By KIM BELLARD Many people don’t realize it, but a hundred years ago America was something of a scientific backwater. Oh, sure, we had the occasional Nobel laureate, but the center of science was in Europe, particularly Germany. Then in the early 1930’s the Nazis decided that “purity” – of political ideas, of blood –…
A friend of mine who wants to stay anonymous (for now at any rate) had a crazy waste of time proving that he was eligibile for a medication on his plan. I thought his story might trigger a few of you! And yes Optum is of course part of United HealthGroup–Matthew Holt Here is the…
Quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) are commonly used to evaluate the impact of new medical technologies on patient mortality and morbidity. However, use of QALYs Many authors have discussed the fact that standard assumptions result in utility functions that are unrealistically linear and separable, overlooking the diminishing marginal utility a fundamental property of utility functions in…
There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all. Peter Drucker
At a recent Nevada legislative committee hearing, lawmakers faced off with members of the governor’s administration over how to fill gaping holes in the state’s upcoming budget. At issue: whether opioid settlement money — paid by health care companies that were sued for fueling the opioid crisis and meant to help states abate addiction —…
Last fall, before being named the senior U.S. health official, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the Trump administration would liberate Americans from the FDA’s “aggressive suppression” of vitamins, dietary supplements, and other substances — ending the federal agency’s “war on public health,” as he put it. In fact, the FDA can’t even require that supplements…
By ALEX AZAR Presidential transitions are always a time of great change, but few leaders have ushered in a shift as sweeping as the rewiring of one-seventh of the U.S. economy. President Trump has the opportunity to do just that by doubling down on the health transformation achievements of his first term. A key to success is…
How best can you design an outcomes based agreement (OBA)? What are the key factors to consider? Project IDEATE is a “cross-disciplinary collaboration between National Health Service (NHS) Wales, industry and academia” with the aim to develop and refine OBA models. What were the key factors IDEATE considered for an OBA? Feasibility: Identify parameters to…
Lynda Brown-Ganzert is CEO of RxPx. The company is the 2022 merger of the company she founded, Curatio, which was a support system for rare disease patients, with RxMx, a complementary service that helped clinicians manage patients on treatment or clinical trials. Lynda says that somehow I inspired the merger! (Although I don’t remember it,…
HELENA, Mont. — Despite concerns about what Congress and the Trump administration might have planned for Medicaid, Montana’s Republican-led legislature and GOP governor appear ready to keep the state’s Medicaid expansion program in place beyond its scheduled end date this summer. State lawmakers don’t have the luxury of waiting until the federal picture sharpens. They…