VA vs. private hospitals

How do efficiently is care provided for patients at Veteran Affairs’ hospitals as compared to private hospitals? This is not an easy question to answer as the composition of patients differs between these hospitals. Even among dually-eligible individuals–those with both VA and commercial insurance–individuals treated at VA hospitals are generally more severely ill. To better…

Mid-week links

Does having a doctor in the family impact health outcomes? Yes and No. Millionaire migration. BA.5 and the need for variant-proof vaccines. “…doctors desire autonomy and independence, but patients need their healthcare professionals to collaborate, coordinate and agree on best practices.” Bayes factors measure prior or posterior predictive performance?

Does improved health impact earnings?

According to a recent paper by Stephens and Toohey (2022), the answer is ‘yes’. This paper examines the labor market effects of a randomized health intervention of working-age men that was focused on reducing mortality due to coronary heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States. MRFIT succeeded in improving the health…

Where is Google investing in health?

The Economist has an interesting article on Alphabet (formerly known as Google) and their ventures into the health care industry. Some highlights. Alphabet is the fifth-highest-ranking business in the Nature Index, which measures the impact of scientific papers, in the area of life sciences, behind four giant drugmakers and 20 spots ahead of Microsoft, the…

ICER’s 2022 “Barriers to Fair Access Assessment” Protocol

How does ICER plan to determine whether health plans offer fair access to pharmaceuticals? I summarized their approach last year as outlined in their white paper titled “Cornerstones of ‘Fair’ Drug Coverage: Appropriate Cost-Sharing and Utilization Management Policies for Pharmaceuticals.” Last month, final protocol for their “Barriers to Fair Access Assessment“. While the approach follows…

How can physicians earn a ‘gold card’?

Prior authorization is a pain. A paper by Howell et al. (2021) found that the total cost of various utilization management schemes is $93.3 billion of which physicians devote $26.7 billion worth of time to navigate utilization management systems. Payers would argue that prior authorization helps to control costs and stop the prescribing of unnecessary…

Links

“…current inflation levels are much closer to past inflation peaks than the official series would suggest.” Impact of minimum wage on health Alcohol excise tax impact on drinking. Good looking CEOs? 100m Americans have health care debt.