07/04/2017
Austin FraktFrom time to time I solicit suggestions on what to write about. Usually I solicit topics, but that often doesn’t generate very many ideas I can work with. The reason is that my writing isn’t driven by topics so much as studies.
Of course, each piece is on a topic. But my entry is through the research. I start with a study that sparks an idea I think will resonate with people. That leads to other studies, and a post is born.
With that, what studies do you think I should write about? Please send links or full enough citations so I can find them. You can reach me on Twitter, by email, or in the comments below, which are open for one week.
by David States on July 4th, 2017 at 12:26
Competition and prices in health care markets. Why are US prices so much higher than prices in other OECD countries?
by Russ Abbott on July 4th, 2017 at 12:33
You’ll probably get lots of references to this study since it’s been written about in so many places. Here’s one of them.
https://phylogenomics.blogspot.com/2017/07/human-microbiome-studies-really-are.html
by Austin Frakt on July 5th, 2017 at 09:54
Aaron has written about the microbiome: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/06/upshot/exciting-microbe-research-temper-that-giddy-feeling-in-your-gut.html
If he didn’t hit this particular study, please reach out to him.
by Eric Tremont on July 4th, 2017 at 13:58
I would be interested in seeing your critique of the recently released study by Robert Pollin et al. on the California single payer proposal. Among other issues, I would like to know if you think their spending estimates are plausible. In particular, I am wondering if they have correctly applied estimates of the elasticity of demand (based on their literature review) when co-payments are significantly reduced for most patients.
Thank you for your consideration.
by oncodoc on July 4th, 2017 at 20:45
This might be up your alley:
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1615069
by David Anderson on July 5th, 2017 at 09:10
This paper co-authored by one of my colleagues at Duke looks at the confusion inherent to buying health insurance as people anchor on “Gold” despite flipping the attributes of Gold to Bronze level plan design and premiums
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1414771?af=R&rss=currentIssue#t=article
by Austin Frakt on July 5th, 2017 at 09:52
I wrote about that one: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/02/upshot/why-consumers-often-err-in-choosing-health-plans.html
by Jaso on July 5th, 2017 at 12:23
Risk of death among users of Proton Pump Inhibitors: a longitudinal observational cohort study of United States veterans
by Kimberly Dick on July 5th, 2017 at 16:34
I don’t know if there have been any detailed studies on this, but given the Republican party’s desire to repeal the ACA, I would find it fascinating if you could find any work done to break down the lives saved by the ACA since its implementation: How many people? What are their demographics? What sorts of conditions do they have?
by Sidney R. Finkel on July 5th, 2017 at 19:27
Please, please write often and extensively on false positives and the probability analysis involved. I am an econometrician and I find that this is the single most mis-understood concept by the health care providers, including and especially physicians. Great harm is being done by the failure of the industry to understand the statistics associated with this topic.
by Sidney R. Finkel on July 6th, 2017 at 19:20
Also, the principles of insurance, why the individual mandate is necessary, why the employer mandate is necessary, how insurance works when there is risk spread among a large population. Ted Cruz and others are pushing insurance segmentation (see NYT Upshot), which is the opposite of good insurance policy. It’s like the people who know the least about how insurance works are the one’s setting the policy.
by Margaret Mortz on July 7th, 2017 at 22:29
http://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/86816/2001044-high-premiums-in-nongroup-insurance-markets-identifying-causes-and-possible-remedies_2.pdf
Sensible?