Zirui Song, MD, PhD

Bio

Zirui Song, MD, PhD is an associate professor of health care policy and medicine at Harvard Medical School and a general internist at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he practices primary care and attends on the inpatient medicine teaching service.

Dr. Song’s research focuses on efforts to improve the value of health care spending. This includes studies of payment reform, pricing of medical services, financing of health insurance, and quality or appropriateness of care. Related work aims to understand other policies or factors that affect spending or health outcomes, including employer efforts, peer influences, and individual- or population-level interventions.

Dr. Song directs the Health Policy concentration in the MGH Internal Medicine Residency Program. He also co-directs the Essentials of the Profession–Health Policy course for first-year Harvard medical and dental students. In addition, Dr. Song has co-led HMS Executive Education courses for employers and global health care leaders, as well as the Mass General Brigham Health Policy Course for residents and fellows. He guest lectures at Harvard College, School of Public Health, Kennedy School, and Mass General Brigham. Dr. Song has received several Certificates of Distinction in Teaching from Harvard University and tutorial teaching awards from HMS. Along with teaching, he advises postdoctoral fellows, Ph.D. students, and medical trainees.

Dr. Song has worked on Medicare payment policy at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and was a guest at the Brookings Institution. Locally, he has served as a Visiting Fellow in the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission and on the Massachusetts Medical Society Task Force on Health Care Reform. Dr. Song is an Associate Editor of JAMA Health Forum and Editorial Board member of Health Services Research. He previously served in editorial roles at PLOS Medicine and Healthcare.

Dr. Song is a recipient of the AcademyHealth Article-of-the-Year award, NIHCM Foundation Health Care Research Award, and Society of General Internal Medicine Outstanding Junior Investigator of the Year Award. His research has also been recognized by Johns Hopkins, the American College of Physicians, American Journal of Managed Care, and International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research. For clinical work, he received the Morton N. Swartz, M.D. Humanism in Medicine Award at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Dr. Song trained in internal medicine (primary care track) at Massachusetts General Hospital. He received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School, magna cum laude, and Ph.D. in Health Policy (Economics track) from Harvard University, where he was a fellow in Aging and Health Economics at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He received his B.A. in Public Health Studies with honors from Johns Hopkins University.

Working Papers

PRICING AND PASS-THROUGH IN RESPONSE TO SUBSIDIES AND COMPETITION: EVIDENCE FROM MEDICARE ADVANTAGE BEFORE AND AFTER THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

After years of growth, federal payments to Medicare Advantage plans began to decline after the Affordable Care Act (ACA). We exploit variation in those payments caused by the ACA to assess whether insurers respond symmetrically to payment increases and decreases pre- and post-ACA. We find that plans changed their pricing and pass-through to beneficiaries symmetrically, with plans passing through roughly 60 cents for each dollar of payment increases or decreases. However, plans reduced less salient benefits post-ACA by more than they had increased them pre-ACA, even though they left premiums virtually unchanged. Partial pass-through suggests that plans likely operate above cost; plans in more competitive markets responded less to payment changes than plans in less competitive markets. Partial pass-through of payment cuts, combined with quality bonuses and growth in risk scores, may explain the continued growth in Medicare Advantage enrollment post-ACA.

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Curriculum  Vitae

Contact

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