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
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 […]
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 […]
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.
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 […]
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 […]
The Surprising Truth About The Rising Price Of Generic Medications
In recent years, it feels like we’ve been inundated by stories of greedy pharmaceutical companies jacking up the price of important generic medications. In 2015, “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli, recognized that no other generic companies were manufacturing Daraprim, a drug used to treat infections common among people with AIDS. So he raised the price of […]
Want to Reduce Opiate Overdoses? Legalize Medical Marijuana
I have written about medical marijuana before, relaying research findings showing that the legalization of medical marijuana is associated with a reduction in use of pain medications. Here’s another piece of evidence leading to a similar conclusion, from a study by the research team of Bradford and Bradford out of the University of Georgia. (Athens, […]
Insurers Are Not Paying Enough For HPV Vaccines – And Our Kids Are Paying The Price
The HPV vaccine saves lives. It does so by reducing a person’s chance of being infected by the human papilloma virus, a virus that causes a whole range of cancers including, most importantly, cervical cancer. Vaccinate your teenage daughter against HPV, and you will increase the chance she will live to old age. Simple as […]
How Hospitals Turn Charity Care Into Profits — At Taxpayers' Expense
Sometimes it is hard for hospitals to provide expensive care to poor patients. When a low-income patient needs $20,000 of chemotherapy, a hospital loses money if that patient cannot pay for the medicine, or pays through Medicaid, with its relatively stingy reimbursement. Fortunately, the federal government created a program for hospitals that care for a […]