CEO, Massachusetts General Physician Organization

Dr. Timothy G. Ferris is chief executive officer of the Massachusetts General Physicians Organization and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Trained in internal medicine and pediatrics, Tim is a practicing primary care physician at Mass General. Prior positions include the senior vice president for population health at Partners HealthCare, medical director of the Mass General Physicians Organization, and vice president for quality for the MGH Department of Pediatrics. His clinical interests include caring for medically complex patients, and home visits to the elderly. Tim led the design and implementation of system-wide care delivery changes at Partners in response to novel risk-sharing contracts for Medicare, Commercial, and Medicaid populations. These programs were administered through the Center for Population Health which Tim founded through an industry partnership, touching over 1 million patients annually. The programs spanned the continuum of care, including over 5000 clinicians in primary care, specialty care, post-acute and home based services, and included novel IT based patient services, analytics, and incentives.

Tim has played multiple roles at the national and international level, including chairing the steering committee of the National Quality Forum and participating on multiple committees at the National Academy of Medicine. He is currently a member of the Secretary of Health and Human Services independent advisory council on physician payment policy. Tim serves on the board of England’s National Health Service (NHS Improvement). In addition to his past National Institutes of Health and foundation grants, Tim designed a six-year Medicare demonstration project that used focused investments in patient services for complex patients that resulted in lower mortality and costs. The program received national attention and became a model for similar programs in the United States and abroad.

Tim trained at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health and has co-authored more than 130 publications in the areas of health care quality measurement, risk adjustment, health disparities and health information technology.