Health Economics Commons^™

Retiree Health Benefits And Retirement, James Marton, Stephen A. Woodbury

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Novartis's Alex Gorsky: Ensuring That Patients Get Access To The Medicines They Need, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

Alex Gorsky was named head of Pharma North America and CEO of Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp., the U.S. affiliate of Swiss drug giant Novartis, in the fall of 2005. Since joining the company in 2004 as chief operating officer and head of general medicines, Gorsky has overseen the continued growth of Novartis's industry-leading cardiovascular franchise, notably the blockbuster drugs Diovan and Lotrel. The company sells a variety of products, including those that treat endocrine and respiratory disease, gastrointestinal illnesses, cancer and blood disorders and bone and joint conditions, among others. Prior to joining Novartis, Gorsky was company group chairman for Johnson …

Can't Afford To See A Doctor? The Difficulties Of Reforming China's Healthcare System, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

An article co-published on May 22 by China Social Science Literature Publishing house and China Medical Industry Magazine, entitled “Healthcare Greenpaper,” reviews a series of problems associated with China’s healthcare reform over the past 10 years. Of the five biggest problems identified by the paper, the worst one is prohibitively expensive treatment. To examine this issue, Knowledge@Wharton interviewed a variety of experts and officials on the state of health care in China and the changing relationships between hospitals and patients.

Retiree Health Benefits And Retirement, James Marton, Stephen A. Woodbury

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

Employer-provided health benefit coverage for workers who retire before age 65 has fallen over the last decade. We examine a cohort of male workers from the Health and Retirement Survey to examine questions about the dynamics of retiree health benefits and the relationship between retiree health benefits and retirement behavior, which is important for the debate over increasing health coverage for older Americans without reducing work incentives. On dynamics, we find that between 1992 and 1996, 24 percent of full-time workers who had retiree health benefits lost their coverage, while 15 percent of full-time workers who lacked coverage gained it. …

Pdf Of Volume 1 Number 2 Entire Issue

Value-Based Purchasing Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Program Schedule, Neil Goldfarb

Value-Based Purchasing Newsletter

Information about the College for Advanced Management of Health Benefits.

City Of Knoxville Uses Simple Innovations To Curb Medical Insurance Costs, Gary Eastes

Value-Based Purchasing Newsletter

A review of recent innovative benefit design changes in the City of Knoxville, Tennessee.

Consumer Directed Health Plans: Evolution And Early Outcomes, Stephen T. Parente

Value-Based Purchasing Newsletter

A review of the history of consumer-directed health plans and the evidence to date as to their impact.

Literature Review, Joshua Gagne

Value-Based Purchasing Newsletter

A review of recent literature on consumerism and consumer directed health care.

Patient-Centered Care: “It’S The Patient, Stupid!”, Dale Shaller, Neil I. Goldfarb

Value-Based Purchasing Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Desulfovibrio Desulfuricans G20 Tetraheme Cytochrome Structure At 1.5 A˚ And Cytochrome Interaction With Metal Complexes, Mrunalini Pattarkine, J J. Tanner, C A. Bottoms, Y H. Lee, Judy D. Wall

Faculty Works

The structure of the type I tetraheme cytochrome c3 from Desulfovibrio desulfuricans G20 was determined to 1.5 A˚ by X-ray crystallography. In addition to the oxidized form, the structure of the molybdate-bound form of the protein was determined from oxidized crystals soaked in sodium molybdate. Only small structural shifts were obtained with metal binding, consistent with the remarkable structural stability of this protein. In vitro experiments with pure cytochrome showed that molybdate could oxidize the reduced cytochrome, although not as rapidly as U(VI) present as uranyl acetate. Alterations in the overall conformation and thermostability of the metal-oxidized protein were investigated …

Assessing The Economic Impact Of The Fayetteville, Arkansas Smoking Ban, Jeffery T. Collins

Publications and Presentations

This report is the third in a series of studies examining the impact of the implementation of the smoke-free ordinance in Fayetteville, Arkansas in March of 2004. The ban on smoking in public places in Fayetteville provides an opportunity to scientifically investigate the economic impact of this change in public policy. By comparing pre-ban historical economic growth rates to post-ban growth rates both within the city of Fayetteville and in comparable communities, some measure of the impact can be developed. Variables of interest include hotel, motel, and restaurant (HMR) taxes, employment, and sales taxes. The changes in these variables need …

Do Children's Hospitals Have Lower Mortality Rates? Evidence From The 2003 Kids' Inpatient Database, Christiane Labonte

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Objective: To compare mortality rates at children’s hospitals and non-children’s hospitals.

Data Source: I used the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Kids’ Inpatient Database (KID) released by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in 2003. Thirty-six states participated in the HCUP in 2003, which included 3,438 hospitals, and 2,984,129 pediatric discharges.

Study Design: I hypothesized that mortality rates at children’s hospitals would be lower than mortality rates at non-children’s hospital because children’s hospitals have more specialized inputs, from the clinical training of sub-specialists and nurses to advanced machines and diagnostic tools, and may use these inputs more productively. To …

Industry Leaders Debate Big Pharma R&D (Too Little Hope?) And Stem Cell Research (Too Much Hype?), Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

Different points on the research spectrum were under the microscope at the Wharton Health Care Business Conference last month as two panels of biotech, pharmaceutical and investment leaders discussed the state of R&D among big pharmaceuticals and the progress of stem cell research. While disappointing results in both sectors have dominated the news lately, panelists at each session also noted some promising developments -- and causes for optimism -- in their respective fields.

Download The Pdf Of The Full Issue

Value-Based Purchasing Newsletter

Download the full issue in format that is easy to print and read from cover to cover.

Program Schedule

Value-Based Purchasing Newsletter

No abstract available.

Literature Review, Joshua J. Gagne

Value-Based Purchasing Newsletter

Each issue of Value-Based Purchasing will provide a summary of recent articles from the published VBP literature. In this issue, we spotlight several recent publications regarding pay-for-performance programs and financial incentives for quality care.

News Briefs

Value-Based Purchasing Newsletter

No abstract available.

Improving Health Care Quality Through Value-Based Purchasing: What Can The Pioneers Teach Us?, Christine W. Hartmann, Neil I. Goldfarb, Vittorio Maio, Adam R. Roumm, David B. Nash

Value-Based Purchasing Newsletter

The Department of Health Policy of Jefferson Medical College has been engaged in research on value-based purchasing (VBP) for the past five years. With support from The Commonwealth Fund, the Department’s research team has examined the potential of VBP to improve quality and cost-effectiveness of health care. This article summarizes this work.

Clinical Performance Measurements And Incentives Enable Value Based Purchasing, Jerry Reeves

Value-Based Purchasing Newsletter

No abstract available.

Welcome To Value-Based Purchasing, Neil I. Goldfarb, Dale Shaller

Value-Based Purchasing Newsletter

No abstract available.

Employment Success Of Community And Technical College Program Graduates As An Indicator Of Economic Development In West Virginia, Kristin L. Mallory

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The purpose of this study was to analyze existing wage data to quantify the employment success of community and technical college graduates by program as an indicator of economic development in West Virginia. Data for the variables were obtained from archival databases and a cooperative agreement between state agencies. Descriptive statistics were utilized to examine employment rates, range of earnings, and employment in-industry of community and technical college graduates from 23 programs from 1997 to 2002. Graduates in the health fields demonstrated both the highest and lowest ratios of employment, with the mean employment rate for all programs of 68.12 …

Examining Adherence And Sexual Behavior Among Patients On Antiretroviral Therapy In India, Avina Sarna, Indrani Gupta, Sanjay Pujari, A.K. Sengar, Rajiv Garg, Ellen Weiss

HIV and AIDS

With increased availability of ART, HIV-positive individuals are living healthier lives and continuing or resuming sexual activity. However, optimism related to ART’s success in slowing disease progression, reducing viral load, and improving health status may lead to more risky sexual practices and a possible increase in transmission of infections. To determining the sexual behavior of HIV-positive persons on ART, the Horizons program, in collaboration with research partners in Delhi and Pune, conducted a study to assess current levels of adherence to ART among a sample of people living with HIV/AIDS, identify the factors that influence their adherence to treatment, and …

Does Falling Smoking Lead To Rising Obesity?, Jonathan Gruber, Michael D. Frakes

Faculty Scholarship

The strong negative correlation over time between smoking rates and obesity have led some to suggest that reduced smoking is increasing weight gain in the U.S.. This conclusion is supported by the findings of Chou et al. (2004), who conclude that higher cigarette prices lead to increased body weight. We investigate this issue and find no evidence that reduced smoking leads to weight gain. Using the cigarette tax rather than the cigarette price and controlling for non-linear time effects, we find a negative effect of cigarette taxes on body weight, implying that reduced smoking leads to lower body weights. Yet …

Unreimbursed Emergency Department Costs Incurred By Hispanic Workers And Their Dependents In Central Kentucky, Sandra L. Senft

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Health care costs in the United States are a concern to policy makers, healthcare providers, and the population using medical services. Because fewer individuals have health insurance, as costs continue to rise, so have the levels of charity care provided through the Emergency Departments at many hospitals. Hispanics are a growing population thought to be receiving an increasing portion of this care. The Hispanic population in Kentucky has seen a significant increase in recent years, in large part because of the demand for agricultural workers. It has been established that a sizeable part of the Hispanic migrant worker community is …

World Bank, Adrienne Stohr

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The mission of the World Bank is to aid developing countries stabilize their economies through financial and technical assistance. The five dominant themes that emerge in a review of the World Bank literature are: health, gender, environment, globalization, and global governance. Each of these themes is broadly related to issues that consistently influence the larger issue of how the World Bank incorporates, rejects, or impacts human rights.