Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Lori A. Bollinger, Joseph Corlis, Regina Ombam, Steven Forsythe, Stephen C. Resch
Summary: This article discusses the development and usage experiences of unit cost repositories (UCRs), which serve as public resources and standard references for health policy-making and research. Lessons learned include the importance of costing expertise, balancing data complexity and usability, simplifying data extraction, and ensuring data quality control. It is concluded that UCRs have the potential to be a valuable public good if kept up-to-date and supported by global collaboration networks.
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Abdo S. Yazbeck, Agnes L. Soucat, Ajay Tandon, Cheryl Cashin, Joseph Kutzin, Julia Watson, Sarah Thomson, Son Nam Nguyen, Tamas Evetovits
Summary: Despite limited evidence, many countries are implementing contributory health insurance schemes, which have several limitations including lack of theoretical basis, inequity and fragmentation. Initiation of such schemes does not increase health sector revenues or achieve universal health coverage. Low and middle income countries can improve equity and efficiency by replacing out-of-pocket spending with pre-paid pooling mechanisms through budget transfers rather than contributory insurance.
SOCIAL SCIENCE & MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Onyinye Oyeka, George L. Wehby
Summary: The study aimed to estimate the impact of state-based reinsurance programs on health insurance marketplace premiums and insurer participation. Using event study difference-in-differences model and synthetic control method, it was found that reinsurance programs led to a decline in premiums of 10%-13%, 5%-19%, and 11%-17% for bronze, silver, and gold plans in the first year of implementation, with sustained declines in states that implemented the programs in 2019 and 2020. The analyses also showed some heterogeneity in the effect across states, but most states experienced premium declines and there was no evidence of an impact on insurer participation.
HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Substance Abuse
Amanda C. Cook, E. Tice Sirmans, Amanda Stype
Summary: This study examines the impact of medical cannabis laws (MCLs) on individual health insurance premiums. The findings show that the implementation of MCLs is associated with reduced premiums in the individual market. This is beneficial for both cannabis users and non-users.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DRUG POLICY
(2023)
Article
Economics
Jackson Williams
Summary: Health care costs in the USA are rising at an unsustainable rate, and no policy analysts have yet speculated on how to put an end to this trend. This article uses scenario analysis to propose potential turning points that could stabilize spending at a realistic level.
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Yong Yang, Stephen Nicholas, Shuo Li, Zhengwei Huang, Xiaoping Chen, Yong Ma, Xuefeng Shi
Summary: The study found significant city-specific differences in healthcare utilization and medical costs for stroke patients, highlighting inequalities in healthcare access. It suggests the need to consolidate fragmented social health insurance schemes in China to provide equal financial protection and improve equity in access to healthcare for stroke patients.
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Liangwen Zhang, Sijia Fu, Ya Fang
Summary: By analyzing the revenue and expenditure of LTCI funds, adjustments can be made to individual payment rates, government financial subsidies, and enterprise payment rates to increase the proportion of LTCI funds and alleviate the balance deficit under the original forecast. Additionally, it was found that the severe disability rate has the greatest impact on the balance of funds.
FRONTIERS IN PUBLIC HEALTH
(2021)
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Doris Osei Afriyie, Felix Masiye, Fabrizio Tediosi, Guenther Fink
Summary: Improving the quality of care is crucial for achieving universal health coverage, and health financing arrangements provide opportunities to incentivize improvements. This study examines the impact of Zambia's new National Health Insurance on equitable access to high-quality care. The findings suggest that the insurance could enhance financial resources for higher levels of care, improve access to costly interventions, enhance patient experiences, and integrate public and private sectors.
HEALTH POLICY AND PLANNING
(2023)
Article
Economics
Ithai Z. Lurie, Corbin L. Miller
Summary: Using administrative tax data, this study examines the distribution of employer-sponsored health insurance premiums in the United States. The findings show that higher income individuals are more likely to have employer-sponsored insurance and select more expensive plans. Additionally, the distribution of health subsidies is less unequal than the distribution of income itself.
JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
(2023)
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Ahmed Hazazi, Andrew Wilson, Shaun Larkin
Summary: This study assesses health funding models for better control of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and explores the perspectives on health insurance from the viewpoint of patients, clinicians, and managers. The study finds that the current health funding mechanism is financially unsustainable, leading to a greater reliance on personal health insurance to support government spending on healthcare.
Review
Health Care Sciences & Services
Juliette Artignan, Martine Bellanger
Summary: Community-based health insurance programs in sub-Saharan African countries can improve access to outpatient care, but have limited impact on access to inpatient care and equity among insured members. Rigorous studies are needed to validate and further develop these findings.
HEALTH POLICY AND PLANNING
(2021)
Article
Computer Science, Information Systems
Olivia K. Richards, Bradley E. Iott, Tammy R. Toscos, Jessica A. Pater, Shauna R. Wagner, Tiffany C. Veinot
Summary: Patients believed providers could help reduce medication-related costs but were unsure about providers' influence on test-related costs. Cost conversations about medications were viewed as beneficial, although they didn't always occur when needed. Collaborative informatics tools could facilitate cost conversations and shared decision-making to prevent patients from facing affordability challenges.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL INFORMATICS ASSOCIATION
(2022)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Liangwen Zhang, Sijia Fu, Yifan Wang, Ya Fang
Summary: This study predicts the trend of funds balance and screens appropriate financing schemes for China to establish a sustainable LTCI financing mechanism. By constructing a SDM model of LTCI funds, adjusting intervention indicators, and comparing the changing trend of LTCI fund balance, five better financing schemes are selected. This study provides policy suggestions for the scientific formulation of the LTCI financing mechanism in China.
FRONTIERS IN PUBLIC HEALTH
(2022)
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Addis Kassahun Mulat, Wenhui Mao, Ipchita Bharali, Rahel Belete Balkew, Gavin Yamey
Summary: Ethiopia has made impressive progress in health outcomes and economic growth in the past decade, despite having low total health spending in Africa. The Community-Based Health Insurance (CBHI) scheme was launched in 2011 with the goal of reaching 80% of districts and population by 2020. CBHI has mobilized community engagement and resources, improved access to health services, provided financial protection, and empowered women.
BMC HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH
(2022)
Review
Medicine, General & Internal
Mary Rose Angeles, Paul Crosland, Martin Hensher
Summary: This article reviews publications on Medicare, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, and the universal health care system in Australia. It identifies financing and policy challenges as well as opportunities for whole-of-system strengthening. The review highlights issues such as fragmented health care, lack of integrated health financing, and the burden of out-of-pocket costs.
MEDICAL JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIA
(2023)
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Daniella Meeker, Mark W. Friedberg, Tara K. Knight, Jason N. Doctor, Dina Zein, Nancy Cayasso-McIntosh, Noah J. Goldstein, Craig R. Fox, Jeffrey A. Linder, Stephen D. Persell, Stanley Dea, Paul Giboney, Hal F. Yee
Summary: Since the emergence of COVID-19, there has been a rapid shift towards systems reducing face-to-face encounters, such as electronic consultations. A study was conducted to test the effectiveness of feedback comparing physicians to top-performing peers, which showed significant improvements in specialist performance in decision-making, educational value, and relationship building. The findings suggest that interventions appealing to professional norms can enhance the efficacy of new healthcare systems.
JOURNAL OF GENERAL INTERNAL MEDICINE
(2022)
Article
Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary
Wandi Bruine de Bruin, Aulona Ulqinaku, Dana P. Goldman
Summary: The study shows that once people are overlooked in vaccine allocation, they may no longer want to get vaccinated. Most participants preferred prioritizing vaccines for high-risk individuals, but a significant number indicated they would refuse vaccination if passed over.
JOURNAL OF RISK RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Jeffrey L. Cummings, Dana P. Goldman, Nicholas R. Simmons-Stern, Eric Ponton
Summary: Over the past 26 years, the private sector has invested a total of $42.5 billion in the development of Alzheimer's disease drugs, with the majority of costs incurred during phase 3 clinical trials. This calls for continued investment from industry, government, and academia to reduce expenses and develop disease-modifying therapies for Alzheimer's disease.
ALZHEIMERS & DEMENTIA
(2022)
Article
Medicine, Research & Experimental
Tiffany Brown, Theresa A. Rowe, Ji Young Lee, Lucia C. Petito, Ryan Chmiel, Jody D. Ciolino, Jason N. Doctor, Craig R. Fox, Noah J. Goldstein, Darren Kaiser, Jeffrey A. Linder, Daniella Meeker, Yaw Peprah, Stephen D. Persell
Summary: This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of behavioral-economics-informed clinical decision support interventions in reducing overtesting and overtreatment in older adults. Conducted as a parallel arm, pragmatic cluster-randomized trial, the study focuses on three co-primary outcomes including PSA screening, urine testing, and diabetes overtreatment in primary care clinics. The trial has achieved adequate balance between study arms and aims to assess the safety and effectiveness of these interventions in reducing overuse of specific tests and treatments for older adults.
CONTEMPORARY CLINICAL TRIALS
(2022)
Article
Medicine, Research & Experimental
Marcella A. Kelley, Stephen D. Persell, Jeffrey A. Linder, Mark W. Friedberg, Daniella Meeker, Craig R. Fox, Noah J. Goldstein, Tara K. Knight, Dina Zein, Mark D. Sullivan, Jason N. Doctor
Summary: The AESOPS-2 trial aims to reduce opioid prescribing by increasing clinicians' awareness of patients' opioid-related overdoses, potentially leading to a decrease in opioid use disorder and overdoses in the population.
CONTEMPORARY CLINICAL TRIALS
(2022)
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Stephen D. Persell, Tiffany Brown, Jason N. Doctor, Craig R. Fox, Noah J. Goldstein, Steven M. Handler, Joseph T. Hanlon, Ji Young Lee, Jeffrey A. Linder, Daniella Meeker, Theresa A. Rowe, Mark D. Sullivan, Mark W. Friedberg
Summary: The study developed and validated seven measures of high-risk polypharmacy and pilot tested electronic health record (EHR)-based nudges grounded in behavioral science. Results showed that the EHR alerts were effective in promoting physicians to address high-risk polypharmacy, with a high response rate to reminders and justifications nudges. Further testing of these interventions is warranted.
JOURNAL OF GENERAL INTERNAL MEDICINE
(2022)
Article
Medicine, Research & Experimental
Bridget K. McCabe, Jeffrey A. Linder, Jason N. Doctor, Mark Friedberg, Craig R. Fox, Noah J. Goldstein, Tara K. Knight, Katrina Kaiser, Jason Tibbels, Steve Haenchen, Stephen D. Persell, Rebecca Warberg, Daniella Meeker
Summary: This study aims to reduce inappropriate antibiotic prescriptions for acute respiratory infections (ARI) using telehealth. A large randomized quality improvement trial is conducted to test the effectiveness of patient and physician feedback, as well as behavioral nudges embedded in the electronic health record. The findings from this trial may inform telehealth stewardship strategies and provide guidance for safe and effective antibiotic use.
CONTEMPORARY CLINICAL TRIALS
(2022)
Correction
Medicine, Research & Experimental
Bridget K. McCabe, Jeffrey A. Linder, Jason N. Doctor, Mark Friedberg, Craig R. Fox, Noah J. Goldstein, Tara K. Knight, Katrina Kaiser, Jason Tibbels, Steve Haenchen, Stephen D. Persell, Rebecca Warberg, Daniella Meeker
CONTEMPORARY CLINICAL TRIALS
(2022)
Editorial Material
Oncology
Lincoln Nadauld, Dana P. Goldman
Article
Geriatrics & Gerontology
Theresa A. Rowe, Tiffany Brown, Ji Young Lee, Jeffrey A. Linder, Daniella Meeker, Jason N. Doctor, Noah J. Goldstein, Craig R. Fox, Stephen D. Persell
Summary: This study developed and tested clinical decision support alerts informed by social psychology to address overuse in ambulatory care of older adults. The results showed that the alerts were effective in reducing unnecessary testing and treatment.
ARCHIVES OF GERONTOLOGY AND GERIATRICS
(2023)
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Tiffany J. Callahan, Adrianne L. Stefanski, Jordan M. Wyrwa, Chenjie Zeng, Anna Ostropolets, Juan M. Banda, William A. Baumgartner, Richard D. Boyce, Elena Casiraghi, Ben D. Coleman, Janine H. Collins, Sara J. Deakyne Davies, James A. Feinstein, Asiyah Y. Lin, Blake Martin, Nicolas A. Matentzoglu, Daniella Meeker, Justin Reese, Jessica Sinclair, Sanya B. Taneja, Katy E. Trinkley, Nicole A. Vasilevsky, Andrew E. Williams, Xingmin A. Zhang, Joshua C. Denny, Patrick B. Ryan, George Hripcsak, Tellen D. Bennett, Melissa A. Haendel, Peter N. Robinson, Lawrence E. Hunter, Michael G. Kahn
Summary: Common data models address standardization challenges in EHR data, but fail to integrate all resources for deep phenotyping. OBO ontologies provide computable representations of biological knowledge, but mapping EHR data to OBO ontologies requires manual curation. OMOP2OBO is an algorithm that maps OMOP vocabularies to OBO ontologies, enabling deep phenotyping and identification of undiagnosed patients.
NPJ DIGITAL MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Applications
Paul Kingsbury, Hakob Abajian, Mark Abajian, Praveen Angyan, Juan Espinoza, Beau MacDonald, Daniella Meeker, John P. Wilson, Neil Bahroos
Summary: Social and Environmental Determinants of Health (SEDoH) are gaining attention in personal and public health research. The release of SEnDAE, an open-source toolkit, aims to facilitate the collection and association of various environmental variables with patient medical records by ingesting them from different sources and linking them to arbitrary addresses.
COMPUTER METHODS AND PROGRAMS IN BIOMEDICINE
(2023)
Correction
Computer Science, Information Systems
Jihoon Kim, Larissa Neumann, Paulina Paul, Michele E. Day, Michael Aratow, Douglas S. Bell, Jason N. Doctor, Ludwig C. Hinske, Xiaoqian Jiang, Katherine K. Kim, Michael E. Matheny, Daniella Meeker, Mark J. Pletcher, Lisa M. Schilling, Spencer SooHoo, Hua Xu, Kai Zheng, Lucila Ohno-Machado
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL INFORMATICS ASSOCIATION
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Hasan Nadeem, Bo Zhou, Dana Goldman, John Romley
Summary: The use of β2-agonists in patients with chronic lung disease is associated with a decreased risk of developing Parkinson's disease, suggesting a potential protective effect.
Article
Computer Science, Information Systems
Daniella Meeker, Paul Fu, Gary Garcia, Irene E. Dyer, Kabir Yadav, Ross Fleishman, Hal F. Yee
Summary: This case study explores the establishment of a research informatics program in the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, focusing on patient-centered high-priority research and the importance of governance frameworks.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL INFORMATICS ASSOCIATION
(2022)