Adam Sacarny
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asacarny.bsky.social
Adam Sacarny
@asacarny.bsky.social
6.8K followers 540 following 260 posts
Associate Professor @columbiahpm.bsky.social visiting this fall @beckerfriedman.bsky.social. Also @nber.org & @j-pal.bsky.social. Economics & health policy. #econsky #healthpolicy #medsky 📈🚞🐈🗽🏳️‍🌈
http://sacarny.com
Posts represent my views, not my employer's
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asacarny.bsky.social
The bus I've been taking this week makes local stops then runs on the highway. Like the bus in the movie Speed. It's all I can think about on my way in.
Screenshot from the movie Speed of the bus making a high-speed turn surrounded by police vehicles
September 11, 2025 at 3:22 PM
asacarny.bsky.social
Yesterday I had the privilege of visiting the Broad Street pump! Sadly, I saw that the pump handle had been removed. I worked to reinstall the pump handle so local residents would not be deprived of this vital resource. So glad to bring some of the latest American public health ingenuity to London!
Selfie of me smiling in front of the Broad Street pump
September 5, 2025 at 12:38 PM
asacarny.bsky.social
Arguing with the IRB about publishing research out of quality improvement work
Screenshot of Nathan Fielder in "The Rehearsal" speaking into a phone. The closed caption says "So there's dual goals, I guess"
April 28, 2025 at 6:08 PM
asacarny.bsky.social
CMS asked the public for advice on how to move Medicare/Medicaid data users to their VRDC enclave, ending on-site physical access to this data. In my reply attached here, I say the best way to promote high-quality care and protect the trust fund is to maintain and *improve* on-site data access.
Screenshot of e-mail to CMS requesting that they maintain and improve the physical data access program.
April 15, 2025 at 8:53 PM
asacarny.bsky.social
NYC Health Econ Day is coming May 9 @ NYU Wagner! We'll have 6 great papers + lots of time to chat. Folks in the greater NYC area are invited!

RSVP: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
More info: www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-s...

Organizers: @ambond.bsky.social, Mike Dickstein, Jessica Van Parys + me
Screenshot of NYC Health Econ day conference program, text available here https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~mjd19/conf_org/health_econ_day_program_2025.pdf
April 11, 2025 at 2:57 PM
asacarny.bsky.social
GIF depicting a trolley running over a line of people. Next to the line of people is a man with his hand on a lever. The gif says "You can stop the trolley by filing a lawsuit"
March 11, 2025 at 5:20 PM
asacarny.bsky.social
Sorry all, this should have said NIH. This was *not* an AHRQ study section meeting. So it's much less surprising that it was cancelled.
Thanks @aoeverhart.bsky.social for pointing out that ODHS is not at AHRQ!
Screenshot of an old (inaccurate) post of mine saying "Just heard from an authoritative source that an AHRQ study section (ODHS) scheduled for tomorrow was just cancelled"
February 26, 2025 at 9:00 PM
asacarny.bsky.social
Don't think that's right - participation is broad and I don't see an association with red/blue.
Map of U.S. titled "Participating PRAMS Sites" showing 46 participating states
February 24, 2025 at 4:25 PM
asacarny.bsky.social
FYI
dictionary definition of 'unbelievable' with the following text highlighted: << so great or extreme as to be difficult to believe; extraordinary. >>
January 31, 2025 at 8:08 PM
asacarny.bsky.social
I have a big seminar soon and a lot of uptight academics are getting mad at me when I tell them this will be my last slide. They're saying things like "It's not Halloween, Adam" and "It's not 2016, Adam". Let's just say I see things a bit differently.
Screenshot of a presentation slide that shows the David S. Pumpkins character from Saturday Night Live. It says in spooky Halloween text "Any questions?"
December 30, 2024 at 4:16 PM
asacarny.bsky.social
Excited that Columbia annual benefits selection is back for 2025 and once again I have two excellent and distinct options for enrolling.
Screenshot of webpage with the title "How would you like to choose your benefits?" There are two options listed below. On the left it says "I know what I want to choose" with a timer icon. On the right it says "I want to choose on my own" with a shopping cart icon.
November 14, 2024 at 5:27 PM
asacarny.bsky.social
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...
Abstract to our paper titled "Turbocharging Profits? Contract Gaming and Revenue Allocation in Healthcare"
June 17, 2024 at 8:11 PM
asacarny.bsky.social
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.
Screenshot of CMS e-mail. It reads: CMS continues to receive helpful feedback in response to the updated Request for Information (RFI) posted on March 1, 2024. Based on responses we have received to date, we have decided to delay implementation of policy changes, originally planned for August 19, 2024, to not begin before 2025. The additional time will allow CMS to carefully consider and be responsive to comments and concerns in developing the policy changes. CMS also will consider improvements to the research request process and Virtual Research Data Center (VRDC) user experience in conjunction with needed policy updates to strengthen data security. We want to remind and encourage all researchers to send your responses to the questions in the RFI to VRDCRFI@cms.hhs.gov by May 15, 2024. We plan to share a revised implementation schedule for the policy changes in future guidance, as well as additional details on any adjustments to the policy changes based on researchers’ feedback.
April 15, 2024 at 3:17 PM
asacarny.bsky.social
Earthquake in NJ!
Screenshot of USGS website with a map showing a 4.8 magnitude earthquake in New Jersey
April 5, 2024 at 2:32 PM
asacarny.bsky.social
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
NYC Health Econ Day conference program, available from info website link in post
April 2, 2024 at 3:36 PM
asacarny.bsky.social
And some questions about the timing of the transition and timing of new fees for physical data access.
Screenshot of new questions around transition timing
March 1, 2024 at 9:13 PM
asacarny.bsky.social
They have added a bunch of questions about data access fees. Notable to me:
- One Q opens the door to a "view-only" VRDC role, which would really help teams
- They're thinking about student dissertations
- Interest in expanding the scope of Limited Data Sets (would be great)
Screenshot of new questions around data access fees
March 1, 2024 at 9:12 PM
asacarny.bsky.social
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... )
Screenshot of tracked changes between original and new CMS RFI
March 1, 2024 at 9:11 PM
asacarny.bsky.social
And we all spent yesterday shaking our heads at that columnist
Headline from The Cut's article: "The Day I Put $50,000 in a Shoe Box and Handed It to a Stranger - I never thought I was the kind of person to fall for a scam." Except "Shoe Box" is red-lined to Grant and "a stranger" is red-lined to CMS
February 16, 2024 at 3:33 PM
asacarny.bsky.social
Trying to work the day after teaching a late evening class
An orange cat curled up sleeping on a gray couch
January 18, 2024 at 8:03 PM
asacarny.bsky.social
As is tradition, lighting two hanukkiahs for the second night of Hanukkah 🕎🕎
Two hanukkiahs (menorahs) lit for the second night of Hanukkah, placed over foil in a kitchen
December 9, 2023 at 1:54 AM
asacarny.bsky.social
Total own-goal: I procrastinated booking my AEA 2024 hotel and now the room I wanted is on waitlist
Screenshot of a hotel booking webpage with rooms ranging from $115 to $1,500. All rooms are available except the room for $1,100 which is marked waitlist.
December 4, 2023 at 9:14 PM
asacarny.bsky.social
help
Dialog box saying "Your system has run out of application memory". There is a list of programs with Acrobat Reader (31.07GB) at the top, followed by other programs that are not using very much memory. Dril tweet screenshot saying: Food $200 Data $150 Rent $800 Candles $3,600 Utility $150 someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this. my family is dying
November 20, 2023 at 3:14 PM
asacarny.bsky.social
Nice, these two options are definitely conceptually distinct
Screenshot of website with heading "Welcome to Benefits Open Enrollment / How would you like to choose your benefits?" The options are "I know what I want to choose" and "I want to choose on my own."
November 9, 2023 at 1:30 PM
asacarny.bsky.social
My friend just sent me this photo he shot while walking the Camino de Santiago, a trip most Americans will never take.

He says you can get there by train from any major city nearby and the views are lush & beautiful.

In America this would be unthinkable.
View of a landscape with a gravel path through it, surrounded by grass and green hills in the distance
August 31, 2023 at 4:02 PM