Adam Sacarny, PhD

  • Associate Professor, Health Policy and Management

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Overview

Dr. Adam Sacarny is a health economist and health policy researcher. His research has explored three key areas: low-value prescribing, hospital performance and productivity, and health plan takeup. Much of his work involves using randomized controlled trials to test interventions in the health care delivery system. His studies on these themes have appeared in economics journals like The American Economic Review, The Review of Economics and Statistics, and American Economic Journal: Economic Policy as well as health policy and medical journals, including Health Affairs, JAMA Psychiatry, and JAMA Health Forum. His work has been funded by the National Institute on Aging, the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, the National Institute for Health Care Management, and the Laura and John Arnold Foundation.

Academic Appointments

  • Associate Professor, Health Policy and Management

Credentials & Experience

Education & Training

  • BA, 2007 Columbia University
  • PhD, 2014 Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Committees, Societies, Councils

Faculty Research Fellow, National Bureau of Economic Research

Affiliate, Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL)

Affiliate, Columbia Population Research Center (CPRC)”

Honors & Awards

AcademyHealth Publication-of-the-Year Award

Finalist, NIHCM Research Award

Research

Research Interests

  • Healthcare Policy

Selected Publications

Turbocharging Profits? Contract Gaming and Revenue Allocation in Healthcare (with Atul Gupta and Ambar La Forgia, forthcoming at American Economic Journal: Applied Economics)

Reducing Administrative Barriers Increases Take-up of Subsidized Health Insurance Coverage: Evidence from a Field Experiment (with Keith Marzilli Ericson, Timothy Layton, and Adrianna McIntyre, forthcoming at The Review of Economics and Statistics)

The Anatomy of a Hospital System Merger: The Patient Did Not Respond Well to Treatment (with Martin Gaynor, Raffaella Sadun, Chad Syverson, and Shruthi Venkatesh, The Review of Economics and Statistics, January 2026)

Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Reminder Emails, Program Use, and Prescribing: A Randomized Clinical Trial (with Tatyana Avilova, Ian Williamson, Weston Merrick, and Mireille Jacobson – JAMA Health Forum, December 19, 2025)

Regulated Revenues and Hospital Behavior: Evidence from a Medicare Overhaul (with Tal Gross, Maggie Shi, and David Silver – The Review of Economics and Statistics, November 2024)