Risk isn’t all it is cracked up to be, as Amanda Dillard argues (with me as a co-author) in a new paper available on line at the Annals of Behavioral Medicine. At high risk for breast cancer? May not matter, in terms of getting you interested in taking a pill to reduce that risk. But FEELING at high risk? That is a different story. As Amanda shows quite persuasively, after you control (statistically speaking) for women’s actual risk, it is the way they feel about that risk that determines their behavior.
Sign on the dotted line or …
Ever had a doctor present you with a contract, laying out what you need to do or else? Well, this is an increasingly common practice in medicine.
Michael Volk led a group of us who wrote about this topic recently in The Lancet. Click on this link to check it out.
Sleepless in the hospital
I don’t think Tom Hanks will be starring in the movie version of my latest blog post, but click on this link to see an essay I wrote in a medical magazine about how to use insights from behavioral economics to improve patients’ sleep in the hospitals.
Federalizing Medicaid
Here is a new post I’ve got up at the Health Care Cost Monitor, in which I try to convince folks that even Republicans should be in favor of federalizing Medicaid. I’d love your feedback, as I’m still developing this idea.