Shameful Nation
Want to go bankrupt from medical bills? You should move to the United States, where that fate is WAY more possible than in other wealthy countries: #WeNeedToFixThis
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Medicaid Reform Ain’t Easy
All the Republican health care bills that have so far failed to pass through Congress have tried to reduce Medicaid spending, by limiting the amount of federal money going to states to cover this population. That might be popular among some conservative voters, who think Medicaid is a handout to healthy but lazy young people…
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Doctors Without Appointments
Jill Ladkin was already having a terrible autumn. It began with a seizure that put her in the hospital with what seemed like scores of unfamiliar physicians attending to her state of health. The brain scan revealed a mass in the lining of her brain, a location usually signifying a benign tumor; but, given her seizure, the…
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Great Coverage of Our Calorie Count Research
Cass Sunstein just posted a really nice write-up of the calorie count research I was lucky enough to conduct with Steven Dallas (now a law student at Duke) and Peggy Liu (a marketing Professor at University of Pittsburgh). Thought I’d give you a flavor of the write-up: A provision of the Affordable Care Act that…
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Come Work With Us!
Our Medical Decision Making Research Group is looking for an Associate in Research to join our team. Please see the job description below and the link to apply. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Associate in Research (RA) will support investigators on multiple research projects related to patient decision making and health communication. The RA will contribute to the…
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Podcast on How to Discuss Out-of-Pocket Costs with Patients
I had the pleasure of recording a podcast organized by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Avalere Health. Here is a link to the episode. You should also check out other episodes.
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If You Want to Avoid a C-Section Choose Your Hospital Wisely
We have an epidemic of C-sections in the US, now accounting for almost 1 in 3 births. That represents a 50% increase since the mid-90s, despite all the advances we’ve seen in obstetrical care. Sometimes C-sections are critical to saving the life of either baby or mother. But C-sections are major surgical procedures, with commensurate risks….
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In Countries That Invest In Long Term Care, People Are Less Likely To Die In The Hospital
In the U.S., we do a lousy job of paying for long-term care. We don’t help people cover the costs of nursing homes or home-health aids when they have chronic, life-threatening illnesses. As a result, more Americans die in the hospital than they would if we covered long-term care more generously. At least that’s the…
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Your Risk Of Prostate Cancer Just Dropped Precipitously. Here's Why
Most men diagnosed with prostate cancer don’t die of the disease. Between 2011 and 2015, 112.6 per 100,000 men per year were diagnosed with prostate cancer in the U.S., but only 19.5 per 100,000 men per year died of the disease over that same period of time. That is still far too many deaths. But the…
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The Greediest Companies In American Healthcare Are Not Who You Think
There’s plenty of price gouging in American healthcare. The pharmaceutical industry has gotten plenty of (well deserved) bad press for its pricing practices. At the extreme are people like “Pharma Bro” (and convicted felon) Martin Shkreli, who hiked the price of an important medication to treat infections in AIDS patients by over 5000%. But high and…
