Kevin Volpp Faculty Profile

Kevin Volpp
Assistant Professor of Medicine and Health Care Systems

PhD, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, 1998; MD, University of Pennsylvania, 1998; AB, Harvard College, 1989

Research Areas
Health services research; health economics; delivery of health care; quality of health care; motivation

Current Projects
Financial Stress in hospitals and quality of care - PI (Doris Duke Foundation); Comparing Disparities Inside and Outside VA - PI (Veterans Administration); Collaboration to Reduce Disparities in Hypertension (CHORD) through financial incentives for medication adherence - Co-PI (State of Pennsylvania); Financial Incentives for Smoking Cessation - PI (CDC); Impact of Work Hour Rules on Errors and Quality - PI (VA HSR&D and NHLBI); Financial Incentives for Weight Loss (USDA, Hewlett Foundation, NIA) )

Academic Positions Held
Wharton: 2002-present. University of Pennsylania: 2001-present (Senior Fellow, Leonard Davis Insititute, 2001-present). Previous appointments: VA Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion, 2001-present; Harvard Medical School, 1998-2001

Other Positions
Attending Physician, Philadelphia Veterans Medical Center, 2001-present; Brigham and Women's Hospital/Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates: Intern in Internal Medicine, 1998-1999, Resident in Internal Medicine, 1998-2001

Career and Recent Professional Awards; Teaching Awards
Association of Public Policy Analysis and Management Ph.D. Dissertation Award for best public policy dissertation in United States, 1998; Doris Duke Clinical Scientist Development Awardee, 2002-present; Veterans Administration Health Services Research & Development Career Development Awardee, 2003-2006; Outstanding abstract citation at Academy Health Annual Research Meeting (with Meena Seshamani, 2004; with David Song, 2005; with Jalpa Doshi, 2006; with Amol Navathe, 2007); Presidential Early Career Scientist Award (PECASE), 2005, highest honor given by the US government to early career scientists; Outstanding Junior Faculty Member of the Year, Society of General Internal Medicine, 2006; John Thompson Prize for Young Investigators, Association of University Programs in Health Administration, 2006; Alice S. Hersh New Investigator Award, Academy Health, 2007; "Best Paper Award", AcademyHealth National Meeting, 2007 (top 3 of about 1700 abstracts presented)

Corporate and Public Sector Leadership 2003-2007
Chair, Subcommittee on Designing Innovations in Work Environments for Physicians in Training and Member, ACGME Committee on Improving the Learning Environment (CILE); SGIM National External Funding Committee and Article of the Year Committee; CDC Health and Productivity Measurement Tools Expert Panel; University of Pennsylvania TTURC Clinical Integration Workshop Advisory Committee; AHRQ Advisory Panel on Future Design of Administrative Databases; Center for Global Development, Working Group on Performance-Based Incentives, Gates Foundation Policy Research Network; Editorial Board, Medical Care Research and Review; Advisory Board, VA Health Economics Research Center (HERC)

Representative Publications
(with A.K. Rosen, P.R. Rosenbaum, P.Ss Romano, O. Even-Shoshan, A. Canamucio, L. Bellini, T. Behringer, Y. Wang, J.H. Silber)
"Mortality Among Hospitalized Medicare Beneficiaries in the First Two Years Following ACGME Resident Duty Hour Reform." JAMA 298(9):975-83 (2007).

(with G. Loewenstein and T. Brennan)
"Asymmetric Paternalism to Improve Health Behaviors." JAMA 298(20):2415-2417 (2007).

(with A.K. Rosen, P.R. Rosenbaum, P.S. Romano, O. Even-Shoshan, L. Bellini, T. Behringer, A. Canamucio, J.H. Silber)
"Mortality Among Patients in VA Hospitals in the First Two Years Following ACGME Resident Duty Hour Reform." JAMA 298(9):984-92 (2007).

(with A. Gurmankin, A. Gomez, D.A. Asch, J.A. Berlin, J.J. Murphy, J. Zhu, and C. Lerman)
"A Randomized Controlled Trial of Financial Incentives for Smoking Cessation." Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers, and Prevention 15(1):12-8 (2006).

(with J. Ketcham, A. Epstein, and S.V. Williams)
"Effect of Price Competition and Reduced Subsidies for Uncompensated Care on Quality of Care." Health Services Research 2005 40(4):1056-77.

(with J. Waldfogel, S.V. Williams, J.H. Silber, J.S. Schwartz, and M.V.Pauly)
"Market Reform in New Jersey and the Effect on Mortality from Acute Myocardial Infarction." Health Services Research 38(2): 515-533 (2003).

(with D. Grande)
"Within the Black Box: Suggestions for Reducing Errors in Teaching Hospitals." New England Journal of Medicine 348(9):851-855 (2003).