Quotation of the Day: On contradictions
Si un hombre nunca se contradice, será porque nunca dice nada. Miguel de Unamuno
Month: January 2023
JAMA on whether AI can be included as a co-author on publications
In short, the answer is ‘no’. The full rationale is here, but here is an excerpt from their policy: Nonhuman artificial intelligence, language models, machine learning, or similar technologies do not qualify for authorship.If these models or tools are used to create content or assist with writing or manuscript preparation, authors must take responsibility for…
CBO debt projections: Too optimistic or too pessimistic?
Every year, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) makes projections of what the federal budget will look like, in particular, what the government debt and annual deficits will be. Note that these should not be seen as forecasts since CBO projections aim to measure what will happen over the next 10 years assuming no change to…
Will oncologists participate in the Enhancing Oncology Model?
In the past, I have written about the Enhancing Oncology Model (EOM), including an overview of the EOM program as well as a more detailed review of EOM’s payment methodology. A new paper in JAMA Health Forum by Kocher and Adashi (2023) describes their perspective on the EOM program. First, they provide a nice overview…
Links
AI and healthcare spending. Referral incentives for TB screening. A better measure of population density. IVI: “No value without equity” Medicaid’s multi-generational health benefit. How do people use ‘work from home’ time savings?
Health insurance: Incentivizing overspending or fueling innovation?
Based on a study by Frankovic and Kuhn (2022), the answer is both. However, the value of increased innovation–as measured through longevity gains–more than offset inefficiencies from overspending. Specifically, the authors use an overlapping generations model where individuals can purchase health insurance and medical progress depends on health care sector return on investment. The authors…
The Impact of Paid Family Leave on Job Retention
Paid family leave (PFL) provide paid time off for workers who care for a newborn (parental leave) or care for a sick or temporarily disabled family member (caregiving leave). The US is one of the few countries that does not offer PFL, but a number of State have decided to adopt their own policy. California…
FDA’s 2022 Drug Approvals
The year 2022 was a good, but perhaps not great year for innovation. According to the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research’s (CDER) New Drug Therapy Approvals 2022 report, there were 37 novel drugs approved in 2022. This number is down from the historical rate of approvals between 2013-2021 (43.4 approvals per year) and…
Quotation of the Day: On Indecision
“More is lost by indecision than wrong decision. Indecision is the thief of opportunity. It will steal you blind.” — Cicero
Quotation of the Day: On thinking
Nobody in this world can tell me what to think, but I think everybody has a lesson to teach me. Lex Fridman.