The Incidental Economist

I imagine most readers of this blog are aware of Health Wonk Review, a biweekly roundup of the best health policy posts from the blogosphere. Each edition is hosted by a different blog. Aaron and I are regular contributors. Frustratingly, you can’t just subscribe to the HWR, you’ve got to find out where it is every two weeks. Today it is at InsureBlog. Check it out!

Every so often it seems appropriate to remind folks that this blog has a comments policy. All who comment are assumed to have read it. All who disagree with it will find no audience for their grievances here. (Starting one’s own blog is very easy, you know.) To date, blog administrators have never deviated from the policy. We intend to keep it that way, for our benefit and yours.

Aaron’s posts this week have generated a lot of interest, citations, and e-mail, and it is only Wednesday. I (we) are very grateful for the link-backs and feedback. Some of it credits me, not Aaron for the posts. So, I just want to be sure that folks realize that much of what they are reacting to isn’t my work. It’s Aaron’s.

I’m not saying that because I’m getting flamed (I am not). I’m saying that because the feedback is enormously positive and supportive and Aaron deserves the credit. So, before you fire off that e-mail or cite us in your blog post, be sure to check the by line. You can contact Aaron directly by e-mail. I’m reachable via a contact form.

I’m flattered that folks think I could pump out that many good posts in three days. I do write quickly, but I’m not that productive.

Coincidental to joining forces with Aaron Carroll, a pediatrician, I have at least three posts coming up this week that pertain to children or child health. So, with respect to my posts at least, it will be akin to Kids Week (not that I won’t blog on other topics).

Find your inner child, or your real one, and join in.

So hopefully some of you already know me from following me from my old blog.  And, perhaps, some of you recognize me from Austin’s referencing my work.  But introductions are in order, nonetheless.

My name is Aaron Carroll, and I am a health services researcher.  I have a hard time explaining what I do, but when you break it down, I do research on health care at a systems level.  Most of my funded research is in information technology and decision support systems as they are applied to clinical care.  I also do some health policy work, some broader work in decision analyses, and a bit in professionalism.  If you have a burning interest, you can go read some of my papers in the medical literature, or more about my real job in the Indiana Children’s Health Services Research group and the Center for Health Policy and Professionalism Research.

I grew up on the East Coast, outside of Philadelphia.  I went to college in Massachusetts, then back to Philly for medical school.  Then I headed out west to Seattle for five years for my pediatrics residency and fellowship in health services research.  In 2003, I moved to Indiana to work at IU school of medicine, and here I remain.

Most of what I post here will be about health policy.  Every once in a while I will write something broader about health or medicine.  And, once in a while, I will write something just for fun.  I also periodically blog over at The Huffington Post, and will cross-post those here in the future.

I’m married, and have three children ages 4 to 8 1/2.  This is in spite of my having a huge comic book collection, almost every video game system you can think of, and a large set of Star Wars Lego models in my office.

I am a pretty regular guest on Stand Up! with Pete Dominick on Sirius/XM radio, and on Sound Medicine, which is on regional NPR.  You may also occasionally hear me talking about medical myths somewhere, since I co-wrote a book on the subject last year.

I do like to hear from you, so please follow me in any of the ways listed here.  You can also email me.

I’m excited to be here!

Yes, things don’t work yet. The blog will start to look funny and different. I’ll put up a post when the construction is complete.

I’ll be implementing some major changes to the blog’s layout and functionality this weekend. If all goes well, I’ll joyfully explain the motivation once things are working. If not, I’ll be stressed and frustrated and in no mood to explain anything.

Change is good but challenging. Let’s grease the skids with a little butter. Make it deep fried butter. Never heard of it? Aaron Carroll has. Consider this the weekend humor image, one day early:

There’s so much more in Aaron Carroll’s post. Read it and laugh, weep, vomit.

By invitation, I’ll be cross-posting on Citizen Cohn today and tomorrow. Thanks go to Jon Cohn for inviting me. I’ve written about my appreciation for his reporting and terrific blogging before. So, I’m grateful for the opportunity to share space at his place (again).

Of course I hope Citizen Cohn readers will like what I provide in my guest posts and come join me over at my place too.

Tomorrow and Thursday I’ll be guest blogging on Jon Cohn’s blog, Citizen Cohn. The way it is supposed to work is that an editor at The New Republic will pick up posts off my feed and cross post them there. So you can read them in either location (they’ll be here first though).

I mention this because regular readers may notice some stylistic changes and repetition of ideas I’ve already blogged about lately. Don’t worry, I haven’t lost my mind (yet). I’m just writing for a different and wider audience for two days. After that it’ll be back to the usual me.

Say that ten times fast! Blog break bleg blog break bleg blog break bleg …

It’s been a busy week on the blog, hasn’t it? That should make up for next week, when I’ll be devoting my full attention to other time-sensitive matters. I will not be doing any real-time blogging and have queued up some original posts (no re-runs). I’ll mostly tune out the blogosphere and traditional news too. (It’ll be challenging, but necessary.)

My bleg is this: while I’m not paying attention, if you notice something that pertains to health policy or health economics that you think I should know about or comment on, please tell me, either in a comment to this post or with a message to my inbox. Some readers do this regularly (you know who you are, right?), and I appreciate it.