Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
There is mixed evidence about whether hospital mergers improve quality. On the one hand, economies of scale could lead to more investment in information technology, or allow for further specialization of services. A recent paper by Wang et al. (2022) investigates the impact of a recent hospital merger on quality in New York. The merging…
Supreme court blocks broad COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Trends in geographic variation in Medicare spending. ACA and marriage. Medicare Advantage hospice carve-in? Ethnic disparities in ED wait times.
My colleagues at FTI have a new white paper out surveying health care leaders on trends to expect in 2022. The data come from a survey of 251 senior decision makers working in corporate communications, investor relations, public affairs, business development, R&D and marketing for healthcare and life sciences companies in the U.S. Some key…
The policy rationale for disability insurance is sensible. If you are disabled (either in the short-run or long-run) and unable to work, government support is highly beneficial in reducing inequality. Whereas other policies to redistribute income (e.g., welfare, unemployment insurance) may reduce inequality, they also may have the unintended consequences of reducing incentives to work.…
In 2021, the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) approved 50 new drugs, either as new molecular entities (NMEs) under New Drug Applications (NDAs), or as new therapeutic biologics under Biologics License Applications (BLAs). FDA summarizes these approvals in their recently released report titled: Advancing Health Through Innovation: New Drug…
Calorie labeling: supply-side effects. Top fiscal policy charts of 2021. Lottery-based COVID-19 vaccination incentives don’t work. Will this trend persist long-term? Who should be vaccinated first? Mental health and same-sex marriage legislation. Panacea and Hygeia. US-Europe chronic condition gap narrowing. COVID-19 and older worker’s employment rates.
That is the title of my recent paper in Advances in Therapy along with co-authors Christian Jackisch, Federico Manevy, Suzanne Frank, and Nicki Roberts. This is a case study of the fixed-dose combination therapy of pertuzumab and trastuzumab as a subcutaneous injection compared to previous treatments which were administered via infusion. The abstract is below.…
New pharmaceutical products aim to help individuals live longer, healthier lives. However, when new drugs come to market, they are typically indicated for a specific disease. In the real world, however, many individuals face multiple conditions. In fact, 57% of Americans have 2 or more medical conditions and 27% have 5 or more medical conditions.…
Recent news articles have spilled much ink about the current nurse shortage. According to Pew, due to nursing shortages “Hospitals nationwide are canceling nonemergency surgeries, struggling to quickly find beds for patients and failing to meet the minimum nurse-patient ratios experts recommend.” Nursing wages are rising as well. The Baltimore Sun reports that the University…
Performance-based risk sharing (PBRS) have grown in importance in recent years. While most PBRS are used for expensive pharmaceutical products, PBRS also have been used with medical device and diagnostic manufacturers. Device/diagnostic PBRS may differ from those of pharmaceuticals for a number of reasons. First, while health insurers bear the burden of paying for most…