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JOSHUA LIAO

Joshua Liao is an internationally recognized health policy expert and Professor and Distinguished Chair at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. There, he leads clinical care, education, and research in the Division of General Internal Medicine as well as clinical and translational research methods across campus. Dr. Liao founded and leads PROPEL.

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Joshua Liao, MD, MSc, is an internal medicine physician at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW). He is a Professor with Tenure and the Walter Family Distinguished Chair in Internal Medicine. At UTSW, he also serves as the Director of Research Methods for the Clinical and Translational Science Award. He also holds faculty appointments at the University of Washington and the University of Arizona.

 

Dr. Liao earned degrees magna cum laude in English Literature and Biochemistry from Rice University, where he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, and his medical degree cum laude from Baylor College of medicine, where he was inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha and the Gold Humanism Honor Society. Dr. Liao trained in internal medicine at Brigham & Women’s Hospital where he was also a Clinical Fellow in Medicine at Harvard Medical School and completed the Management and Leadership Track. He obtained his policy and evaluation training from the University of Pennsylvania. 

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Dr. Liao has committed his career to improving health care payment and care delivery. He works on this mission in several ways, including delivery system redesign, scholarship, and policy evaluation. Prior to UTSW, he served as Associate Chair for Health Systems in the Department of Medicine and Enterprise Medical Director of Payment Strategy at the University of Washington, with an appointment in the Department of Health Systems and Population Health within the School of Public Health. In Washington, he founded a nationally recognized policy evaluation unit that became the formal evaluation partner for the Washington Health Care Authority, the largest purchaser of health care services in that state. In that work, Dr. Liao has conducted evaluations and analysis to inform decision-makers on health care issues including primary care delivery and telemedicine.

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A leading national and international leader in health systems, policy, and care delivery, Dr. Liao has provided recommendations on these topics to the US Congress through service on the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, and to the Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services through service on the Physician-Focused Payment Model Technical Advisory Committee. He is the first person in history to serve simultaneously on both expert groups.

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Dr. Liao has also served as an expert on funding and accountability issues as part of the National Academy of Medicine’s Commission on Investment Imperatives for a Healthy Nation. He has participated on national advisories for the American College of Physicians, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Medical Association's RVU Update Committee, and advised state policymakers on payment and delivery policy issues.

 

His scholarship focuses on how systems of financing and delivering care work together to improve patient and population outcomes, with experience leading grants and evaluations totaling over $15 million in direct funding.

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Dr. Liao has published over 360 articles, including 230 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. He has given over 80 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. Dr. Liao has been interviewed for a number of national publications, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, NPR, and the Hill. 

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IMPROVING HEALTH SYSTEMS

Dr. Liao has committed his career to improving health by improving health systems. In 2024, he poured his experience and expertise into Reshaping Health Systems: What Drives Health Care and How You Can Change It, a volume that uses a case-based format to impart foundational health systems knowledge and skills in ways that are intuitive, enjoyable, and accessible for clinicians and health system leaders alike.











The book is divided into two parts. Part I follows the journey of a patient navigating systems factors that influence her care across care settings. Part II follows the journey of a clinician working to improve care delivery using “systems solutions” from fields such as quality improvement, design thinking, change management, and implementation science.

National health care leaders have lauded the book for "masterfully [covering] both knowledge and skills" as a resource that "should be essential reading for anyone who wants to understand and improve the health care system." 

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EXPERIENCE

Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
Independent ​Congressional agency (est. Balanced Budget Act of 1997)
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Physician-Focused Payment Model Technical Advisory Committee

US Department of Health & Human Services

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Commission on Investment Imperatives for a Healthy Nation

National Academy of Medicine

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​Coding & Payment Policy Subcommittee

American College of Physicians

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Adjunct Senior Fellow 

Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics

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RUC Advisory Committee

American Medical Association

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Medical Practice and Quality Committee

American College of Physicians

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Health Care Cost Transparency Board Data Advisory Committee 

Washington Health Care Authority

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Medical Director of Payment Strategy 

UW Medicine

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Associate Medical Director of Contracting and Value-Based Care

UW Medicine

IN THE NEWS

Center Times

King 5 NBC

King 5 NBC

Northwest AsianWeekly

ActivateCare

Radiology Business


Northwest AsianWeekly

AccessOne

GeekWire



Radiology Business

News Medical


Health Affairs Forefront

Medical Economics

National Committee for Quality Assurance 

Becker's Payers Issues


Inside Health Care


ACP Internist

Leading the Rounds

Design Lab Podcast

Modern Healthcare

Modern Healthcare

Forbes

Modern Healthcare

 


Foster Business Magazine

Managed Healthcare Executive

Buoy Health

The Lown Institute

 


Buoy Health

First Report Managed Care
 

HealthImaging

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Modern Healthcare

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Radiology Business

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Becker's Hospital Review

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HealthImaging

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Skilled Nursing News

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ACP Hospitalist

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Radiology Business

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Modern Healthcare

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Healthcare Financial Management Association

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Managed Care 

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National Public Radio

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Healthcare Business News

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UW Medicine Newsroom

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The Washington Post

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Burroughs HCN

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Modern Healthcare

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Managed Care

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Fierce Healthcare

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American Hospital Association

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Technology.Org

UT Southwestern Professor named to national Medicare advisory board

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What works and doesn't work to help cure a hangover: HealthLink

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What is the hygiene hypothesis? An explainer: HealthLink

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

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

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

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End of COVID-19 emergency: Be prepared

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What is Health Equity and Why Does It Matter?

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

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

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

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Is Mandatory Participation in Medicare Demonstrations Necessary?

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Overcoming Barriers to Health Equity

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Quality Talks Inspire with Compelling Stories, Big Ideas

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

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

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Improving HCV Treatment and Screening in Primary Care​

 

Health Systems Science & Physician Payment Models​

 

Designing Healthcare Payment Equity

 

Biden's CMMI Signals New Value-Based Payment Priorities​​

 

How To Pay For Equitable Outcomes​

 

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

 

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

 

Surgical Precision​

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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Understanding Spending Patterns Among Safety-Net Hospitals​

 

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

 

Direct Contracting Favors New Entrants Over Existing ACOs

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

More Than 15 Percent of Providers Depart BPCI Advanced​

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Medicare's Value-Based Effort Will Include Specialists​

 

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

 

When Radiologists Speak Up, Follow-Up Imaging Improves​

 

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Vitals in Redesigning Veterans' Healthcare​

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

 

How to Unpack the New Bundled Payment Models from CMS

 

Survey Results Show Risk is in the Eye of the Beholder​

 

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

 

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

 

Market Trends in Bundled Payments​

 

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Medicare Incentives Could Harm Patient Care

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© 2025 Program on Policy Evaluation and Learning

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