Category: Inequality

Distributional Cost Effectiveness Analysis: A simple example

Atkinson index, DCEA, Econometrics, Economics - General, Inequality, Kolm index, Pharmaceuticals, Public Policy / September 8, 2021 September 8, 2021

I have written previously about the need for distributional cost-effectiveness analysis (DCEA) which would increase the value of treatments who improve the health for individuals who currently have the worst expected quality-adjusted life expectancy (QALE). I’ve written about this in AJMC and Health Affairs among other places. One key question many individuals may have is …

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I thought HIV meant death but it led me to fight to save millions of lives | Vuyiseka Dubula

Africa, Aids and HIV, Global development, Health, Inequality, Pharmaceuticals industry, Poverty, Social exclusion, South Africa, World news / July 5, 2021 July 5, 2021

Twenty years ago in South Africa people were dying unable to access expensive antiretrovirals. The creation of the Global Fund was gamechanging In 2001, at the age of 22 – when I thought my life had just begun – I was diagnosed with HIV. At that time, the diagnosis felt like a death sentence. Every …

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Should hospitals pay for housing for ED frequent flyers?

access, Inequality, public health, SDOH / June 23, 2021 June 23, 2021

That is one approach being explored in Philadelphia according to an article in Kaiser Health News. Using funding from Temple University, two Pennsylvania Medicaid health plans, and some grant funding, the Template University Health System: …launched a two-year program last year to help 25 homeless Medicaid patients who frequently use its emergency room and other …

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Fewer Pharmacies In Minority Neighborhoods

Disparities, Inequality, pharmacies, Pharmacy / May 3, 2021 May 3, 2021

One reason for worse health outcomes for racial minorities could be reduced access to pharmacies. However, how big a problem is pharmacy access? A recent Health Affairs paper by Guadamuz et al. (2021) uses 2007-2015 data from the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP) to identify pharmacies, which were then geocoded and linked to …

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In the fight against Covid, have we been inoculated against compassion? | Letters

coronavirus, Health, India, Inequality, Infectious Diseases, Pharmaceuticals industry, Poverty, UK news, Vaccines and immunisation, World Trade Organization / April 25, 2021 April 25, 2021

Dr Mohga Kamal-Yanni says world leaders must stop putting big pharma’s profits before people’s lives. Sue Hoar wonders why more is not being done to help Covid patients in India The shortfall in Covid vaccine doses going to the Covax vaccine-sharing scheme is deeply worrying, and highlights a massive flaw in the plans to provide …

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Should you risk adjust for social factors?

Inequality, P4P, Quality, risk adjustment / April 12, 2021 April 12, 2021

If you want to implement value-based care, you need to define what a ‘good’ outcome is. A good outcome may be different for different individuals. For instance, if you look at mortality rates for a given disease, it makes sense that individuals age 80 and above will have higher mortality rates than those 20-29 year …

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US adult life expectancy falling for those without a college degree

Deaths of Dispair, HC Statistics, Inequality / March 11, 2021 March 11, 2021

That is the finding from a study published by Anne Case and Angus Deaton this week in Proceedings from the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). While COVID-19 has had a clear impact in the last 12 months, in fact figures from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) indicate that American life expectancy peaked in …

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COVID-19 and racial disparities

COVID-19, HC Statistics, Health Disparities, Inequality / January 17, 2021 January 17, 2021

On the eve of Martin Luther King Day, let us take a quick look at the impact of COVID-19 by race/ethnicity. CDC reports rates of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths. One can see that cases are higher for most minorities (except Asians) relative to Non-Hispanic Whites, but hospitalizations and deaths are much higher for all …

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Steps Health Professionals Can Take to Reduce Inequality in Health Outcomes

DCEA, Inequality, MCDA, My Papers / September 24, 2020 September 24, 2020

That is the title of an article in AJMC co-authored with Meena Venkatachalam. An excerpt is below: While decision-makers traditionally have ignored the issue of inequality, academic researchers have already developed tools to quantify a treatment’s value from reductions in inequality. Two common methods for doing so are distributional cost effectiveness analysis (DCEA) and multiple-criteria …

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What can pharma do about social determinants of health?

Bucks, Inequality, SDOH / August 27, 2020 August 27, 2020

The Milwaukee Bucks–my home town sports team–yesterday boycotted Game 5 of their NBA playoff series. This historical event serves to bring attention to the inequalities African-Americans and other minorities face in our society. In health care, disparities also exist. As I mentioned in my Health Affairs blog piece with Meena Venkatachalam, COVID-19 has highlighted these …

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If our patients are diverse, why are clinical trials so white?

Clinical Trials, Inequality, Partner content, patients, Press releases, public health, social care / July 22, 2020 July 22, 2020

How many times have you been told to put on sunscreen to prevent skin cancer? About 71% of US adults use some form of sun protection when outdoors on a warm, sunny day – an increase of 3% from 2008. Now, what if I told you that despite these public health initiatives to increase …

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Disparities in COVID-19 hospitalization rates

Contagious Disease, Inequality / July 8, 2020 July 8, 2020

Azar et al. (2020) use electronic health record data to examine differences in COVID-19 hospitalization rates by patient characteristics. The authors find that: …compared with non-Hispanic white patients, nonHispanic African American patients had 2.7 times the odds of hospitalization, after adjustment for age, sex, comorbidities, and income. These findings echo similar COVID-19-related conclusions across California. …

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