David Howard is a faculty member in the Department of Health Policy and Management at Emory University. A health economist by training, Dr. Howard studies technological abandonment in medicine. He has conducted a number of studies that examine how results from randomized trials affect treatment patterns, with a focus on trials that find that widely-used treatments are ineffective. He is also studying the impact of payment policies, the False Claims Act, and mandatory shared decision making on treatment patterns and overuse. Dr. Howard received his doctorate in health policy from Harvard University in 2000.
Contact information: Department of Health Policy and Management, Emory University, Grace Crum Rollins Building, Room 656, 1518 Clifton Road NE, Atlanta, GA 30322. The Grace Crum Rollins Building is the one with the twisty columns on the outside. (404) 727-3907, david dot howard at emory dot edu.
Twitter: @CostAnEffect
Representative publications
Howard DH, McCarthy I. Deterrence effects of antifraud and abuse enforcement in health care. Journal of Health Economics 2021;75;102405.
Howard DH, Torres M. Alternative payment for radiation oncology. Journal of the American Medical Association 2019;322(19):1859-1860.
Howard DH. False Claims Act liability for overtreatment. Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law. 2020;45(3):419-437.
Torres MA, Gogineni K, Howard DH. Intensity-modulated radiation therapy in breast cancer patients following the release of a Choosing Wisely recommendation. Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Forthcoming. Reuters writeup
Howard DH, Hockenberry J. Physician age and the abandonment of episiotomy. Health Services Research 2019;54(3):650-657.
Howard DH, David G, Hockenberry J. Selective hearing: physician-ownership and physicians’ response to new evidence. Journal of Economics and Management Strategy 2017; 26(1):152-168.
Howard DH, Soulos PR, Chagpar AB, Mougalian S, Killelea B, Gross CP. Contrary to conventional wisdom, physicians abandoned a breast cancer treatment after a trial concluded it was ineffective. Health Affairs 2016;35(7):1309-1315.
Howard DH, Brophy R, Howell S. Evidence of no benefit from knee surgery for osteoarthritis led to coverage changes and is linked to decline in procedures. Health Affairs 2012;31(10):2242-2249.
Howard DH, Bach P, Berndt ER, Conti R. Pricing in the market for anticancer drugs. Journal of Economic Perspectives 2015;29(1):139-162.
Current projects
Unnecessary Inpatient Admissions at For-Profit Hospital Chains (with Guy David). https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3964725
Hospice admissions, health, and spending (with Jason Leder-Luis, Jonathan Gruber)