Paul Shafer
Profiles

Paul Shafer, PhD

Associate Professor, Health Law, Policy & Management - Boston University School of Public Health

(617) 358-2961
pshafer@bu.edu
Talbot
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Biography

Paul Shafer is an associate professor of health law, policy, and management and co-director of the Medicaid Policy Lab at the Boston University School of Public Health. His research focuses on how health insurance and social safety net policies affect health and equity. As a health economist, he is passionate about generating rigorous, timely, and policy-relevant research to ease administrative burdens, reduce economic deprivation, and improve health. He is also an investigator with the Partnered Evidence-Based Policy Resource Center at the VA Boston Healthcare System where he leads evaluations of policies and delivery innovations aimed at improving veterans access to care and health.

He is a member of the editorial board for Health Services Research and an editorial fellow for Health Affairs Scholar. His research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Commonwealth Fund, and Arnold Ventures among others. His work has been cited by former President Biden, White House, Congress, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Surgeon General, US Preventive Services Task Force, and National Academies along with major news outlets, including the New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, CNN, NBC News, and The Atlantic.

He teaches graduate courses in health policy and econometrics and has been recognized with teaching awards at Boston University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Previously, he served as a research economist at RTI International, junior fellow at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and research fellow at the Office of Personnel Management. He holds a BA and PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MA from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Education

  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, PhD
  • University of North Carolina at Greensboro, MA

Websites

Classes Taught

  • SPHPM807
  • SPHPM822
  • SPHPM844

Publications

  • Published on 12/17/2025

    McCann NC, de Cuba SE, Hofman M, Pauly T, Ashe E, Younossi Y, Stein MD, Shafer PR, Hsu HE. Validation of an Electronic Health Record Algorithm for Identifying Housing-Related Needs in a Safety-Net Health System. Health Serv Res. 2025 Dec 17; e70076. PMID: 41405363.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 12/3/2025

    Gertner A, Easterly CW, DeSilva S, Shafer PR, Lombardi B, Hunt-Harrison T, Nag S, Cholera R, Roubinov D, Gaynes B. Changes in the Proportion of Office-Based Child and Adolescent Physician Visits Addressing Mental Health, 2005-2019. Psychiatr Serv. 2025 Dec 03; appips20240553. PMID: 41331832.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 11/10/2025

    McCann NC, Hsu HE, Ettinger de Cuba S, Frank J, Lange P, Stein MD, Shafer PR. When state Medicaid demonstrations end: projected eligibility loss after a MassHealth housing support program transition. Health Aff Sch. 2025 Nov; 3(11):qxaf213. PMID: 41267910.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 11/10/2025

    Ogden SN, Dichter ME, Major E, Harris MTH, Haley DF, Shafer PR, Clark JA. Women's Perspectives on the Influence of Intimate Partner Violence on Substance Use Disorder Recovery and Associated Service Needs. Womens Health Issues. 2025 Nov 10. PMID: 41219018.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 10/8/2025

    Dorneo A, Pizer SD, Garrido MM, Shafer PR, Frakt AB, Feyman Y. Favorable Selection of Veterans in Medicare Advantage: Risk-Adjusted Cost Differences of Dual Veteran Health Administration Enrollees. Med Care. 2026 Jan 01; 64(1):4-10. PMID: 41065485.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 8/7/2025

    Austin AE, Ettinger de Cuba S, Maierhofer CN, Naumann RB, Chen M, Anderson KN, Shafer PR. Food insufficiency and difficulty affording expenses after the end of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program emergency allotments in the United States among households with and without children. Prev Med. 2025 Oct; 199:108385. PMID: 40783141.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 7/1/2025

    Duffy EW, Poole MK, Gonzalez D, Petimar J, Kinsey EW, Shafer PR, Baldwin-SoRelle C, Austin AE. Beyond Food Assistance: A Scoping Review Examining Associations of Nonfood Social Safety Net Programs in the United States With Food Insecurity and Nutrition Outcomes. Nutr Rev. 2025 Jul 01; 83(7):1344-1357. PMID: 39868761.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 6/1/2025

    Shafer PR. Recoding America: Why Government is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better. Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law. 2025; 3(50):509–516.

     Read At: Custom
  • Published on 5/1/2025

    Aswani MS, Do LA, Shafer PR. Use Of Social Determinants Of Health Z Codes Was Sparse, 2016-22. Health Aff (Millwood). 2025 May; 44(5):631-635. PMID: 40324133.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 4/9/2025

    Skinner A, McCann NC, Howe CJ, Leifheit KM, Dean LT, Diaz Y, Ettman CK, Raifman J, Shafer PR. Association between pre-pandemic wealth and material hardships during the COVID-19 pandemic: how racial and ethnic wealth inequities shape household vulnerability to national crises. Health Aff Sch. 2025 May; 3(5):qxaf078. PMID: 40322319.

     Read At: PubMed

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