, and know-how we need to manage this moment. Today, we announced our Winter COVID-19 Preparedness Plan to ensure we stay ahead of increases in cases this winter. Take a look: t.co/qULXMZYD4Z
    1 month 2 weeks ago.
  • tomtsai46
    tomtsai46 We are announcing the t.co/RWgWiD9DxU to deliver test to US households Incredible work by our @USPS and @ASPRgov colleagues We are rolling out our comprehensive testing strategy focused on equity t.co/Kh6Hut0oYh
    1 month 2 weeks ago.
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Blog posts by month

  • November 2013 (1)
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