Alan P. Sager, PhD
Professor
Boston University School of Public Health
Health Law, Policy & Management

PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MEd, University of Miami
BA, Brandeis University



Alan Sager specialized in health in graduate school because it looked like the easiest sector in which to win affordable equity for all Americans since so much money was already spent on medical care. (Not easy-just easier than anything else.) His main interests are health reform--combining universal coverage with cost control, and improving both finance and delivery; preserving needed physician, hospital, and long-term care services; boosting the supply of primary care; and winning affordable prescription drug prices while incentivizing innovative pharmaceutical research.  He has studied causes and effects of urban hospital closings, finding a strong and persistent link between race of the people living near a hospital and the probability of closing. Hospital efficiency doesn't predicts survival. Alan designed a "time banking" method of mobilizing voluntary help for people with disabilities. By creating a market for good deeds, it allows volunteers to help others when convenient. Time would be banked.  Former volunteers who themselves needed help could trade their banked time for help from a new volunteer. Alan holds a B.A. in economics from Brandeis and a Ph.D. in city and regional planning (specializing in health care) from MIT.
Alan Sager is writing a book titled The Easiest: Affordable High-quality Health Care Is the Easiest Problem to Fix in the United States.
Available at no charge, it is being posted chapter-by-chapter on https://www.healthreformprogram.info


Access and Affordability Monitoring Project
01/01/2000 - 12/31/2001 (PI)
Boston Foundation, The

Direct to Consumer Advertising of Prescription Drugs on Patient Caregiver Relationships
01/01/2000 - 06/30/2001 (PI)
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Access and Affordability Monitoring Project
01/01/2000 - 12/31/2000 (PI)
New England Financial

Evidence for Health Care Equity and Cost Control
01/01/2000 - 12/31/2000 (PI)
Boston Globe Foundation



Title


Yr Title Project-Sub Proj Pubs

Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing publications. Faculty can login to make corrections and additions.

iCite Analysis       Copy PMIDs To Clipboard

  1. Alan Sager. The Easiest - Chapter 1 - How the United States Won Affordable Health Care for All - A Letter from 2035. 2025. View Publication
  2. Alan Sager. The Easiest: Affordable High-quality Health Care for All Is the Easiest Problem to Fix in the United States. 2025; i - xxv. View Publication
  3. Vasudevan A, Bailey HM, Sager A, Kazis LE. Impact of the Early COVID-19 Pandemic on Burn Care: A Multi-National Study. J Burn Care Res. 2023 May 02; 44(3):580-589.View Related Profiles. PMID: 35661890; PMCID: PMC9214119; DOI: 10.1093/jbcr/irac076;
     
  4. Marc A. Rodwin and Alan Sager. The No Surprises Act: A Conservative Band-Aid to Protect Business as Usual. International Journal of Social Determinants of Health and Health Services. 2023; 53(1):63-68. View Publication
  5. Kazis LE, Sager A, Bailey HM, Vasudevan A, Garrity B, Tompkins RG. Physical Rehabilitation and Mental Health Care After Burn Injury: A Multinational Study. J Burn Care Res. 2022 Jul 01; 43(4):868-879.View Related Profiles. PMID: 34788851
     
  6. Kazis LE, Sager A, Bailey HM, Vasudevan A, Garrity B, Tompkins RG. Erratum to: Physical Rehabilitation and Mental Health Care After Burn Injury: A Multinational Study. J Burn Care Res. 2022 May 17; 43(3):758.View Related Profiles. PMID: 35032165
     
  7. Wilkinson GW, Sager A, Selig S, Antonelli R, Morton S, Hirsch G, Lee CR, Ortiz A, Fox D, Lupi MV, Acuff C, Wachman M. No Equity, No Triple Aim: Strategic Proposals to Advance Health Equity in a Volatile Policy Environment. Am J Public Health. 2017 Dec; 107(S3):S223-S228. PMID: 29236539; PMCID: PMC5732569; DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2017.304000;
     
  8. Sager A. Favorable View of Mass. Health Costs Undone by the Data. The Boston Globe. 2016. View Publication
  9. Sager A. Testimony on Proposed Revisions in Massachusetts Determination of Need Regulations, 105 CMR 100.000 - 100.825. Alan Sager. Boston, Mass. 2016. View Publication
  10. Sager A. It's Time to Confront the Drug Makers. Democracy. 2016. View Publication
Showing 10 of 66 results. Show More

This graph shows the total number of publications by year, by first, middle/unknown, or last author.

Bar chart showing 65 publications over 29 distinct years, with a maximum of 8 publications in 2005

YearPublications
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19833
19882
19891
19911
19922
19931
19971
20001
20026
20035
20042
20058
20064
20073
20081
20091
20102
20111
20121
20131
20151
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20171
20222
20232
20252


Recent (within 3 months)

Primary care in crisis: A plan in Massachusetts to fix the problem, but some are skeptical

Worcester Telegram and Gazette 6/24/2025

What’s the Price Outlook for Weight-Loss Drugs?

MSN 5/27/2025

Baystate Health CEO accused of plagiarism amid company’s financial struggles

Boston Globe 5/15/2025

Trump's order on US drug prices: What's in it, and will it work?

BBC News 5/12/2025

What’s in it, and will it work?

Business and America 5/12/2025

Older

‘We’ve been hit by a wave’: Mass General Brigham loses millions in medical research grants under Trump cuts

Boston Globe 4/1/2025

Four concrete ways Massachusetts can lower health care costs

Boston Globe 3/18/2025

Health care spending in Massachusetts soared in 2023. Here’s what’s to blame

Boston Globe 3/12/2025

Softened reports. Lax oversight. How state officials enabled Steward’s rise and fall.

Boston Globe 12/16/2024

Some patients are paying up to $50,000 per year in fees for ‘concierge medicine.’ Here’s what’s behind its rise.

Boston Globe 11/15/2024

No Surprises Act: Private Equity Scores Big in Arbitrations

Medscape 8/23/2024

Steward Health works on deals for Mass. hospitals ahead of bankruptcy hearing

WBUR 7/29/2024

Herbert Pardes, Who Steered the Growth of a Giant Hospital, Dies at 89

New York Times 5/9/2024

New Biden initiative targets controversial hospital ‘facility fees’ that often surprise patients

STAT 7/10/2023

Hospitals face rough waters from high costs

Axios 5/1/2023

MetroHealth trustees misled but not negligent in Akram Boutros’ unauthorized payments, board VP says

Cleveland.com 12/9/2022

How the Inflation Reduction Act Will Affect Healthcare Costs—Especially for Medicare Beneficiaries

Health 8/19/2022

Hospitals furloughed and laid off hundreds. Some executives still saw pay increases.

The Boston Globe 8/17/2022

Readers and Tweeters Go to the Mat on Abortion Rights and Perceived Wrongs

Kaiser Health Network 6/2/2022

Downsized City Sees Its Health Care Downsized as Hospital Awaits Demolition

Kaiser Health Network 5/2/2022

In Hammond, historic hospital awaits demolition amid changes in health care

Chicago Sun Times 4/29/2022

The pandemic rocked this small hospital in a mostly Black suburb. Now it’s trying to grow.

The Washington Post 6/21/2021

Orange County Hospital Seeks Divorce From Large Catholic Health System

US News 4/8/2021

Her Doctor's Office Moved 1 Floor Up. Why Did Her Treatment Cost 10 Times More?

NPR 3/26/2021

Drug Patent Database Revamp Falls Short of Tackling High Costs

Bloomberg 1/8/2021

Indiana public hospital CEOs can keep their multi-million dollar compensation a secret

Indy Star 12/16/2020

Amy Coney Barrett’s Ambivalence Towards Medicare Raises Concerns About a Constitutional Challenge

Newsweek 10/26/2020

Congress must probe performance of health care execs

The Boston Herald 9/14/2020

Sandra Fenwick, CEO of Boston Children’s Hospital, plans to retire in March

The Boston Globe 9/9/2020

With virus cases soaring, closed hospitals become a precious source of beds

The Washington Post 3/27/2020

Here’s what crushed it, and what got crushed, in 2019

Boston Business Journal 12/19/2019

Here's what crushed it, and what got crushed, in 2019

Boston Business Journal 12/19/2019

Industry: Medicare Plans of 2020 Democratic Candidates Will Make US ‘Pay More and Wait Longer for Lower-Quality Care’

The Epoch Times 12/16/2019

Surprise Recovery: Five years later, many fears of the closure of Quincy Medical Center haven’t borne out

Boston Business Journal 10/4/2019

Quincy May Soon Be the Largest City in Mass. Without an ER. Then What?

The Patriot Ledger 8/9/2019

Philadelphia Hospital Collapse Highlights Health Care ‘Anarchy’

Bloomberg 7/15/2019

Code Red: The Grim State of Urban Hospitals

U.S. News 7/10/2019

As Partners HealthCare rethinks its strategy, it’s considering whether to change its name

Boston Globe 7/1/2019

Express Scripts’ $25 monthly cap on insulin a ‘smoke screen’

Boston Herald 4/3/2019

Predictions for 2019 from BU Experts

BU Today 1/22/2019

Maura Healey approves hospital merger

Boston Herald 11/30/2018

Trump prescription medication plan drawing skepticism

The Boston Herald 11/3/2018

Justice Department Approves CVS Purchase of Aetna

Boston Herald 10/11/2018

1994-2018 Boston University School of Public Health: 15 teaching awards for 4 different courses
1988 Boston University School of Public Health: Norman A. Scotch Teaching Award
1982 Gerontological Society of America: Fellow
Contact for Mentoring:

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Boston MA 02118
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