Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
Here’s a brief summary of some leading thinkers thoughts about what to expect in 2019 in health. Have a health and happy New Year! Cleveland Clinic top 10 innovations of 2019. BBC gives 6 things to look out for in health in the UK in 2019 HealthExec‘s top 10 challenges for 2019. Forbes Top 8…
The 21st Century Cures Act, enacted December 2016, mandated that the FDA consider how to use real-world evidence (RWE) to bring innovative treatments to market faster. To meet this statutory requirement, the FDA has provided guidance outlining its policies for using RWE to support the approval of a new drug indication. What is real-world evidence?…
Continuing my series highlighting key trends from 2018, I summarize a post from Aviva Rutkin of The Conversation identifying key demographic trends in 2018. These include: Decreased U.S. life expectancy. For the third year in a row, life expectancy fell in the U.S. The reason for the increase? Increased mortality rates among working age adults due to…
The answer is ‘perhaps’ according to a new paper by Wadhera et al. (2018). They use data from 2005 to 2015, and apply an inverse probability–weighted 30-day and 45-day post-discharge mortality measure stratified by whether there was an associated readmission. They examine admissions for acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, and pneumonia. Among Medicare beneficiaries, the HRRP…
25 million doses of a new cholera vaccine were administered globally, and preparations began for the largest vaccination drive in history. UNICEF France revealed a sharp fall in daily smokers, with one million fewer lighting up in the past year, and cigarette use among Americans dropped to its lowest level since the Centers for Disease Control and…
This list is according to Google searches, as reported by CNN: What is the keto diet? What is ALS disease? What is endometriosis? How long does weed stay in your urine? How long does the flu last? How long is the flu contagious? When does implantation bleeding occur? Why am I always tired? What does…
In recent years, a number of states have legalized medical marijuana. While marijuana may not be good for you, can it be used as a substitute for more dangerous substances such as prescription opioids and heroin? To use an analogy, perhaps marijuana is to vaping ans opioids/heroin are to smoking. In fact, a recent paper…
“The influence of referring physicians is dramatically greater than the effect of patient cost-sharing” Why is Obamacare enrollment down? One simple reason why value-based care may fail: poor patient attribution methods. MDMA for PTSD. Do veterans prefer VA or Medicare? Amazon Prime Health?
Oftentimes, cost effectiveness analyses of new treatments measure health benefits less medical costs. However, getting treatment often involves a significant amount of time cost. Some cost-effectiveness analyses take into account take into account lost productivity amount individuals who work. However, these analyses rarely take into account lost time that could be used for unpaid work…
That is the question of interest of a new study by Snider et al. (2018) in Value in Health. The authors use six reviews by the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) that forecast the likely national spend on specific drugs or drug classes as case studies. Their study compares these forecast to subsequent…