Mid-Week Links
Is comparative effectiveness really coming to Medicare? When is OK not to follow the guidelines? Happy smokers vs. unhappy smokers in France. Are GPs living the good life in France? Will Groupon collapse? Cigarette Rx?
Month: July 2011
Setting FDA Standards
To what standard should the FDA hold new drugs? The FDA has a number of choices. Drugs companies could be required to prove that the drugs they make: Do no harm. Are more effective than placebos Are more effective than existing drugs Are more cost-effective than existing drugs, or Are both more effective and more…
4th of July and Medical Spending
Reducing Medicare and Medicaid spending is not only America’s number one health care goal, it should also be its top overall budget priority. Finding ways to cut Medicare costs is vital. Although the CBO projects that Medicare and Medicaid spending will top $850 billion in 2011, we should not forget about another federal health care…
Quotation of the Day
“Getting into a new field of physics is like reading a Russian novel. There are a lot of names to cope with, and at first you wonder who’s who.” – Kenneth W. Ford, The Quantum World.
Medicare: Outpatient costs rise, inpatient costs fall
“From 2004 through 2009, the volume of Medicare outpatient services per FFS beneficiary increased at roughly a 4.3 percent annual rate for a cumulative increase of 23 percent over the six-year period. During the same period, Medicare inpatient discharge volume declined at roughly a 0.9 percent annual rate, and inpatient discharges per FFS Part A…