Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
The Economist notes that counterfeit drugs are a growing problem. “Counterfeit drugs can kill. Many are shoddily made, containing the wrong dose of the active ingredient. Taking them instead of the real thing can turn a treatable disease into a fatal one. It can also foster drug resistance among germs.” Do patents cause and increase…
In 2008, Americans spend over $14 billion on proton pump inhibitors. These heartburn treatments such as Nexium, Prevacid, and Protonix may put millions of patients at risk. According to Scientific American, long-term use of these medicines has been linked to “withdrawal symptoms, an increased risk of bacterial infection, hip fracture and even possible nutritional deficiencies.” Additionally,…
In an effort to standardize the provision of medication therapy management (MTM) within Medicare Part D, CMS has outlined specific requirements for Part D Plan MTM programs in 2010. The APhA’s Medication Therapy Management Digest (March 2010) reviews these requirements. MTM programs must: Enroll targeted beneficiaries using an opt-out method only (i.e., beneficiaries are automatically…
As a Wisconsin-native, you may be surprised that this is my first post about Beers. I do like beer. My preference is for either dark beers (e.g., porters, stouts) or Belgian ales. Today, however, I am not going to endulge you in a discussion about beer. Instead, I want to talk about the Beers criteria. …
CVS is the second largest pharmacy in the U.S. with over 7000 stores. Caremark Pharmacy Services is a pharmacy benefit management (PBM) company, providing benefit management services to health plans. In March of 2007 the two firms merged. The combined firm not only has $99 billion in sales, CVS Caremark also has the ability not to…
Conventional wisdom holds that physicians can use anti-depressants to treat long term depression. Many patients, however, spend years or even decades taking these drugs. Is this how the inventors of anti-depressants believe they would be used? Author Robert Whitaker believes not: You find that even with major depression, in the pre-antidepressant era – and this…
Conventional wisdom holds that economists advocate for reducing regulation on most policy arenas. Regulation imposes costs and businesses and is often ineffective. Further, as technology and market conditions change, regulations which were originally welfare enhancing can now become archane. The public generally views the FDA’s pre-approval as a worthwhile endeavor. The goal of FDA pre-approval…
In general, I am weary of patents (see my Healthcare Manifesto and Against Intellectual Property posts). Sure, they may be useful to spur innovation, but they also harm innovation since one cannot modify or improve a product while there is still a patent. Further, patents generate rent-seeking where inventors spent tons of time wrangling to…
You feel great. You exercise regularly, eat well, and have no history of cholesterol problem. Then you’re just the person who needs Crestor! Why? Because Crestor not only treat high cholesterol, it also prevents the onset of cholesterol problems! To keep your heart working as hard as you do, ask your doctor about Crestor.…
Irreversibility occurs when treatment in the current period alters the efficacy of treatments in the future. A paper by Zivin and Neidell (2010) give the following simple example: Examine the following table. In the first scenario, the individual has disease X in two periods. If he takes treatment 1 (T1) then he will recover 6…