Economist’s Books of the Year 2006
The Economist magazine has posted its Books of the year list for 2006.
Physician licensure and quality: Part IIX
In The Social Transformation of American Medicine, author Paul Starr analyzes the development of modern American medicine. A large portion of the book looks at the roots of physician licensure. His analysis dates back to the colonial era. Some important turning points in the history of physician licensure before the twentieth century are: In the…
Are you rich?
In the Economist’s December 9th issue, the magazine reviews (“The wealth of nations…“) a World Institute for Development Economics Research (WIDER) effort to measure how personal wealth (i.e.: financial assets, real estate, consumer durables, livestock) was distributed throughout the world. If you have just over $2000 in net assets to your name, you can be…
Influenza Vaccination: Part V
A final analysis of the cost of flu vaccination is provided to us by Margaret Coleman, John Fontanesi and colleagues (2004). The authors examine the cost of the vaccination for different size practices in a scheduled visit and walk-in setting. Unlike most studies, this research team decided to applied overhead expenses to cost of vaccinations.…
Senator Wyden’s Health Care Plan
Yesterday I was invited to a small-group conversation with Senator Ron Wyden regarding the Healthy Americans Act that was recently proposed. Unfortunately I could not make it the conference, but Senator Wyden’s own Stand Tall for America website gives some (very biased) details and analysis of the plan. Joe Paduda of Managed Care Matters has…
‘When I was just 3 years old, I asked my mother why she didn’t love me’
A touching and compelling story about tuberculosis in the United States can be found in last Sunday’s Washington Post (“Quarantined“). The mother of the author spent 114 days in the Glenn Dale Hospital, which during the 1950s functioned as a sanatorium for people with TB. The article states that 2 million people die from tuberculosis…
Drug coated stent: subtitle “Ah, yes — money.”
On Wednesday, The New York Times reported (“What Money Doesn’t Buy in Health Care“) reported on the relative ineffectiveness of drug-coated stents (aka drug-eluting stents). (For more information regarding what is a stent, visit the Angioplasty.org webpage.) On Friday, December 8th, the FDA recommended that “…doctors and patients be given stronger warnings about the dangers…
Influenza Vaccination: Part IV
What is the best method to immunize individuals? Vaccinations are typically delivered via scheduled or walk-in visits. Mass vaccinations, however, may offer a more efficient means to vaccinate large populations. The mass vaccination locations can take place at schools, convention centers, fair grounds, churches, parking lots or other places (see Arkansas’ Mass Flu Vaccine locations…
Health Wonk Review #22
This week’s edition of the Health Wonk Review is posted at MSSPNexus.
Influenza Vaccination: Part III
Yesterday we examined the cost effectiveness of the influenza vaccine in children. Today I will look at two papers which focus on the same question using children as the sub-population of interest. Estimated influenza infection rate among young healthy children is between 35% and 50% each year. Cohen and Nettleman (2000) look at preschool children…