Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
Trump vs. Biden: Impact on the deficit How does mental illness impact COVID-19 mortality rates? 11pt font. Physicians on proposed changes to Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. Shakespeare’s greatest villain Half of black adults won’t get a COVID-19 vaccine. Remdesivir final trial findings.
When evaluating a new diagnostic, HTA agencies must assess two separate issues: analytical and clinical validity. Analytical validity basically indicates whether the test works; is it able to accurately predicts the presence or absence of a particular biomarker of interest. Clinical validity is whether the test matters in clinical practice. It could be the case…
Congratulations to Paul Milgrom and Robert Wilson for the 2020 Nobel Prize in Economics. Below is an excerpt from the press release. Using auction theory, researchers try to understand the outcomes of different rules for bidding and final prices, the auction format. The analysis is difficult, because bidders behave strategically, based on the available information. They…
Results from a survey titled “Coronavirus Impact and Recovery of the Small Businesses Economy“, which has collected responses from over 520,000 business owners in the US and Canada. Some general positive trends, but still over 20% of small business owners have concerns of their financial reserves running out and nearly 20% are concerned that the…
ADHD, financial distress and suicide. Will approval of ‘so-so’ COVID-19 vaccine preclude development of a better one? International price index: Lessons from Europe COVID and homelessness. Explaining variation in wait times by socioeconomic status
That is the title of my article in MedCityNews. I discuss the evolution of value measurement, digital medicine, and the importance of reducing inequality. Below is an excerpt: While efficacy, safety and cost still form the core of a treatment’s value, how a treatment is administered is now becoming of primary importance in a world…
From the Nobel Prize website: Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna have discovered one of gene technology’s sharpest tools: the CRISPR/Cas9 genetic scissors. Using these, researchers can change the DNA of animals, plants and microorganisms with extremely high precision. This technology has had a revolutionary impact on the life sciences, is contributing to new cancer…
Prior authorization is a requirement that health plans require physicians to obtain plan approval in order to prescribe a patient a given medication. Prior authorizations may be put in place to insure medications are not used inappropriately or for payers to try to reduce cost. While prior authorization may help save money, delays in the…
Created by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) has funded a wide variety of research comparing different treatments to one another. One thing PCORI was forbidden from funding, however, was cost-effectiveness analyses. Section 1181 of the Social Security Act, however, has expanded the scope of the types of…
Last month, the US Food and Drug Administration published a final rule providing guidance for allowing drug importation from Canada. The drugs have to be approved by the Government of Canada’s Health Canada’s Health Products and Food Branch (HPFB) and can be imported by States or Indian Tribes, or in certain circumstances by pharmacists or…