Author Archives

David Cutler, PhD, is the Otto Eckstein Professor of Applied Economics, Department of Economics and Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

• JAMA Forum: The SGR Is Dead, but the Pressure on Physicians Is Not

  By David Cutler, PhD on May 13, 2015

  

  The Sustainable Growth Rate formula used to determine physician payments in Medicare has died, and not a tear was shed at the funeral. Because the SGR, as it was known, linked the growth in physician payments to the rate of… Read More ›

• JAMA Forum: Payment Reform Is About to Become a Reality

  By David Cutler, PhD on February 11, 2015

  

  The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) continues to take major steps toward transforming the payment system for Medicare. After hinting about a new payment reform plan in September, HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell put out more specifics… Read More ›

• JAMA Forum: A New Federal Health Care Strategy

  By David Cutler, PhD on November 5, 2014

  

  Although Ebola has consumed the health care headlines of late, US consumers are worried about more than this dangerous viral disease. The cost and quality of medical care remain paramount in people’s minds. In September, between dealing with Ebola and… Read More ›

• JAMA Forum: What Near-Death Experience Can Tell Us About Medical Care

  By David Cutler, PhD on August 27, 2014

  

  In 2005, a survey was conducted examining how aggressively physicians treat patients near the end of life. Some 1500 primary care physicians and cardiologists were presented a scenario describing an 85-year-old man with severe congestive heart failure. The fictional patient… Read More ›

• JAMA Forum: Will the Country Look to Massachusetts Again?

  By David Cutler, PhD on May 23, 2014

  

  By David Cutler, PhD, and Steven Walsh, JD Like bad generals who are “always fighting the last war,” the federal government is always fighting the last health care battle. More than 4 years after the Affordable Care Act was passed,… Read More ›

• JAMA Forum: The Three-Fold Path to Health Savings and Better Care

  By David Cutler, PhD on March 5, 2014

  

  With each passing month, evidence accumulates that health care spending growth has reset to a new, lower level.  Preliminary data for 2013 show an increase in health care spending essentially equal to the growth of the economy—a rate of increase… Read More ›

• JAMA Forum: Lessons From the ACA Crash

  By David Cutler, PhD on December 4, 2013

  

  The Affordable Care Act (ACA) had a rough October and November. First, the federal health insurance exchange website (http://www.healthcare.gov) did not work as intended, making it virtually impossible for people who wanted coverage to sign up. Second, a number of… Read More ›