Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
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…
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?
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…
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…
As the COVID-19 pandemic struck, policymakers looked to researchers to both predict the future trend of the pandemic as well as examine how different policy options would impact society. Both epidemiologists and economists rose to the challenge, creating a variety of models to help inform policy decisions. How did the models developed by economists and…
Patients want new treatments to improve their quality of life. However, do typical patient reported outcomes adequately capture new treatment’s impact on factors that patients care most about? A paper by Perfetto et al. (2022) argues that the answer is ‘no’. The article notes that not only do patients want improved functional status, but also…
COVID-19 vaccine now approved for kids 6 months and up. How big is the marriage tax? USPSTF: Should you be taking your vitamins? Gas taxes and weight loss. How did CJR impact PROs?
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…
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…
“…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.