By Lucy Doyle, MD
Faculty Peer Reviewed
Ten years ago, I found myself in a village in rural central China that was ravaged by AIDS. Villagers had contracted the disease through a contaminated blood-selling program. It was there that I met a rural doctor riding his bicycle to see his patients. In his basket, he was carrying watermelons. It was heartbreaking to realize that this was all he could offer to his patients, who were all going to die. …
Commentary by Vlad Fridman, MD
$50,000. This is the price of a new (and cheap) model BMW, and also a price the US government is willing to spend to prolong your medically trained (or everyone else’s for that matter) life by one year. Before describing why $50,000 was chosen it’s necessary to describe what this number stands for.
For years, health economists have been struggling to determine a way to ration health care. Since resources are limited, who is…
John J. Mercuri
Faculty peer reviewed
Introduction
The 111th Congress allocated $19 billion of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 toward the creation of an electronic health record (EHR) for each person in the United States by 2014.(1) The recent debate over EHRs has focused largely on the economic, logistical, and political consequences of implementing such a system; however, the country should also contemplate the ethical ramifications of EHRs. Addressing…
Carolyn Bevan MD
Faculty Peer Reviewed
With health care spending increasing at an unsustainable rate while an estimated 46 million Americans live without insurance , the urgent need for healthcare reform in the US is clear. Much less obvious, however, is how to go about it. At the beginning of the month, President Obama addressed Congress in a political call to arms, emphasizing that Americans must come together to address this important issue. This week, many of the major…
Minal Kale MD
Nirav R. Shah MD, MPH
In the last few months, academic research communities have been all aflutter with the unprecedented sums of money that are up for grabs, as supported by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The federal stimulus package promises $10.4 billion administered through the National Institutes of Health (NIH), 80% of which is devoted specifically to scientific research. The frenzy in applying for these monies belies the high level of organization that…
Commentary by Zackary Berger MD PhD, PGY-3, Health Care Policy Section Editor
The name of neurosurgeon and health journalist Sanjay Gupta was leaked in early January as Barack Obama’s choice for Surgeon General. His selection has caused controversy, and the formal nomination seems to have been delayed by the search for a Secretary of Health and Human Services after the withdrawal of Tom Daschle. While we’re waiting for Gupta to be confirmed, we can ask: what exactly is the Surgeon General supposed to…
Commentary by Zackary Berger MD PhD, PGY-3, Health Care Policy Section Editor
As Massachusetts’ Secretary of Health and Human Services, JudyAnn Bigby, MD, is charged with overseeing the health-care program which covers nearly all of the Commonwealth’s residents (nearly 98%) while costing more than anyone expected (about 800 million dollars in 2008). On February 4th, Dr. Bigby spoke at NYU’s Medicine Grand Rounds, where she summarized the approach and accomplishments of Title 58, the health care legislation passed in 2006. The program…
Commentary by Amit Sura, MD, MBA, PGY-1 and Nirav Shah MD, MPH, NYU Assistant Professor of Medicine
On March 1, 2001 the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released “Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century” in response to alarming rates of medical errors that led to thousands of unnecessary deaths. (Washburn 2001) The report called for changes within information technology (IT), payment policies, and the medical workforce. By stressing a “new paradigm for health care delivery,” rules, aims, and the…
Commentary by Zackary Berger MD PhD, PGY-3, Health Care Policy Section Editor
Even in the midst of the presidential campaign, we should remember that there are a number of health care plans other than those proposed by McCain or Obama. Given the vagaries of politics, any given plan is very unlikely to be passed. Thus we should become familiar with the details of a variety of them, since any compromise will look like a hybrid of them. What follows is a subjective summary.…
Commentary by Andrew McKinstry MD PGY-1
Reviewed by Albert B. Knapp MD, FACP, NYU Clinical Professor of Medicine
Biomedical and basic science research are the undisputed driving forces that will shape the future of medicine in the United States. Both presidential campaigns have weighed in regarding science policy and research funding. What follows is a quick comparison of the candidates’ stated policies on science research and biomedical issues, as well as any relevant votes they may have cast in the senate.
Senator…
Commentary by Albert B. Knapp MD, FACP, PC, NYU Clinical Professor of Medicine (Gastroenterology)
The American people are facing a transformational election this November 4th. Many important issues including the focus of our Foreign Policy, the balance of the Supreme Court, and the future direction of our economy are at stake. Healthcare, comprising 15% of our national economy and affecting every American life is perhaps the most significant domestic issue and the most contentious policy debate in the election. While two decades of sophisticated…
Surprising results from the Datmouth Atlas of Health Care
Commentary by Zackary Berger MD PhD, PGY-3, Health Care Policy Section Editor
What explains the large variation in health care costs across the country? You would expect that the regions with the highest health care expenditures have the sickest patients, or have the highest prevalence of chronic health conditions.
But you would be wrong. Health care expenditures are highest where health care supply is the highest. As the number of hospital beds,…
