Anil Makam, MD, MAS

Assistant Professor

Anil Makam, MD, MAS, is an academic hospital medicine physician and a health services researcher. His research is at the intersection of geriatrics, hospital medicine, and post-acute care, specifically focusing on the role of long-term acute care hospitals (LTACs). His research interest stemmed from his simple observation that Dallas had many LTACs whereas San Francisco had very few, yet he cared for similarly sick and frail hospitalized older adults in both places. His research is funded by an NIA GEMSSTAR grant (2016-2018) and an NIA K23 Career Development Award (2016-2021). Dr. Makam applies health services research and epidemiological methods using Medicare claims, EHR data, and prospective observational cohort data to examine predictors and variation in LTAC use, comparative effectiveness of the LTAC model of care versus alternative care settings, and patterns of recovery for older adults transferred to LTACs.

Dr. Makam is also deeply passionate about evidence-based medicine and critical appraisal of the clinical scientific literature. He published his framework for the practice of EBM in a State-of-the-Art Review article in Circulation. He has also published a number of studies on EBM, high value care, and overuse of common medical practices. Prior to joining the faculty at UCSF, he has had extensive experience teaching EBM and critical appraisal to trainees and faculty.

Dr. Makam’s research has been published in leading medical journals, including JAMA, JAMA Internal Medicine, Circulation, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, BMJ Quality & Safety, Journal of General Internal Medicine, and the Journal of Hospital Medicine; has been cited by the Institute of Medicine and Wikipedia articles; and has been featured in prominent news outlets, including NPR. He has received several research awards, including the New Investigator Award in 2018 by the American Geriatrics Society. He is Co-Director of Academic Development & Research for the Division of Hospital Medicine at Chan Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. Nationally, he is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Hospital Medicine. Lastly, he has an active presence on Twitter.
Education
MAS, 2013 - Clinical Research, UCSF
Fellowship, 2013 - Primary Care Research Fellowship, UCSF
Residency, 2010 - Internal Medicine, UT Southwestern
MD, 2007 - Medicine, Drexel University College of Medicine
BS, 2003 - Biochemistry, Lehigh University
Honors and Awards
  • New Investigator Award, American Geriatrics Society, 2018
  • (mentor) Research, Innovation, Vignettes (RIV) Competition Honorable Mention in Innovation, Society of Hospital Medicine Annual Conference, 2018
  • (mentor) Housestaff Research Award Honorable Mention, Hopkins GIM Housestaff Research National Competition, 2017
  • Behavioral Health & Health Services Research Abstract Scholarship, American Thoracic Society, 2016
  • NIH Loan Repayment Program Award, NHLBI, 2014-2018
  • KL2 Clinical and Translational Research Scholar, UT Southwestern Medical Center; NIH/NCATS, 2014-2016
  • Hamolsky Junior Faculty Research Award Finalist (not awarded), SGIM Annual Meeting, 2014
  • Best Research Poster, California-Hawaii Regional SGIM Annual Meeting, 2013
  • Lipkin Award Finalist (not awarded), SGIM Annual Meeting, 2013
  • Best Oral Presentation by Jr. Investigator, Bay Area Clinical Research Symposium, 2012
Publications
  1. The Clinical Course after Long-Term Acute Care Hospital Admission among Older Medicare Beneficiaries.
  2. Evidence-Based Medicine and the American Thoracic Society Guidelines-Reply.
  3. Improving Respiratory Rate Accuracy in the Hospital: A Quality Improvement Initiative.
  4. Comparison of Scheduled vs Emergency-Only Dialysis in Undocumented Immigrants With End-stage Renal Disease-Reply.
  5. Utility of Blood Cultures in Pneumonia.
  6. Evidence-Based Medicine and the American Thoracic Society Clinical Practice Guidelines.
  7. Association of Scheduled vs Emergency-Only Dialysis With Health Outcomes and Costs in Undocumented Immigrants With End-stage Renal Disease.
  8. Effect of Site-Neutral Payment Policy on Long-Term Acute Care Hospital Use.
  9. Long-Term Acute Care Hospital Use of Non-Mechanically Ventilated Hospitalized Older Adults.
  10. Shortcomings of Research Regarding Long-term Acute Care Hospitals and Skilled Nursing Facilities-Reply.
  11. Predicting 30-Day Hospital Readmissions in Acute Myocardial Infarction: The AMI "READMITS" (Renal Function, Elevated Brain Natriuretic Peptide, Age, Diabetes Mellitus, Nonmale Sex, Intervention with Timely Percutaneous Coronary Intervention, and Low Systo
  12. The Influence of Financial Strain on Health Decision-Making.
  13. Factors Associated With Variation in Long-term Acute Care Hospital vs Skilled Nursing Facility Use Among Hospitalized Older Adults.
  14. Acute Myocardial Infarction Readmission Risk Prediction Models: A Systematic Review of Model Performance.
  15. A Depressing Diagnostic Error.
  16. What Are the Opportunity Costs of Self-Financing Medical Education?
  17. Roadmap for improving the accuracy of respiratory rate measurements.
  18. Is everyone really breathing 20 times a minute? Assessing epidemiology and variation in recorded respiratory rate in hospitalised adults.
  19. Incidence, Predictors, and Outcomes of Hospital-Acquired Anemia.
  20. Predicting 30-Day Pneumonia Readmissions Using Electronic Health Record Data.
  21. An Evidence-Based Medicine Approach to Antihyperglycemic Therapy in Diabetes Mellitus to Overcome Overtreatment.
  22. Predicting the Risk of Readmission in Pneumonia. A Systematic Review of Model Performance.
  23. Vital Signs Are Still Vital: Instability on Discharge and the Risk of Post-Discharge Adverse Outcomes.
  24. Further Limitations of the HOSPITAL Score in US Hospitals.
  25. Clinical Criteria to Identify Patients With Sepsis.
  26. National Use of Safety-Net Clinics for Primary Care among Adults with Non-Medicaid Insurance in the United States.
  27. Predicting all-cause readmissions using electronic health record data from the entire hospitalization: Model development and comparison.
  28. Relationship between hospital financial performance and publicly reported outcomes.
  29. Trends in Long-Term Acute Care Hospital Use in Texas from 2002-2011.
  30. The Diagnostic Cascade of Incidental Findings: A Teachable Moment.
  31. Response to Einhorn and colleagues.
  32. Diagnostic accuracy and effectiveness of automated electronic sepsis alert systems: A systematic review.
  33. Use of cardiac biomarker testing in the emergency department.
  34. Envisioning a social-health information exchange as a platform to support a patient-centered medical neighborhood: a feasibility study.
  35. Risk of thiazide-induced metabolic adverse events in older adults.
  36. Blood culture use in the emergency department in patients hospitalized for community-acquired pneumonia.
  37. Blood culture use in the emergency department in patients hospitalized with respiratory symptoms due to a nonpneumonia illness.
  38. Factors associated with primary vein graft occlusion in a multicenter trial with mandated ultrasound surveillance.
  39. The good, the bad and the early adopters: providers' attitudes about a common, commercial EHR.
  40. Use and satisfaction with key functions of a common commercial electronic health record: a survey of primary care providers.
  41. Identifying patients with diabetes and the earliest date of diagnosis in real time: an electronic health record case-finding algorithm.