2008 Nobel Prize in Medicine Announced

The 2008 Nobel Prize in Medicine was given to three European researchers who discovered viruses that cause cervical cancer and AIDS.   German virologist Harald zur Hausen discovered that HPV causes cervical cancer. This discovery eventually lead to the creation of the HPV vaccine against cervical cancer. Two French virologists, Francoise Barre-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier, shared the…

Economists favor Obama

The Economist magazine took a poll of academic economists working at NBER to see who they would vote for.  Barack Obama came out as the favorite.  Even though 46% of academic economists list themselves as Democrats compared to only 10% who claim to be Republican, Obama came out overwhelmingly ahead. Seventy percent of economists would…

POV: Critical Condition

Last night I watched a powerful documentary chronicling about the plight of four of the 47 million uninsured Americans.  P.O.V.’s “Critical Condition” by Roger Weisberg follows four individuals through their experience of getting sick and attempting to secure medical care without insurance. “What happens if you fall sick and are one of 47 million people…

Hire the Healthcare Economist

This year the Healthcare Economist, Jason Shafrin, will be completing his Ph.D. in health economics at the University of California, San Diego.  He will be available for interviewing at the AEA meetings in San Francisco, January 3-5.  For more information regarding Jason Shafrin’s credentials and his contact information, visit his homepage: jasonshafrin.com.

2008 MacArthur “Genius” Fellowships Awarded

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation awarded 25 individiuals with their 2008 “Genius” grants.  Among these 25 individuals, two deal specifically with the field of medicine. Peter Provonost uses evidence-based medicine to standardize quality of care.  To address the problem of catheter infections, “Pronovost culled lengthy guidelines into a simple checklist of five…

Fragmented Medical Care III: Policy Options

Continuing with yesterdays theme of fixing America’s fragmented health care system, I will review some of the Commonwealth Fund’s policy suggestions to improve health care quality. Expansion of P4P.  While I support P4P in theory, in practice, it will be very difficult to apply.  P4P rewards only measurable components of health care quality.  Since much…

Google Health on Marketplace

NPR’s Marketplace Money discusses the pros and cons of allowing Google Health to store your private medical records. [Dr. John Halamka, the Chief Information Officer at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center]: A patient can put privacy flags on any of this record that they wish. They can not change the facts in the record however.…