Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
This is the question the N.Y. Times posed to five experts in the field. Medicare for all could potentially save money. For instance, if the government could reduce administrative cost, cut prices paid to physicians and hospitals, or reduce drug costs. Typically, however, federal government programs rarely save cost and some of the reduction in…
As the U.S. ages, more and more individuals have chronic conditions or functional limitations which may at some point require senior housing, such as independent or assisted living facilities and nursing homes. The question is, will individuals be able to afford this type of housing? According to a paper by Pearson et al. (2019), the…
How digital medicine saved his life. What is the key ingredient for shared decision making? Singaporean health system. Medicare exploring global budgets for primary care. Bucks sweep.
An interesting white paper on how to demonstrated value to payers when examining gene therapies has hit the presses. My colleagues Jeremy Schafer, PhD, and Alexander Grosvenor, PhD have written a guide to help you: Understand the disparities between payer and manufacturer expectations for long-term outcomes Determine which elements of treatment are included in the…
Perhaps the answer is yes according to research from Frank Lichtenberg. Every year, according to Lichtenberg’s research, drugs launched since 1982 are adding 150 million life-years to the lifespans of people in 22 countries that he analyzed. He calculated the average pharmaceutical expenditure per life-year saved at $2,837 — a bargain, he says.“According to most…
A paper by McDermott et al. (2019) examines how primary care services are commissioned in the United Kingdom under the National Health Service (NHS). Interestingly, the study provides a nice overview of the history of GP contracting in the UK as well. An excerpt is below. The current primary care system in England, whereby GPs…
To answer this question, one can examine how individuals choose health plans based on premiums, expected out of pocket cost, plan quality, and other factors. A paper by Abaluck and Gruber (2011) use data from 2006 and find that up to 70% of seniors appear to choose plans that are not optimal. Do these conclusions…
Health Utility Book (HUB) Can doctors talk teenagers out of risky drinking? Impact of physician disclosures on patient trust. Quadratic voting in practice. Why doctors don’t like email.
Does a treatment improve patient health? Does a policy intervention improve quality of life? Does more education increase income? These are fundamental questions that are difficult to answer with standard observational approaches. The reason? Selection bias. Patients who are sick take medicine; patients who are sicker may take more medicine. Thus, one could observe that…
Is caregiving by family members superior to paid home health caregiving? According to a paper by Coe et al. (2019), the answer is ‘yes’. We find that some family involvement in home‐based care significantly decreases health‐care utilization: lower likelihood of emergency room use, Medicaid‐financed inpatient days, any Medicaid hospital expenditures, and fewer months with Medicaid‐paid…