Mid-week Links
Health impacts of evictions. Falling cancer mortality rates in the US. Digital health funding declines. The greatest healthcare system in the world? Marry a third or fourth cousin.
Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
Health impacts of evictions. Falling cancer mortality rates in the US. Digital health funding declines. The greatest healthcare system in the world? Marry a third or fourth cousin.
This month, RADAR on Specialty Pharmacy, wrote an article on drug importation titled “HHS Importation Efforts Move Ahead, but Questions Remain”. As part of the article, I was interviewed. Below is an excerpt. High drug prices have been in the news for a few years, catching “the ire of public opinion and politicians,” observes Jason…
In the U.S., 5% of the population account for 50% of expenditures. Many of these so-called “superutilizers” have multiple comorbidities; some of these patients face economic challenges, while others may contend with mental illness. One approach to attempt to improve quality and reduce cost is to provide these high-cost patients with supplemental services. One question…
Not a surprising finding but an important one nonetheless. Using data from the 2013–17 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) a paper by Gaffney et al. (2020) finds: Although people with VHA [Veterans Health Administration] coverage were older and in worse health and had lower incomes than those with other coverage, VHA patients had lower rates…
Open-source models are essential. The Economist’s country of the year David Brooks (from 2015): “Résumé virtues” vs “Eulogy virtues.” Homelessness and water quality in California Wait times for glaucoma treatment at NHS
A nice overview is provided by Johnson, Kishore and Berwick (2020). They review the HR13841 and S 1129.8 in detail [Note: HR 1384 and S 1129 were also proposed in the last Congressional session and they have an overview of that as well] HR 1384 and S 1129 both establish a single payer federal insurance…
Consider the case of two drugs, Drug A and Drug B. Both drugs treat patients with the same disease. Further, assume they are close substitutes. When Drug A loses it’s patent and generics can enter the market, one would expect Drug A’s market share (brand + generic) to rise. In fact, Drug A’s market share…
How would an elephant react to LSD? While this question may be interesting in and of itself, a more basic question to ask is how much LSD should an elephant be given to answer this question. In How Animals Work, Knut Schmidt-Nielsen shows how some faulty logic lead to an elephant’s LSD overdose. A scientific…
As we head into 2020, we will briefly look back at the most read articles in 2019 on the Healthcare Economist blog. These include: Marginal Structural Models (and the “MSM: A Simple Example” was also popular) Trends in hospital consolidation Part D Fun Facts How to Value Curative Therapies What is a “digital practitioner”? Meth…