Friday Links
Does intermittent fasting work? Where are we on the monkeypox vaccine? What is “tranq”? What are the impacts of minimum wage in the short- and […]
Current Events
Links
CPO: Chief Psychiatric Officer. Maximizing policy impact. Hospice and private equity. Stats on maternal mortality. Food price inflation and health.
How accurate are provider directories?
The answer is, ‘not very’. That is according to a paper from Burman et al. (2022). Let’s say you want to schedule an appointment with […]
AMA recommends that physicians should learn about health economics
Should physicians learn about health economics? The American Medical Association (AMA) thinks so. In a statement from 2019, the organization stated The American Medical Association […]
Links
Canada’s collapsing health system? Outsourcing and mortality in NHS. 2021 IVI Annual Report. Improving EHR. US excess deaths: 1933-2021.
Friday Links
Financial Incentives, Not Behavioral Nudges. Ascertainment of Alzheimer’s Disease in claims data. Marketplace insurers denied 18% of in-network claims. What preventive care is free? Changes […]
COVID-19 news and stats
Some COVID-19 news updates. 66.5% of the world population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. 12.09 billion doses have been administered […]
Mid-week links
Does having a doctor in the family impact health outcomes? Yes and No. Millionaire migration. BA.5 and the need for variant-proof vaccines. “…doctors desire autonomy […]
Where is Google investing in health?
The Economist has an interesting article on Alphabet (formerly known as Google) and their ventures into the health care industry. Some highlights. Alphabet is the […]
Mid-week links
COVID-19 vaccine now approved for kids 6 months and up. How big is the marriage tax? USPSTF: Should you be taking your vitamins? Gas taxes […]
“40% of generic drugs have just one manufacturer”
That is part due to the squeeze on generic drug pricing from group purchasing organizations and others. This 60 Minutes report is interesting.
Friday Links
Accelerated Approval Drugs are not driving Medicaid spending. Monkeypox outbreak? 3D-printed ear. E-commerce’s impact on retail. The safety net and violence. Why Aren’t People Leaving […]
Veterans health care news
As I do every year on Memorial Day, I like to review recent news articles surrounding health care for veterans. Corruption: On the negative side, […]
Demand for US Travel Nurses Plunges
In the past months, many hospitals and other health care providers have noted the steep rise in the cost of hiring nurses. Many providers saw […]
The US is in the World Cup’s “Group of Death”…maybe
Background on World Cup Qualifying The World Cup will take place in November-December 2022 in Qatar. Today, the 8 groups of 4 teams were selected […]
Key questions: Mid-week links
Fair prices→ Fair access? Harmonize HTA? What has California done on drug prices? Do work hours explain the gender pay gap? Does HDHP lead to […]
No surprise bills?
In a February 10th speech, President Biden wanted to end surprise bills for patients. Specifically he said: No more surprise billing. No more. In fact, […]
Biden State of the Union Address 2022: Focus on Health
As I do every year, below are the highlights of the state of the union address related to health care. Capping insulin prices First, cut […]
Mid-week Links
Mark Cuban: “I’d rather f— up the drug industry in every way possible.” Türkiye. The case for doctor abundance. UoPeople. AI/ML vs. traditional econometric approaches: […]
Links
How to deliver personalized therapies. Survival curve…for disk drives? Value-based contracts 2009-2019. FTC Chair interview. A pharmacist’s $180m fraud.
Friday Links
Calorie labeling: supply-side effects. Top fiscal policy charts of 2021. Lottery-based COVID-19 vaccination incentives don’t work. Will this trend persist long-term? Who should be vaccinated […]
Links
Medicare Advantage for all. Christmas deadweight loss? EUA for molnupiravir. Propublica: Why the FDA blocked cheap rapid tests. Why to get a booster.
Links
Virtual surgery. Change in premiums for ACA Marketplace plans. The metaverse and medicine. Brain computer interface. “No shots, no school” in LA.
Friday Links
Top health insurers by state. UnitedHealth revenues: $320 billion. Shortages and health care staff elasticity. How to ask useful questions. Physician assistants or physician associates? […]
Links
Medicaid expansion and ED wait times. ACA enrollment update. Mental health and COVID-19 risk. Virtual-first primary care. Impact of administrative burden.
Nursing shortages
While the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the worst part of the pandemic is largely past us (see NYT graph) with more people getting vaccinated. One would […]
Friday Links
Managing people: the emotional bank account. “Pace and power” Impact of eviction policies. Share of hospitals impacted by readmissions reduction program. LA Librarian retires.
Mid-week reading
CBO analysis of the Build Back Better Act. Information frictions helps explain why there isn’t more behavioral response to government interventions. Wealth = networks, not […]
Weekend Reading
Here are some questions to get your weekend reading started. Can Yelp predict hospital mortality? Can AI solve a radiologist shortage in the UK? How […]
Friday Links
A taste of their own medicine? Impact of COVID-19 on mental health. COVID-19 vaccines work for veterans. No mandate but make the unvaccinated pay their […]
2021 Nobel Prize in Economics goes to Card, Angrist and Imbens
The 2021 Nobel Prize in Economics goes to David Card, Joshua Angrist and Guido Imbens due to their work on “natural experiments” and how this […]
Friday Reading
Favorite paper. Covered California’s out-of-pocket drug max Google moves to first price auction. FDA on RWD for regulatory decision-making. NBA and health care fraud.
Nobel Prize in Medicine
David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian have won the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work “for their discoveries of receptors for temperature […]
Friday Links
Value of nurse practitioners for inpatient care. DTx and outcomes-based contracting. Is there a limit on human survival? Back to normal in Madrid? (en español) […]
Your weekend reading list
Did COVID-19 affect quality of life valuations? Medication adherence measurement: claims vs. pharmacy fill data. “Patients’ free choice of physicians is not always good” Digital […]
Healthcare Expert and Former Congresswoman Allyson Y. Schwartz Joins FTI Consulting as Senior Advisor
An exciting addition to the FTI team. Below is the press release: Washington, D.C., Sept. 21, 2021 — FTI Consulting, Inc. (NYSE: FCN) today announced […]
Friday Links
Federal government worker vaccine mandate. Hospitals vs. nurses on vaccine mandates. AMA response to Medicare physician fee schedule revisions. Boston, SF, San Diego. The end […]
Links (state-themed)
Can you make a telehealth visit from Virginia to a Maryland physician? Florida vaccination rates rising. Ida hits New York. State-by-state school spending and education […]
NFL Rosters and COVID-19 Vaccination Status
Today teams in the National Football League (NFL) made their final roster cuts. In most years, your ability to make the final roster of an […]
Links
Co-pays for COVID hospitalizations. Impact of price negotiations on Part D premiums. Accelerated Approval and Value-Based Pricing? Halo Health CEO interview. Living in LA.
Monday Links
The principal force behind declining happiness has been… The problem of tinkering with the safety net. Market power vs. adverse selection. New COVID detector. Has […]
Monday links
How consultants help hospitals with bundled payments. 76% of small businesses worried Delta variant will impede economic recovery. Scott Alexander on the FDA. Being a […]
Links
Real-world cost of health interventions. Looks and career success. Improved PubMed search. A-APM vs. MIPS Political alignment and tax evasion.
Elimination of the Medicaid asset test?
No, this is not coming nation-wide, but it may be on its way in California. Kaiser Health News reports: A provision in California’s newly approved […]
Bucks in six!
Taking a break today from my normal health economics posting to celebrate my hometown Milwaukee Bucks winning the NBA Championship. What an amazing playoff run! […]
Friday Links
$2.2 trillion deficit in 2021. Adverse selection and ACA plans. COVID-19 and panic drug purchasing. Amazon: $6 six-month prescriptions Pharmacist’s opinion on value-based comprehensive medication […]
Biden’s Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy: What does it say about health care?
Last Friday, President Biden released an executive order titled “Promoting Competition in the American Economy” While the order talk about transportation, internet companies, and farming, […]
COVID-19 in California: An update
A few updates on COVID-19 from where I am living. First while we see a dramatic decline in COVID-19 infections and deaths, there is a […]
Friday Links
Supreme court upholds ACA. Nature on lab-leak hypothesis. The geography of global warming. The return of boarding houses. Business perspective on single payer.
Friday Links
A decade of value-based payment. What caused him to resign from an expert panel. In case you missed it. Do physicians have an “ethical and […]
Coronavirus Origins
I’m going to regret writing about this, but it’s not a topic to be ignored. Where did the current coronavirus come from? If you ask […]
Crypto and COVID
Some interesting and very positive news linking the world of cryptocurrencies to the fight against COVID-19. As reported in Forbes: Ethereum’s co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who […]
Waiving IP
The announcement by the Biden administration about waiving IP rights to the coronavirus vaccines obviously calls for some comment. Keep in mind that I have […]
Russian Vaccine Behavior
In the last post, I mentioned the Twitter response to the Brazilian rejection of the Gamaleya vaccine. I believe that the official blue-check-marked “Sputnik V” […]
Weekend Links
ACA ‘family glitch’ Hospital price transparency. NBA players and COVID-19. Good work if you can get it. SPACs and digital health. Dark chocolate is not […]
Friday Links
Urgent care vs. ED. FDA review of old drugs. R&D incentives and innovation spillovers. Pharmaceuticals and the Developing World. Care managers vs cost centers.
Blood Clots and the AZ Vaccine, Revisited
Once again, what’s going on with vascular events and the AZ/Oxford vaccine? I last wrote about this situation a couple of weeks ago, and it’s […]
Mid-week Links
Health insurance coverage for sexual minorities. PhD = doctor? Ghost rides. Mini-COBRA. Pasaporte corona en Dinamarca.
Friday Links
COVID-19 vaccine monitor. Impact of immunotherapies on Medicare cancer cost. Amazon Care telehealth. What’s wrong with my model? Is Brazil’s health system collapsing?
Democrats vs. Republicans: Health Policy Battle Royale
Conventional wisdom holds that the U.S. has become more and more partisan and the views of both Democrats and Republicans have become less moderate over […]
Friday Links
Food insecurity and health care spending. Access in a new world. Credibility Revolutionistas. Do individuals with limited English proficiency use telehealth? Desk clearing and drug […]
Healthcare Economist joins FTI Consulting’s Center for Healthcare Economics and Policy
I am very excited to announce that I have joined the FTI Consulting team. An excerpt from the press release is below. WASHINGTON, March 01, 2021 (GLOBE […]
Is the UK destined to be the next life science hub?
That is a question considered in the latest edition of The Economist. In the article “How British science came to the rescue“, the magazine notes […]
Friday Links
Impact of reducing air pollution on health expenditures. Does psychotherapy work? Does losing health insurance increase claims for SSI? Why governments decide to de-fund medical […]
Links
Medicare Advantage star ratings and quality. ACA and cancer detection. We can open schools safely. SF eliminates gas stoves? Overshooting the output gap?
Friday Links
Appropriateness of step therapy. Fiscal impact of anti-obesity medications. Can individual hospitals survive? A health economist takes on Kenya’s pandemic. The invisible graveyard.
Friday Links
Faster drug access in the Netherlands (Drug Access Protocol) “Hospitals might annually exploit extra reimbursements of about 8%–10% from primary diagnosis manipulations” Comparison of costs […]
Links
Pharmacy desserts. Why Israel leads in COVID vaccinations (speculative). Does temperature screening really work? A mRNA vaccine for multiple sclerosis? Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs.
Links
Palau: A leader in health? The Great Bucatini Shortage of 2020. Bayesian fatigue. Illinois to cover undocumented seniors. Excess returns in Rx supply chain?
A Haven No More
Haven was a high-profile effort whereby three industry titans–Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JP Morgan–created a joint venture with the hope of lower costs and improving […]
COVID-19 now a top 3 leading cause of death in US
That is the conclusion from Woolf et al. (2020) in JAMA this past week. The authors examine rates of COVID-19 mortality in the US between […]
Friday Links
Am I disabled? EHR burden on physicians: US vs. rest of world. COVID-19 vs. religion. Toilet politics. Giannis on COVID-19. Bonus: Largest US metro areas […]
Drug importation from Canada won’t work
I’ve mentioned this in a number of previous posts, but large scale importation from Canada won’t work to bring down US drugs prices. The US […]
Links
Who gets the vaccine first? Amazon Pharmacy. What’s different now? Interoperability and the pandemic. Becoming homebound.
Friday Links
US debt rises about 100% of GDP. Racism and sickle cell disease. Health insurance among the self-employed. The interaction of minimum drinking age laws and […]
Friday Links
Performance of private equity-owned nursing homes during COVID-19 GrimAge #WhiteCoatsForBlackLives Jews and Catholics come together in Wisconsin. The disappearance of the primary care physical examination. […]
Friday Links
Clinical trials going digital. JAMA return-to-play guidance. Would a COVID-19 vaccine produce larger health or economic benefits? Pros and cons of telemedicine. Are we there […]
Friday Links
AZ/J&J resume COVID-19 trials. Nature and Predictors of Response Changes in Modified-Delphi Panels. Thanksgiving and COVID-19 risks. Misleading maps? Average annual premium for a family […]
Friday Links
ADHD, financial distress and suicide. Will approval of ‘so-so’ COVID-19 vaccine preclude development of a better one? International price index: Lessons from Europe COVID and […]
Links
Specialist compensation and ACO performance Racism in health services research. FDA updates Sentinel System website. Drone sanitation. What if the Supreme Court kills Obamacare?
Friday Links
ACA: In peril with Ginsburg’s seat in play RCT: App to help you quit smoking DCE: Framing bias? pCODR: Do they care about patient advocate […]
Links
Can hydroxychloroquine prevent COVID-19? Clinical trials during COVID-19. Specialist compensation in ACOs. Moral hazard in the Netherland health insurance system? Where do children play?
Masks work
That is based on an event study approach from a recent Health Affairs article by Lyu and Wehby (2020). Specifically, Mandating face mask use in […]
Links
Wear a mask. Election forecast uncertainty. Baby born after uterus transplant. Organ sales. Will pandemic lower health insurance premiums?
Medicaid enrollment on the rise
As reported by Kaiser Health News: Reversing a three-year decline, the number of people covered by Medicaid nationwide rose markedly this spring as the impact […]
A Brief Note on Immigration and American Science
There’s an article out today from John Maraganore (CEO of Alnylam, immediate past chair of the BIO industry group) and his successor at BIO, Jeremy […]
LA: Distance learning only
The New York Times reports: California’s two largest public school districts said on Monday that instruction would be online-only in the fall, in the latest […]
Some good news
As COVID-19 cases continue to rise in the US, there was some good news last week from this year’s AIDS conference. Due to COVID-19, the […]
Friday Links
Long waits for COVID-19 tests. Quantifying the benefits of the Clean Air Act. Pooled testing. Double dipping? Excess deaths trends.
What explains the decline in COVID deaths despite the rising number of cases?
Take a look at these two graphs. The first gives the number of new COVID-19 cases from John Hopkins University. It is a scary graph. […]
Links
Why payers support prior authorizations. Russia health care fact of the day. Doug Glanville, comma. “Schizophrenia is not a casserole illness.” Mortality vs. new cases.
$1 billion antibiotic venture fund launched
Antibiotic resistance is a problem. One study from Europe found that in 2015 there were 33,110 deaths attributable to antibiotic resistance; accounting for morbidity as […]
