Education

University of Minnesota
Ph.D., Health services research, policy, and administration

University of Washington
Master of Arts, Economics

University of Arizona
Bachelor of Arts, Economics

Faculty Bio

Adam Atherly, Ph.D., is an experienced health services research and health economist whose research spans numerous methodological and topical areas, including choice modeling, healthcare spending and expenditure modeling, scale development and psychometric analysis, evaluation of efforts to improve quality of care and patient safety, and cost-effectiveness analysis.  Dr. Atherly has published more than 100 peer review papers and book chapters.  Numerous papers focus on the effect of health on health care spending, including lifetime spending and life expectancy projections for Medicare beneficiaries with and without chronic illnesses and the effect of copayments and other cost sharing on health care spending.  Dr. Atherly has also completed many cost effectiveness studies, on topics ranging from cancer to asthma to Covid-19. His research often focuses on consumer decisions regarding health insurance plan choice, and, more recently, value-based healthcare.

Dr. Atherly is an experienced teacher and has taught courses in health economics, health policy, research methods, cost effectiveness and more at levels ranging from introductory undergraduate courses to doctoral seminars.  Dr. Atherly also has a long-standing collaboration with American University of Armenia, where he has holds an academic appointment and has taught periodic courses for nearly two decades.  Dr. Atherly received his Ph.D. in Health Services Research, Policy and Administration from the University of Minnesota.

Recent Publications

• van den Broek-Altenburg, EM, Atherly A and Holladay E. “Changes in Healthcare Spending Attributable to Obesity: Payer- and Service-Specific Estimates”.  BMC Public Health   2022 May 13;22(1):962. doi: 10.1186/s12889-022-13176-y. PubMed PMID: 35562724; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9101934.
• Yakusheva O, van den Broek-Altenburg EM, Brekke G and Atherly A.  “Lives Saved and Lost in the First Six Month of the US COVID-19 Pandemic: A Retrospective Cost-Benefit Analysis”  PLOS One.  2022;17(1):e0261759. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0261759. eCollection 2022. PubMed PMID: 35061722; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8782469.
• van den Broek-Altenburg EM, Atherly AJ, Cheney, N and Fama, T. “Understanding the Factors that Affect the Appropriateness of Rheumatology Referrals"  BMC Health Services Research  2021 Oct 19;21(1):1124. doi: 10.1186/s12913-021-07036-5. PubMed PMID: 34666756; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8527790.
• Ranney, S., Atherly, A. and Cataldo, P.  “Cost-Drivers of Elective Colon and Rectal Surgery”   Diseases of the Colon & Rectum.  2022 Feb 22;. doi: 10.1097/DCR.0000000000002267. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 35213878.
• van den Broek-Altenburg EM, Atherly AJ, Hess S and Benson, J. “The effect of unobserved preferences and race on vaccination hesitancy for COVID-19 vaccines: implications for health disparities”.  Journal of Managed Care + Specialty Pharmacy Sept 2021; 27 (9a): S4-S13
• van den Broek-Altenburg EM and Atherly AJ. “Adherence to COVID-19 Policy Measures: Behavioral Insights from The Netherlands and Belgium”. PLOS One.  May 28, 2021  https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0250302
• Haddad, Y.K., Luo, F., Bergen, G., Legha, J.K., Atherly, A. Antidepressant subclass Use and Fall Risk in Community-Dwelling Older Americans. Journal of Safety Research. Vol 76; Feb 2021; 332-340; doi.org/10.1016/j.jsr.2020.11.008
• van den Broek-Altenburg EM, Atherly AJ, Diehl SA, Gleason KM, Hart VC, MacLean CD, Barkhuff DA, Levine MA, Carney JK “Jobs, Housing and Mask-Wearing: A Cross-Sectional Study of Risk Factors for COVID-19” JMIR Public Health and Surveillance. 2021;7(1):e24320; DOI: 10.2196/24320  URL: https:// preprints.jmir.org/preprint/24320
• Lester-Coll NH, Ades S, Yu JB, Atherly A, Wallace HJ, Sprague BL. Cost-effectiveness of Prostate Radiation Therapy for Men With Newly Diagnosed Low-Burden Metastatic Prostate Cancer. JAMA Network Open. 2021;4(1):e2033787. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.33787
• Sheahan K., Atherly, A., Dayman, C and Schnure, J.  “The Impact of Diabetology Consultations on Length of Stay in Hospitalized Patients with Diabetes".  Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism Jan;4(1) 2021: e00199. https://doi.org/10.1002/edm2.199
• Atherly, A., van den Broek-Altenburg, E., Hart, V. Gleason, K and Carney, J. “Consumer Reported Care Deferrals Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, and the Role and Potential of Telemedicine: Cross-Sectional Analysis”  Journal of Medical Internet Research: Public Health & Surveillance  2020;6(3):e21607 doi: 10.2196/21607