J. Michael McWilliams, MD, PhD, is an assistant professor of health care policy and medicine at Harvard Medical School and an associate physician in the Division of General Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where he practices general internal medicine and teaches medical residents.

Dr. McWilliams’s research focuses on access to care, quality of care, health disparities, and health care spending for aging adults with chronic conditions.  The overarching goal of his current projects is to inform the development of policies to improve the value of care delivered to the Medicare population.  He is a recipient of a Paul B. Beeson Career Development Award in Aging Research, sponsored by the National Institute on Aging and the American Federation for Aging Research. With support from this award, he is examining the influence of cognitive functioning on enrollment decisions by Medicare beneficiaries, the effects of risk-adjusted payments on risk selection by Medicare Advantage plans, and the influence of structural integration among providers on quality and costs of care. He is also a recipient of a Doris Duke Clinical Scientist Development Award from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. With support from this award he is assessing the effects of Medicare prescription drug coverage (Part D) on potentially avoidable hospitalizations and non-drug Medicare spending.

In Dr. McWilliams’s recent research, he has studied the effects of Medicare coverage on health outcomes and health services for previously uninsured adults and on disparities in disease control, examined Medicare spending for previously uninsured adults, and compared trends in control of cardiovascular disease and diabetes by race, ethnicity and education.

Dr. McWilliams received his BS degree with highest distinction in biology as a Morehead Scholar from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, his MD degree magna cum laude from Harvard Medical School, and his PhD degree in Health Policy from Harvard University, with a concentration in evaluative science and statistics. He completed his residency and fellowship training in general internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and was an AHRQ post-doctoral fellow in health services research at the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. McWilliams has received the Mack Lipkin, Sr. Associate Award, Milton W. Hamolsky Junior Faculty Award, and Best Published Research Paper of the Year Award from the Society of General Internal Medicine, the AcademyHealth Dissertation Award, and the NIH Health Disparities Loan Repayment Award.  

Learn more about Dr. McWilliams' work by viewing the following featured news articles on 11/9/10, 4/23/09, 2/6/09, 1/11/08, news briefs on 8/24/11, 12/11/09, 10/9/09, 6/10/09, 5/20/09, 5/5/08, 9/25/07, and his profile on Harvard University's Faculty Development & Diversity website.