Music therapy

When we think of medicine we think of pharmaceutical medications, surgery and other interventions.  But can music also be used to heal.  According to the American Music Therapy Association, the answer is yes.  A paper by Gold et al. (2006) finds this is the case for patients with schizophrenia: In people hospitalised with schizophrenia, adding…

Health Benefits of a Vacation

The Healthcare Economist will be off through Labor Day, taking a vacation to San Diego.  Inspired by this trip, below is a study that finds that people who take vacations are healthier.  Although not a randomized trial, this evidence is suggestive.  The Huffington Post paraphrases:   In a study of 13,000 middle-aged men at risk for heart disease, those who…

3000th Blog Post

Today I am writing the 3,000th post at Healthcare Economist. I started this site way back in January 2006 with this post and the site has grown ever since. Every post is authored by myself, Jason Shafrin. In case you’re late to this party, below I recap some of my most popular posts. The “Healthcare Around the…