Health Economics Commons^™

Editor's Updates From The College, Neil I. Goldfarb

Value-Based Purchasing Newsletter

CAMHB Gets a New Name. The College for Advanced Management of Health Benefits has been renamed The College for Value-Based Purchasing of Health Benefits (CVBP). When the College was founded in 2004 the term “value-based purchasing” was relatively unknown outside of the limited circle of employers and coalitions that were already engaged in VBP activity. Since that time, the VBP movement has gathered steam, due in no small part to DHHS’ stated commitment to becoming a value-based purchaser of health services. The College curriculum has always been focused on value-based purchasing, and will continue to have this focus, so, in …

Has Vietnam’S Economic Progress Bypassed Its Ethnic Minorities?, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

In Vietnam, young people account for about one-third of the country’s 85 million population, a historic peak for this age group. While previously with the Population Council in Vietnam, sociology professor at the Singapore Management University (SMU), Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan, conducted studies of ethnic minority youths as well as health-seeking behavioural practices of minority parents with children less than five years. The findings raised concerns that the benefits of the country’s rapid progress as well as improvements in living and health standards have not filtered through to those living in the remote areas.

A Look At Women And Abortion In The United States, Denitsa D. Koleva, Kristina V. Marinova, Robyn A. Byrne

Gettysburg Economic Review

The issue of abortion is defined by ethical questions and, often, controversial views. This paper argues the importance of a coherent and enhanced effort to study the quantitative relationship between women’s characteristics and the average number of abortions in the United States. It specifically looks at the average number of previous abortions and socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, as this relationship has not been explored before in the existing literature. We expect to establish a correlation between the average number of previous abortions and characteristics such as age, marital status, income and highest degree of education completed. An empirical model is …

After The Revolution: Global Health Politics In A Time Of Economic Crisis And Threatening Future Trends, David P. Fidler

Articles by Maurer Faculty

In 2008, global health’s political revolution, which unfolded over the preceding 10-15 years, ended when four global crises damaged global health and altered the political, diplomatic, and governance contexts in which global health activities operate. The climate change, energy, food, and economic crises revealed limitations in global health’s ability to shape large-scale political, economic, and environmental problems that adversely affect health or harm underlying determinants of health. In addition, projected trends in world affairs potentially threaten health and the ability of countries to craft effective collective action responses to global problems damaging health directly and indirectly. In the post-revolution period, …

Dealing With 'Messy Policy Problems' In The Health Care Sector, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

In his new book, Dealing with Messy Policy Problems, to be published in April 2009, political science professor Steven Ney of the Singapore Management University offers insights on how to make sense of complex, messy and often overlapping policy problems. Ney contends that having conflicts is a necessary part of the process of finding solutions to complex policy issues. He spoke to Knowledge@SMU on policy issues relating to the crisis in global health care. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Likely Impact Of Mandated Paid Sick And Family-Care Leave On The Economy And Economic Development Prospects Of The State Of Ohio, Edward W. Hill, Spence Christopher, Daila Shimek, Ziona Austrian

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

This report analyzes the potential impact of a proposed paid sick and family care leave legislation on the economy of the state of Ohio, the economic development prospects of the state and on the management of production processes that depend on highly integrate teams. The report also reviews the literature on the effect of mandated paid sick and family care leave on the industrial relations system—workplace performance and worker retention. Our analysis concludes that there would have been a net cost associated with the paid sick leave and family-care initiative proposed in Ohio with a lower bound estimate of $63.84 …

Is American Health Care Uniquely Inefficient?, Alan M. Garber, Jonathan Skinner

Dartmouth Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Positioning Hospice Care Within The Black And Hispanic Communities, Carol Armstrong

Graduate Theses

Nationally, hospice care and the signing of advance directives are underutilized by minority populations. Research on this phenomenon includes cultural differences, access to medical care and language barriers. A retrospective study of 1,817 closed patient charts from a local hospice was conducted to determine significant differences among the White, Black and Hispanic patient populations. The number of White patients admitted to both hospice homecare and to the hospice inpatient was significantly greater than the number of admissions of either the Black or Hispanic patients. There were no significant findings in the total number of services provided to each of the …

For Love, Money Or Flexibility: Why People Choose To Work In Consumer-Directed Homecare, Candace Howes

Economics Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of wages and benefits (relative to other jobs available to workers), controlling for personal characteristics, on the recruitment and retention of providers working in a consumer-directed home care program.

This article was written as part of a project titled ‘‘Building a High Quality Homecare Workforce: Wages, Benefits and Flexibility Matter,’’ which was supported by a research grant from the Better Jobs Better Care Program and funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (#049213) and Atlantic Philanthropies (#12099) with direction and technical assistance provided by the Institute for the Future of …

Singapore Company Promises Dialysis Treatment Breakthrough, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

If all goes well, two years from now kidney patients will get a new lease of life when a portable, artificial kidney is launched by a Singapore-based company. AWAK Technologies was formed in 2007 to commercialise a technology that allows people suffering from kidney failure to lead a life that is close to normal. AWAK CEO Neo Kok Beng spoke recently on “Disrupting the Kidney Dialysis Market: Revolutionary Technologies & Business Models” at a CEO Talks forum organised by the Wee Kim Wee Centre, Singapore Management University.

The Impact Of Being Born With Cleft And Cleft Reparative Surgery On Overall Health And Speech Outcomes, Khatansuudal Evsanaa

Master's Theses

Orofacial cleft is one of the most common and treatable birth defects in the world. If left untreated, orofacial cleft can impair normal speech development, growth, and could lead to a number of health consequences later in life. The main motivation of the study is to measure the impact of being born with cleft and the cleft reparative surgery on overall speech and health cleft for teenagers in India using difference-in-differences approach along with household fixed effects method. An overall health outcome was measured using height, weight, grip strength and BMI, and the speech acceptability was measured using a “Universal …

Gene Patenting In The Life Sciences Industry: Boon Or Bane?, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

Does gene patenting encourage or hinder knowledge diffusion and take-up in the life sciences industry? Research by Singapore Management University management professor Kenneth Huang, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology management professor Fiona Murray found that patenting can have a negative impact on scientific progress. Huang spoke to Knowledge@SMU about the implications of his research findings in the Singapore context.

Preference Heterogeneity And Insurance Markets: Explaining A Puzzle Of Insurance, David M. Cutler, Amy Finkelstein, Kathleen Mcgarry

Dartmouth Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Productivity Spillovers In Healthcare: Evidence From The Treatment Of Heart Attacks, Amitabh Chandra, Douglas O. Staiger

Dartmouth Scholarship

A large literature in medicine documents variation across areas in the use of surgical treatments that is unrelated to outcomes. Observers of this phenomena have invoked “flat of the curve medicine” to explain these facts, and have advocated for reductions in spending in high-use areas. In contrast, we develop a simple Roy model of patient treatment choice with productivity spillovers that can generate the empirical facts. Our model predicts that high-use areas will have higher returns to surgery, better outcomes among patients most appropriate for surgery, and worse outcomes among patients least appropriate for surgery, while displaying no relationship between …

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Value-Based Purchasing Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Spouse Accountability In Wellness Program Requirements

Value-Based Purchasing Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Benefits College Program Schedule For 2008, Neil I. Goldfarb

Value-Based Purchasing Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Challenges And Benefits In Using Productivity Data From Clinical Trials For Vbp Decisions, Thomas J. Bunz, Pharm.D., Laura T. Pizzi

Value-Based Purchasing Newsletter

Making value based purchasing decisions in healthcare requires balancing data from several sources. Information on effectiveness of interventions often comes from clinical trials, with less reliance on observational studies. Historically, the opposite has been true of information on the cost of interventions. More recently, providers of healthcare interventions such as drugs, devices, and disease management programs have begun to understand and appreciate the importance of costs in healthcare decision making. Because of this, the clinical trials used to demonstrate effectiveness have begun to gather data on costs. This article describes some benefits and detriments of collecting cost data as a …

The Emerging Role Of Electronic Medical Records - What Do They Mean To Quality And Value?, Richard Jacoby

Value-Based Purchasing Newsletter

President Bush identified electronic medical records (EMRs), also known as electronic health records (EHRs), as one of the 4 cornerstones in his value driven health care initiative. EMRs represent a “disruptive technology” insofar as they change the way we capture, store, retrieve, share, and use health information. Because they have the ability to transform and enhance virtually all communications, transactions, and analyses involving healthcare information, implementation of EMRs will have a profound effect on patients, providers, and payers. The transformation likely will parallel the one which occurred as information technology enhanced knowledge and productivity in the non-healthcare segments of the …

The Centers For Medicare And Medicaid Services’ Approach To Value-Based Purchasing, Bettina Berman

Value-Based Purchasing Newsletter

Although evidence suggests that both the quality and the affordability of health care can be improved¹, it is likely that such improvements will come at great cost. Healthcare expenditures in the United States (U.S.) are expected to rise precipitously - from $1.5 trillion in 2005 to over $4 trillion in 2016.² Medicare, the nation’s single largest health care purchaser, spent an estimated $425 billion on health services in 2007. With the projected growth in Medicare beneficiaries, the amount may surpass $800 billion by 2017, placing the government under significant pressure to control health care costs.³

This …

Uncle Sam's Debut On The Value-Based Purchasing Stage, Neil I. Goldfarb

Value-Based Purchasing Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Geographic Decomposition Of Inequality In Health And Wealth: Evidence From Cambodia, Tomoki Fujii

Research Collection School Of Economics

The small-area estimation developed by Elbers, Lanjouw and Lanjouw (2002, 2003), in which a census and a survey are combined to produce the estimates of welfare measures for small geographic areas, has become a standard tool for poverty analysis in developing countries. The small-area estimates are typically plotted on a map, which are commonly called a poverty map. Poverty maps proved useful for policy analysis and formulation, and have become increasingly popular among policy-makers and researchers. In Cambodia, poverty maps have been used by various international organizations, ministries and non-governmental organizations for analyzing the poverty situations for their operation areas, …

The Business Of Healthcare: A Slippery Slope?, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

In Singapore, healthcare consumes 3.7% of GDP and is rising. Jeremy Lim, director of policy and research at Singapore Health Services (SingHealth), was the featured speaker at a recent Singapore Management University Wee Kim Wee Centre event. Lim trained as a surgeon before moving into healthcare management and health services research. He talked to Knowledge@SMU about the business opportunities and challenges in Singapore’s healthcare sector.

Caring For America’S Aging Population: A Profile Of The Direct-Care Workforce, Kristin E. Smith, Reagan A. Baughman

Sociology

Direct-care workers constitute a low-wage, high-turnover workforce with low levels of health insurance; taking these characteristics into account guides the challenge of how to deal with the growing demand for long-term care by an aging U.S. population.

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Value-Based Purchasing Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Program Schedule

Value-Based Purchasing Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Health Of The Nation = Health Of The National Work Force, Janice L. Clarke

Value-Based Purchasing Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Letter From A Graduate Of Camhb, Karin Grinstad

Value-Based Purchasing Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Vbp Interview With Debra Ness, Dale Shaller

Value-Based Purchasing Newsletter

No abstract provided.

“Consumer Engagement”: Great Expectations For Employees -- And Their Employers, Dale Shaller

Value-Based Purchasing Newsletter

No abstract provided.