Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
In May 2025, CMS’s Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) unveiled it’s “Make America Healthy Again” vision. CMMI models focus on not only “protecting the federal taxpayer,” but also (i) promoting evidence-based prevention, (ii) empowering people to achieve their health goals, and (iii) driving choice and competition for people. CMMI has introduced a number…
That is the argument made by Ike Brannon and Anthony Lo Sasso in a recent Health Affairs Forefront article. 340B allows hospitals serving low income communities to purchase pharmaceuticals at discounted rates, but then receive full price reimbursement from payers (e.g., commercial insurers, Medicare). It is not clear that the 340B program even benefits low-income…
Simulate the risk AI displaces your job (methodology) LA’s “Great Stone Mother” Hospital. KFF CEO: What’s Wrong with U.S. Health Care CDC blocks publication of a study showing benefits of COVID vaccine Meta, AI and layoffs.
The Peterson Health Technology Institute (PHTI) recently released a report titled: “Administrative AI: Current Use and Potential Impact.” The report was based on a workshop PHTI convened with senior leaders from health systems, health plans, technology developers, investment firms, and federal agencies in order to discuss how technology and policy can enable AI to reduce…
This is the question that a recent AJMCcommentary by William Shrank, Ellen Kelsay, and Mark Fendrick aims to answer. When talking about cell and gene therapies, the authors argue that cost sharing is not being used to avoid unnecessary use of low value care, but rather as a form of rationing that creates disparities in…
What can we learn about nursing and AI from The Pitt. FDA expediting first-in-human trials? IIA. Measles back in SF. US fertility at all-time low.
That is the title of a new paper out yesterday in the Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology from my FTI colleague Marie Steele-Adjognon, along with Martha E. Shepherd, Jon Harris-Shapiro, David Hines, Abraham Lee and Yeesha Poon. The abstract is below. Background: This study evaluated the impact of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) on health…
That is the title of my latest Perspectives from the Healthcare Economist article published in The Evidence Base this week. Here is the teaser: In this guest column, healthcare economist Jason Shafrin (FTI Consulting and Mann School of Pharmacy, University of Southern California) explores a widening divide over how health systems define value, and what that means…
Proportion of days covered (PDC) is the most widely endorsed measure of medication adherence. For instance, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) uses PDC as its preferred adherence measure for its Quality Rating System for many chronic conditions (e.g., hypertension, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia). However, your PDC measure may be flawed depending on what…
That is the title of a new paper published this week in Clinical Nutrition with co-authors Kyi-Sin Than, Khounish Sharma, Kirk W. Kerr, and Dhanasekhar Kesavelu. The abstract is below: IntroductionPediatric malnutrition is a significant global public health challenge, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. This study quantifies the lifetime, per-person economic impact of pediatric…