March 2024
In This Issue
Monthly Highlights: Amir Dan Rubin Joins Duke-Margolis Advisory Board
Health Policy in Action: Modernizing Risk Adjustment Methods
People: Tiffany Chan, Beth Gifford, Gavin Yamey, and Tyson Brown Receive Duke's Presidential Award
Monthly Highlights
Duke-Margolis 2024 Health Policy Conference: Updating Health Reform for the Next Decade: Key Challenges and New Opportunities

April 11, 2024 | 12-5 pm ET

A full speaker lineup is now available for our upcoming conference! We will gather health policy experts--in person in Washington, DC and virtually across the country—to discuss some of the nation’s most pressing health care challenges and how to strategize for health reform in the coming decade. We look forward to hearing insights from the following speakers:

Keynote Speakers
Alex Azar, Seraphim Strategies
Monica Bertagnolli, National Institutes of Health
Jon Blum, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Namandjé Bumpus, U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Mandy Cohen, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Nancy-Ann DeParle, Consonance Capital Partners
Kody Kinsley, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services
Thom Tillis (R-NC), United States Senate

Panelists
Georges Benjamin, American Public Health Association
Fred Cerise, Parkland Health
Alice Chan, Centene
Aneesh Chopra, Care Journey
Karen Dale, AmeriHealth Caritas
Victor Dzau, National Academy of Medicine
Roy Herbst, Yale School of Medicine
Adrian Hernandez, Duke University
Dora Hughes, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Mary Klotman, Duke University and Duke Health
Meena Seshamani, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Will Shrank, a16z
Dan Tsai, Centers for Medicaid & CHIP Services
Fyodor Urnov, UC Berkeley

We hope you will join us to share your perspectives and become part of these vital conversations, whether you attend in-person in Washington, DC, or virtually. Those who attend in-person have the added benefit of an opportunity to network with speakers and fellow attendees at our post-conference reception. Please visit the event webpage to learn more and register.
Amir Dan Rubin Joins Duke-Margolis Advisory Board

A nationally recognized health care leader and innovator, Amir Dan Rubin is the newest member of the Institute’s Advisory Board. Amir has focused his career on helping transform health care. He currently serves as CEO & Founding Managing Partner of Healthier Capital, a venture capital firm focused on health care innovation.
Amir previously served as Chair & CEO of the technology-powered primary care company, One Medical, which he took public in 2020 and sold to Amazon in the beginning of 2023. Prior to that, Amir served as an EVP at UnitedHealth Group and its Optum division. Prior to that, he served as CEO at Stanford University’s health system, COO at UCLA’s health system, COO at SUNY Stony Brook’s health system, and in leadership roles at Memorial Hermann’s health system.
Amir has twice received an EY “Entrepreneur of the Year” award, and is an enthusiastic Duke parent.
Health Policy in Action

Improving the Drug Supply Chain

Recent legislation directed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to designate a National Centers of Excellence in Advanced and Continuous Pharmaceutical Manufacturing and implement an Advanced Manufacturing Technologies Designation Program. A new issue brief from Duke-Margolis researchers Stephen Colvill, Cameron Joyce, Thomas Roades, and Gerrit Hamre discusses considerations for FDA, academia, manufacturers, and other stakeholders as the new programs are designed and implemented. Read the authors’ recommendations here.
Modernizing Risk Adjustment Methods

Duke-Margolis researchers Mark McClellan, Sara Debab, Frank McStay, Mark Japinga, and Rob Saunders released a white paper funded by West Health that outlines an innovative path forward for modernizing Medicare’s risk adjustment system. The paper centers on two key concepts: aligning data reporting for risk adjustment, quality and performance reporting, and identifying more accurate sources of data for risk calibration to reflect the growing share of accountable care. Read more here.

A Top Voice on LinkedIn, Yubin Park, shared the white paper on his page and sparked discussion here. 
NC Medicare-Medicaid Integration

Core Faculty members Courtney Van Houtven, Brystana Kaufman, and Aparna Higgins, and former Postdoctoral Associate Salama Freed, co-authored a paper in the North Carolina Medical Journal. The study focused on Medicare beneficiaries who are dually enrolled in Medicaid and the opportunities for more effective integration between the two programs. Read more here.
Policy Impact
Neonatal Clinical Trials

A meeting summary from the Duke-Margolis event, Measuring Clinical Benefit in Neonatal Randomized Clinical Trials: Challenges and Opportunities, was recently published in the Journal of Pediatrics. Duke-Margolis researchers Beth Boyer and Dure Kim, and former Policy Analyst Mira Gill, co-authored the summary to highlight the main points discussed at the event and offer recommendations for the future of neonatal clinical trials. The paywall has been lifted until May 8, 2024—read the paper here.
Upcoming Events
Strengthening Whole-Person Specialty Care Through Accountable Care Innovation

April 4, 2024 | 1-2 pm ET

Attendees will learn more about the opportunities to strengthen high-value specialty care across the care continuum by advancing the adoption of aligned design elements. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and other health care leaders will discuss updates to current strategies as well as upcoming initiatives.

Learn more and register here.
Past Events
Fostering Collaboration to Advance Representative Enrollment in Clinical Trials

During this event, attendees learned more about ways for stakeholders to collaborate to increase representativeness in clinical trials. Speakers discussed opportunities to build collaboration, establish long-term community engagement, incentivize trial representation, and scale innovative trial infrastructures.

Learn more here.
Enhancing Adoption of Innovative Clinical Trial Approaches

Duke-Margolis hosted a hybrid workshop under a cooperative agreement with the FDA to discuss the considerations and opportunities surrounding clinical trial innovation. A wide-range of stakeholders explored how to effectively translate thoughtful ideas and implement them sustainably at scale. Discussion also pointed towards the need for tangible use cases to evaluate the effectiveness innovative approaches and as starting points for future public-private partnerships. The Duke-Margolis event received extensive coverage in the Pink Sheet.

Watch the recording here.
Advancing Real-World Data to Generate Regulatory Grade Real-World Evidence in Oncology

In a collaborative event hosted by Aetion, Duke-Margolis, Friends of Cancer Research, and the Reagan-Udall Foundation for the FDA, attendees learned more about the gaps in real-world data collection and accessibility. Director Mark McClellan offered the keynote address and Research Director Rachele Hendricks-Sturrup moderated a session on “a deep dive into opportunities for patient-centered real-world data.”

Read the organizers’ meeting summary and watch the recording here.

People


Program Coordinator Tiffany Chan Justice, and Core Faculty members Beth Gifford, Gavin Yamey, and Tyson Brown, received a Duke Presidential Award for their work with the Bass Connections program. Congratulations to everyone on this prestigious honor!

Pictured: Tiffany Chan (left) and Beth Gifford (right) at the awards ceremony.
Rachele Hendricks-Sturrup has been appointed as a Trust Scholar in Residence at Advancing Research on Trust, an initiative organized by Academy Health and the ABIM Foundation to improve trust in the health care system. Read the news here. 
Sandra Yankah and Rachele spoke about the issue of integrating pharmacogenomic testing into routine psychiatric care during a session hosted by ELSIconversations. Learn more here.
Duke University awarded Core Faculty member Mike Pignone a distinguished professorship to honor his work with the Department of Medicine. Learn more in the Duke Today announcement here.




Research Associate Tori Gemme co-presented the keynote session at DIA’s Advertising and Promotion Regulatory Affairs Conference. The discussion centered on a Duke-Margolis event, “The Future of Prescription Drug Promotion and Digital Marketing,” and the insights that arose during that meeting.
Healthcare NOW Radio interviewed Mark McClellan to discuss the transition from fee-for-service to value-based care by integrating primary care providers with specialists to create a patient-focused model. Listen to the podcast here.
Core Faculty member Peter Ubel wrote an op-ed in Forbes, “The Verdict Is In—Price Gouging Harms People With Gout,” that reported on colchicine’s price spike in 2011 and how it affected health outcomes in patients with gout.
Research Director Christina Silcox moderated a session during the Duke Clinical Research Institute’s Think Tank, “Embracing Generative AI in Clinical Research and Beyond: Opportunities, Challenges and Solutions.” A meeting summary is now available here.

Core Faculty member Trevor Lentz received the 2023 G.F. Gebhart Journal of Pain Young Investigator Award for his work on the paper, “Overcoming Barriers to the Implementation of Integrated Musculoskeletal Pain Management Programs: A Multi-Stakeholder Qualitative Study.” Other co-authors of this paper include Jonathan Gonzalez-Smith, Katie Huber, Christine Goertz, and Will Bleser.
Core Faculty member Frank Wharam co-authored a paper in Annals of Internal Medicine: “Association of State Insulin Out-of-Pocket Caps With Insulin Cost-Sharing and Use Among Commercially Insured Patients With Diabetes.” The study explored the effects of the recent out-of-pocket (OOP) cost caps on insulin in certain states and found that, while OOP costs were reduced, insulin use did not increase.

Frank also spoke at the Center for Value-Based Insurance Design’s V-Bid Summit to discuss the successes and challenges of high-deductible health plans.
Opportunities at the Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy
Do you want to be part of health policy in action? Do you want to work on the leading health policy issues confronting cities, states, the nation, and the globe? The Duke-Margolis team is a dynamic, high impact national leader in leveraging policy to ensure high quality, affordable care for all. Multiple positions are currently available with new ones added frequently. Click here to view all of our career opportunities.