top of page

Joshua M. Liao, MD, MSc

Josh1 (1).jpg

Dr. Liao is an internal medicine physician at the University of Washington. He is an Associate Professor and the Associate Chair for Health Systems in the Department of Medicine in the UW School of Medicine, as well as the Medical Director of Payment Strategy at UW Medicine. He is an an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Health Systems and Population Health in the UW School of Public Health.

He completed medical school at Baylor College of medicine and trained in internal medicine at Brigham & Women’s Hospital where he was also a Clinical Fellow in Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics in the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. 

 

Dr. Liao has committed his career to improving health care payment and delivery. He works on this mission in several ways, including care delivery system change, scholarship and evaluation, and policy. He provides recommendations about payment models to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services through service on the Physician-Focused Payment Model Technical Advisory Committee (PTAC). Dr. Liao also serves on national committees for the American College of Physicians and a payment advisory group for the American Academy of Family Physicians. 

Dr. Liao presented at a PTAC Public Meeting about Advancing Equity Through Alternative Payment Models (September 2021; presentation starts at the 44:31 mark)

Dr. Liao has worked with state Medicaid programs on payment and delivery policy issues.  Previously, he was an advisor to the American Medical Association's RVU Update Committee (RUC), which provides recommendations to Medicare about how to value physician work when setting payment rates.

His scholarship focuses on how systems of financing and delivering care work together with human behavior to affect health outcomes. Equity in payment and care delivery redesign is a key focus of this portfolio, which spans federally funded grants, collaborations, and advocacy work. For instance, Dr. Liao spearheads Health Equity Conversations,  a limited series featuring the work of people and groups working to improve equity through payment and other systems change.

He has published 300+ articles, including over 180 in peer-reviewed medical journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, the Lancet, the Journal of the American Medical Association, Health Affairs, the Annals of internal Medicine, and the British Medical Journal.

 

Dr. Liao has given over 75 national and international presentations in a range of clinical, policy, and practice transformation forums. His ideas and insights have appeared in outlets such as the Washington Post, Forbes, STAT, the Boston Globe, NPR, Harvard Business Review, the Seattle Times, and the Philadelphia Inquirer. He has been interviewed for a number of national publications, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, NPR, and the Hill.

Experience

Physician-Focused Payment Model Technical Advisory Committee

US Department of Health & Human Services

RUC Advisory Committee

American Medical Association

Health Care Cost Transparency Board Data Advisory Committee 

Washington Health Care Authority

Medical Director of Payment Strategy 

UW Medicine

​Coding & Payment Policy Subcommittee

American College of Physicians

Adjunct Senior Fellow 

Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics

In the News

What is the hygiene hypothesis? An explainer: HealthLink

King 5 NBC

Public Health Emergency ends — So does Medicaid automatic re-enrollment

Northwest Asian Weekly

In Conversation: Joshua Liao MD, Thought Leader & Podcast Host

ActivateCare

Expert Panel: Radiologists with MBAs Weigh In on Private Equity's Entree Into Imaging

Radiology Business

End of COVID-19 emergency: Be prepared

Northwest Asian Weekly

What is Health Equity and Why Does It Matter?

AccessOne

Can Amazon change healthcare? Experts sound off on tech giant's $3.9B deal to buy One Medical

GeekWire

Where is Radiology with Pay-for-Performance Now? 3 Expert Takes

Radiology Business

Hospitals in Low-Income Communities Less Likely to Participate in Bundled Payment Programs

News Medical

Is Mandatory Participation in Medicare Demonstrations Necessary?

Health Affairs Forefront

Overcoming Barriers to Health Equity

Medical Economics

Quality Talks Inspire with Compelling Stories, Big Ideas

National Committee for Quality Assurance

5 Steps Payers Should Take When Developing Value-Based Care Plans To Ensure Health Equity

Becker's Payer Issues

Dr. Joshua Liao & the Value-Based Bridge to Health Equity

Inside Health Care

National Committee for Quality Assurance

National Mask Mandate on Public Transportation Extended Until May 3

KOMO News ABC

Some Still Hesitant About Dropping COVID Safety Protocols

KOMO News ABC

Unvaccinated Face Greater Risk for Financial Ruin

Northwest Asian Weekly

Double Diagnosis Worries Doctors Across the Sound

Kiro 7 CBS

Improving HCV Treatment and Screening in Primary Care

ACP Internist

Health Systems Science & Physician Payment Models

Leading the Rounds

Designing Healthcare Payment Equity

Design Lab Podcast

Biden's CMMI Signals New Value-Based Payment Priorities

Modern Healthcare

Your Questions about the COVID-19 Vaccine, Answered

Detroit Free Press

How To Pay For Equitable Outcomes

Modern Healthcare

Got Milk Crates? Why People do Stupid, Dangerous Viral #Challenges

Forbes

CMS Needs to Get Beneficiaries Involved in Value-Based Care, Experts Say

Modern Healthcare

Surgical Precision

Foster Business Magazine

Pfizer Vaccine Receives Full FDA Approval, Washington Celebrates

Patch

Indoor Mask Mandate Set to Return as FDA Nears Approval for Pfizer's COVID-19 Vaccine

KOMO News ABC

Hesitancy in the Age of COVID-19

Northwest Asian Weekly

Breakthrough COVID-19 Cases are Growing, Though Still Rare -- Here's What One Spoken Woman Experience

The Spokesman-Review

Job Seekers Face Dramatic 5,000% Increase in Covid-19 Vaccination Requirements Since January

Forbes

The Ethics and Equity Questions of Vaccine Passports

Northwest Asian Weekly

Coping with Anxiety as Kids Go Back to In Person Learning

Q13 Fox

See Mask Guidance and Mandates in Each State

The New York Times

Maryland Gave Away $2 Million to Boost Vaccinations. Did it Work?

The Washington Post

Here's Where You Should Wear a Mask Indoors Under New CDC Guidance

The Hill

Vaccine Incentives: Are Free Doughnuts and Beer the Right Way to Tackle Vaccine Hesitancy?

Smart Company

Toward Equity in Value Assessment: Paths Forward

Innovation and Value Initiative

Doctor Says More Than Mandates Needed To Encourage COVID Vaccinations

KOMO News ABC

CDC Backtracks with New Mask Guidance

The Hill

Study Finds No Spending Difference Between Voluntary, Mandated Bundled Payment Programs

Managed Healthcare Executive

Young US Adults Among Those with Lowest COVID Vaccination Coverage

MyNorthwest

Oregon Now the Most Restrictive State on West Coast When It Comes to Mask Rules

KATU2 ABC

"Innovation" is One of Those Words that Sucks Up All the Oxygen (Pt 2)

Buoy Health

We Need Health Care Models that Pay for Equity, Not Just "Pay for Performance"

The Lown Institute

Will Masks Stick Around Even After the Pandemic Ends?

KATU2 ABC

"Innovation" is One of Those Words that Sucks Up All the Oxygen (Pt 1)

Buoy Health

Understanding Spending Patterns Among Safety-Net Hospitals

First Report Managed Care

Radiology practices must become agile to navigate future COVID-19 peaks and valleys

HealthImaging

Direct Contracting Favors New Entrants Over Existing ACOs

Modern Healthcare

Shifting payer mix due to COVID-19 putting pressure on radiology practice margins

Radiology Business

Physician viewpoint: COVID-19 visitor restrictions may hurt more than they help

Becker's Hospital Review

3 strategic tips for radiology practices to emerge stronger from the pandemic

HealthImaging

Bundled Payments for Joint Replacements Saved Medicare Money — with No Quality Declines

Skilled Nursing News

To Home or SNF? Few Tools and Competing Incentives Make Discharge Decisions Challenging

ACP Hospitalist

A "Nudge" in the Right Direction Can Improve Imaging-based Cancer Screening
Radiology Business

Calls Mount for CMS to Address​ Problem of Patient Overlap Across Payment Models

Modern Healthcare

More Than 15 Percent of Providers Depart BPCI Advanced

Healthcare Financial Management Association

Medicare's Value-Based Effort Will Include Specialists

Managed Care 

"Dear Doctor" Letters Use Peer Pressure, Government Warning to Stop Overprescribing

National Public Radio

When Radiologists Speak Up, Follow-Up Imaging Improves

Healthcare Business News

Vitals in Redesigning Veterans' Healthcare

UW Medicine Newsroom

How a Drugmaker Turned the Abortion Pill into a Rare-Disease Profit Machine

The Washington Post

How to Unpack the New Bundled Payment Models from CMS

Burroughs HCN

Survey Results Show Risk is in the Eye of the Beholder

Modern Healthcare

This All Comes Down to Chickens (iTunes Podcast)

UW Transformer

What Works: With MIPS We Just Don't Know Yet

Managed Care

What is MIPS? 60% of Doctors Aren't Familiar with Medicare Payment System

Fierce Healthcare

Market Trends in Bundled Payments

American Hospital Association

Medicare Incentives Could Harm Patient Care

Technology.Org

ASQNL

bottom of page