Faculty Profile

Kao-Ping Chua

Kao-Ping Chua, MD, PhD

  • Associate Professor, Pediatrics
  • Associate Professor, Health Management and Policy
  • Marilyn Fisher Blanch Research Professor of Child Health Policy

Dr. Kao-Ping Chua, MD, PhD, is a primary care pediatrician and health services researcher at the University of Michigan Medical School. He is the Marilyn Fisher Blanch Research Professor of Child Health Policy and the Director of the Susan B. Meister Child Health Evaluation and Research Center. After completing the Boston Combined Residency in Pediatrics, he obtained a Ph.D. in health policy from Harvard University, with a focus on the empirical methods used in policy evaluation. 

Dr. Chua’s research focuses on slowing the U.S. opioid epidemic, improving the affordability of health care, reducing the use of low-value care, and identifying emerging trends in health care utilization, particularly prescription drug utilization. He has conducted national studies on the prevalence and safety of opioid prescribing to children and young adults, as well as some of the first national studies on the epidemiology and harms of opioid prescribing by U.S. dentists. Additionally, he has made key contributions to the measurement of low-value care in administrative databases, including the development of claims-based measures of low-value pediatric care and antibiotic overuse.

Dr. Chua has published 124 manuscripts to date, including 97 as first or senior author. His manuscripts have been published in high-impact journals such as NEJM, JAMA, BMJ, JAMA Internal Medicine, JAMA Pediatrics, and Pediatrics, and regularly receive coverage from national media outlets such as The New York Times, CNN, and NPR. He is the recipient of the Academic Pediatric Association Young Investigator Award and the AcademyHealth Nemours Child Health Services Research Award.

  • BS, Neuroscience, Summa Cum Laude, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
  • MD, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO
  • PhD, Health Policy (Evaluative Sciences and Statistics concentration), Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

Opioid epidemic, health care affordability, low-value care, prescription drug utilization

Dr. Nguyen is a health economist and health services researcher whose work aims to address critical knowledge gaps related to the opioid epidemic. She serves as principal investigator on multiple NIH R01 awards investigating this topic. Specific areas of interest include the effect of cost-sharing and policies removing prior authorization requirements, the effects of surgery on treatment with medications for opioid use disorder, and the effects of supply-side policies to restrict opioid prescriptions. 

Research Projects

NIDA R01: Insurance-Related Barriers to Medications for Opioid Use Disorder in Private and Medicaid plans

NIDA R01: Evaluating Policy Interventions to Decrease Excessive and Risky Perioperative Opioid Prescribing

 

  1. Chua KP, Sommers BD. Changes in health and medical spending among young adults under health reform. JAMA. 2014 Jun 18;311(23):2437-9. PMID: 24938568.
  2. Chua KP, Schwartz AL, Volerman A, Conti RM, Huang ES. Use of Low-Value Pediatric Services Among the Commercially Insured. Pediatrics. 2016 Dec;138(6). PMID: 27940698. PMCID: PMC5127068.
  3. Chua KP, Fischer MA, Linder JA. Appropriateness of outpatient antibiotic prescribing among privately insured US patients: ICD-10-CM based cross sectional study. BMJ. 2019 Jan 16;364:k5092. PMID: 30651273. PMCID: PMC6334180.
  4. Chua KP, Brummett CM, Conti RM, Bohnert A. Association of Opioid Prescribing Patterns With Prescription Opioid Overdose in Adolescents and Young Adults. JAMA Pediatr. 2020 Feb 1;174(2):141-148. PMID: 31841589. PMCID: PMC6990690.
  5. Chua KP, Lee JM, Conti RM. Out-of-Pocket Spending for Insulin, Diabetes-Related Supplies, and Other Health Care Services Among Privately Insured US Patients With Type 1 Diabetes. JAMA Intern Med. 2020 Jul 1;180(7):1012-1014. PMID: 32478819. PMCID: PMC7265118.
  6. Chua KP, Kenney BC, Waljee JF, Brummett CM, Nalliah RP. Dental Opioid Prescriptions and Overdose Risk in Patients and Their Families. Am J Prev Med. 2021 Aug;61(2):165-173. PMID: 33975766. PMCID: PMC8319034.
  7. Chua KP, Brummett CM, Ng S, Bohnert ASB. Association Between Receipt of Overlapping Opioid and Benzodiazepine Prescriptions From Multiple Prescribers and Overdose Risk. JAMA Netw Open. 2021 Aug 2;4(8):e2120353. PMID: 34374769. PMCID: PMC8356065.
  8. Chua KP, Nguyen TD, Zhang J, Conti RM, Lagisetty P, Bohnert AS. Trends in Buprenorphine Initiation and Retention in the United States, 2016-2022. JAMA. 2023 Apr 25;329(16):1402-1404. PMID: 37097363. PMCID: PMC10130945.
  9. Chua KP, Volerman A, Zhang J, Hua J, Conti RM. Antidepressant Dispensing to US Adolescents and Young Adults: 2016-2022. Pediatrics. 2024 Mar 1;153(3). PMID: 38404197. PMCID: PMC10904889.                                                                                   
  10. Chua KP, Bicket MC, Bohnert ASB, Conti RM, Lagisetty P, Nguyen TD. Buprenorphine Dispensing after Elimination of the Waiver Requirement. N Engl J Med. 2024 Apr 25;390(16):1530-1532. PMID: 38657250. PMCID: PMC11103581.
  11. Lee JM, Sharifi M, Oshman L, Griauzde DH, Chua KP. Dispensing of Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists to Adolescents and Young Adults, 2020-2023. JAMA. 2024 Jun 18;331(23):2041-2043. PMID: 38776113. PMCID: PMC11112492.                        
  12. Chua KP, Brummett CM, Kelley-Quon LI, Bicket MC, Gunaseelan V, Waljee JF. Pediatric Surgical Opioid Prescribing by Procedure, 2020-2021. Pediatrics. 2024 Jul 1;154(1). PMID: 38919985. PMCID: PMC11211692.
  13. Chua KP, Conti RM, Lagisetty P, Bohnert AS, He S, Nguyen TD. Association Between Cost Sharing and Naloxone Prescription Dispensing. JAMA. 2024 Jul 9;332(2):124-132. PMID: 38869887. PMCID: PMC11177218.
  14. He S, Esteban McCabe S, Conti RM, Volerman A, Chua KP. Prescription Stimulant Dispensing to US Children: 2017-2023. Pediatrics. 2025 Feb 1;155(2). PMID: 39864457. PMCID: PMC12811066.
  15. Chua KP, Constantin J, Kenney GM, Conti RM, Simon K. Changes in Chronic Medication Dispensing to Children and Young Adults During Medicaid Unwinding. Pediatrics. 2025 Jun 1;155(6). PMID: 40314398.
  16. Chua KP, Volerman A, Conti RM. Changes in Inhaled Steroid Dispensing to Children After Withdrawal of Brand-Name Fluticasone Propionate. JAMA. 2025 Jun 17;333(23):2111-2112. PMID: 40287146. PMCID: PMC12034087.
  17. Chua KP, He S, Conti RM. Leucovorin Dispensing to U.S. Children in 2025. N Engl J Med. Aug 12 2026;395:719-721.

Email: chuak@med.umich.edu
Office: 734-615-8169

Address:
2800 Plymouth Road
NCRC Building 16
Room G038E
Ann Arbor, MI 48109

Areas of Expertise: Health Policy,  Opioids