Check out this research letter in @jamahealthforum.com from DGIM's Matthew Klebanoff, Jalpa Doshi, and Pengxiang Li et al. on how the Inflation Reduction Act is reshaping Medicare Part D formulary coverage of MS disease-modifying therapies.

PennLDI@pennldi.bsky.social · 2mo ago

How did #Medicare Part D coverage of multiple sclerosis therapies change after the #InflationReductionAct? LDI Fellows found that after 2025, Part D plans increasingly covered generic disease-modifying therapies when available, while brand-name coverage declined. Read more: https://bit.ly/4fI7hlw

Congratulations to @rachelwerner.bsky.social (@pennldi.bsky.social), Eric Roberts (@penndgim.bsky.social) & @jnwadiuko.bsky.social (Hospital Med), recipients of top 2026 @societygim.bsky.social Awards in recognition of their health services research! tinyurl.com/rbnxjmk8

This study by LDI Fellows Ashish Thakrar of @penndgim.bsky.social and Maggie Lowenstein of @pennmedicine.bsky.social and @cherishresearch.bsky.social was published in Substance Use & Addiction Journal (@sajamersa.bsky.social).

Policy Engagement Update 📣 LDI Director of Innovation Paula Chatterjee testified before the Center for Rural Pennsylvania Board of Directors on Rural Health Transformation Program funding allocations and implementation. Read the full testimony: https://bit.ly/49maEe8

Testimony: Rural Health Transformation in Pennsylvania

LDI’s Paula Chatterjee testified before the Center for Rural Pennsylvania Board of Directors on Rural Health Transformation Program funding.

ldi.upenn.edu

🎉Congratulations to LDI Exec Director @rachelwerner.bsky.social, and LDI Fellows @jnwadiuko.bsky.social and Eric T. Roberts! They have received top awards from the Society of General Internal Medicine (@societygim.bsky.social)! Read more about the awards & their work here: https://bit.ly/4nliD0M

Three Penn LDI Senior Fellow Win 2026 SGIM Awards

Three Senior Fellows of the University of Pennsylvania Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics (LDI) — Rachel M. Werner, MD, PhD; Eric T. Roberts, PhD; and Joseph Nwadiuko, MD…

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A new JAMA Health Forum @jamahealthforum.com study from Alex Li, Matt Klebanoff, and Jalpa Doshi examines how Part D coverage of disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) shifted after generics entered the market and the Inflation Reduction Act restructured incentives. 🧵

In @jamainternalmed.com, Austin Kilaru (Emergency Med), Susan Landon (@penndgim.bsky.social), Felicia D'Souza & Bob Burke (Hospital Med) argue that hospital-at-home programs work. Scaling them will require upfront investment & more flexible, patient-centered policies jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Big congratulations to our Division of General Internal Medicine faculty on their national recognition from the Society of General Internal Medicine! 🎉@societygim.bsky.social

Judith Long & colleagues have a new article in Journal of Diabetes Research: A new trial tests whether community health workers trained in social needs navigation & diabetes tech can improve outcomes for Hispanic and Black young adults (18–35) with T1D.

Bob Burke, Austin Kilaru & Susan Landon (Penn) in JAMA Internal Medicine @jamainternalmed.com: Penn launched a Hospital at Home program, but 2/3 of hospitals with a CMS waiver to do HaH have enrolled zero patients. High costs & complexity are major barriers.

Marilyn Schapira & colleagues in JAMA Health Forum (@jamahealthforum.com): A national survey of 1,905 US women (ages 39–50) reveals striking skepticism toward clinician performance metrics tied to cancer screening rates.

A new study from DGIM's Ashish Thakrar and Maggie Lowenstein evaluates "RAMP-UP," a pharmacist-led rapid methadone titration protocol for hospitalized patients with opioid use disorder—a growing challenge in the fentanyl era 🧵

Congratulations to Jalpa Doshi, Lorraine Dean (Hopkins), and Amy Nunn (Brown) — recipients of the 2026 ISPOR Impact Award!

How can we advance the #HospitalAtHome model? LDI Fellows Austin Kilaru and Robert Burke call for lower startup costs and simpler rules to reduce barriers and expand this effective program. Read more about the model and the authors' recommendations. https://bit.ly/48DkYhp

How to Reenergize Hospital-at-Home

LDI Fellows lay out the largest barriers, from costs to complex rules, and the reforms needed to put more hospital care in homes nationwide.

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New research letter in Obstetrics & Gynecology from Maggie Lowenstein, Nia Bhadra-Heintz & Penn colleagues: a case series of 15 pregnant/postpartum patients with opioid use disorder switched from sublingual to extended-release injectable buprenorphine.

New study in BMJ Quality & Safety from Bob Burke, LauraEllen Ashcraft, and many collaborators from the VA SAGE team: how do surgical teams discuss "What Matters" conversations with frail older adults before elective surgery? Spoiler: explicit goal clarification is rare in practice.

A new Penn LDI commentary uses a storyline from The Pitt where an AI charting tool hallucinates a patient's history as a jumping-off point for a very real risk: generative AI in medicine can invent facts and propagate errors into genuine patient safety problems.

In a new Penn LDI piece, Eric Bressman uses a scene from The Pitt — where an AI charting tool hallucinates a patient's history — to flag a very real risk: generative AI in medicine can invent facts and propagate errors into genuine patient safety problems.

🏛 Last week, Penn LDI brought together researchers, Congressional staff, and policy leaders for a nonpartisan briefing in Washington, D.C. to examine the evidence on the drivers of high U.S. #healthcare costs and policy approaches to improve #affordability. Stay tuned for key takeaways, coming soon.

New research out in @jamahealthforum.com provides insight into trends in methadone use for pain & opioid use disorder among Medicaid enrollees ft. Ashish Thakrar (@penndgim.bsky.social) & @sean-hennessy.bsky.social (@dbei-upenn.bsky.social/ @penn-crest.bsky.social) tinyurl.com/2w4nxsh4

Can Facebook wall posts predict cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk? In a new exploratory study, LDI Fellows analyzed linguistic features from Facebook posts and linked them to electronic health records—but found no association with CVD risk. Read more: https://bit.ly/487Yqoy

New HealthAffairs study by Atheen Venkataramani (@atheendar.bsky.social), Paula Chatterjee & Norma Coe: unionization in U.S. nursing homes (2013–2021) led to a substitution effect – LPN staffing rose while RN staffing fell, as management replaced costlier RNs.

New JAMA study finds the Rural Health Transformation Program ($10B/year through 2030) isn't reaching communities that need it most. Half the money is a flat $100M per state, heavily favoring smaller states.

Are #RuralHealthTransformationFund dollars reaching states with the greatest need? A new study by LDI's @rachelwerner.bsky.social and Paula Chatterjee raises concerns that funds may not target rural residents with the highest clinical burden. Read more: https://bit.ly/4rWHp8M

Rural Health Funds May Not Reach Greatest Need

Intended to offset cuts in federal Medicaid funding and empower states to strengthen rural healthcare, the RHTP was created in July 2025

ldi.upenn.edu

Joseph Nwadiuko (@jnwadiuko.bsky.social) has a new paper in Globalization and Health challenging a key assumption in global health: that economic growth in LMICs reduces physician emigration. The reality is more complicated. 🧵

Proud to highlight this work featured in JAMA (@jama.com) by Penn DGIM's Paula Chatterjee, Rachel Werner (@pennldi.bsky.social), and Eliza Macneal!

JAMA@jama.com · 5mo ago

Current allocations under the Rural Health Transformation Program are inversely associated with rural mortality and hospital bed losses, indicating that funding may not reflect clinical need. ja.ma/3OWHk6n

Michael Wang (@ncsp-penn.bsky.social) and Paula Chatterjee (Penn DGIM) have a new piece in Health Affairs Forefront on anticipated challenges in safety-net health care financing under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. 🧵

@pennmedicine.bsky.social is expanding access to breast cancer screening with a new mobile mammogram van that will provide convenient screenings at community sites year-round ft. @radoctorbri, Linda Nunes (@PennRadiology) & @guerraviswanath.bsky.social (@penncancer.bsky.social) tinyurl.com/mryb2c2z

A ?final thread about our new study measuring financial incentives to treat different racial/ethnic groups. Today’s topic: how this paper came about. I hope the details are helpful for early-career researchers. (1/n) jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Payments to Physician Practices and Incentives to Serve Different Racial and Ethnic Groups

This study measures disparities across patient racial and ethnic groups in per-visit payment to physician practices from health insurers and other sources, adjusted for visit content, geographic marke...

jamanetwork.com

Congratulations to Eric Roberts, Rachel Werner, and Pete Groeneveld! Eric and Rachel's NEJM article received a 2026 Top Ten Clinical Research Achievement recognition, and Pete's article was a Top Ten Finalist. 🧵