O'Grady

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Health Policy, LLC

Michael J. O’Grady, Ph.D. is a Principal at O’Grady Health Policy LLC, a private health consulting firm.  At O’Grady Health Policy Inc. he concentrates on strategic research, consulting and analysis for a range of both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations.  This research includes the development of new modeling and methods for improving the federal budget process by introducing the latest disease-based epidemiological modeling into budget estimates for health prevention and effective treatment of chronic illness, particularly diabetes and obesity. His work primarily focuses on in Medicare, Medicaid, the uninsured and other emerging health policy issues.

Part of Dr. O’Grady’s work has involved service beyond specific research projects. This includes providing congressional testimony, serving on the Board of Scientific Counselors at the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics and numerous speeches, guest lectures and other public events.

Dr. O'Grady is also a Senior Fellow at the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago. At NORC, he concentrates on health policy research and analysis for public and private non-profit organizations. His research includes serving as principal investigator for the cost-effective component of a multi-year clinical trial. The trial is part of the development of an artificial pancreas for the treatment of diabetes. Other work at NORC included the development of policy options for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for new developments in health insurance benefit design and cost sharing.

He is a veteran health policy expert with 24 years working in Congress and the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). 

From 2003 to 2005, Dr. O’Grady was DHHS Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, where he directed both the policy development and policy research across the full array of issues confronting the Department, including representing HHS at the health meetings of the OECD. During his tenure there he increased the quality and rigor of the Department’s research and analysis significantly, providing rapid and critical analysis of legislative and regulatory proposals.  He consulted extensively with Members of Congress and their staffs, media, consumer groups, patient and provider groups on public health issues and was often called in by the Secretary and/or the White House to develop innovative proposals on highly controversial and technical issues and to drive consensus.  

Prior to his Senate confirmation as the Assistant Secretary, Dr. O’Grady served as the Senior Health Economist on the majority staff of the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress.  At the Committee, his work focused primarily on Medicare reform, the uninsured and other national health issues.   He previously was a Senior Research Director at Project Hope’s Center for Health Affairs, where his work focused on Medicare reform issues.

For several years, Dr. O’Grady was a Senior Health Adviser to the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.  In this position, he designed the Senate versions of key portions of the Balanced Budget Refinement Act of 1999 (BBRA) and the Beneficiary Improvement and Protection Act of 2000 (BIPA), e.g., Medicare+Choice and Medicare covered drugs.  In the final rounds of the Senate/House/White House negotiations, Dr. O’Grady developed compromise provisions resulting in the successful passage of legislation permitting Medicare beneficiaries their first opportunity to enjoy cash rebates on their Medicare HMO premiums.  

Before joining the staff of the Senate Finance Committee, Dr. O’Grady was a senior analyst for the Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare (Breaux/Thomas), the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), and the Physician Payment Review Commission (PPRC).  He also spent many years with the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress and the Office for Civil Rights in both the Department of Health Education and Welfare and the Department of Education.  At CRS, he developed econometric and actuarial models of social legislation including reform of the federal employee pension system. 

Throughout his career, Dr. O’Grady has worked shaped significant health care legislation and a broad spectrum of reimbursement issues.  He has been instrumental in the development of key Federal policy and programs tackling some of the most complex and controversial health issues facing the county. 

He holds a doctorate in Political Science from the University of Rochester. 

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