Health Care Handbook

Resources

General sources for multiple topics

Data.gov (datasets for health & healthcare): http://www.data.gov/health/

Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us: http://time.com/198/bitter-pill-why-medical-bills-are-killing-us/

The Urban Institute Health Policy Center: http://www.urban.org/health_policy/

NPR Health Blog “Shots”: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/

Becker’s Hospital Review: http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/

IOM Future of Nursing: http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2010/the-future-of-nursing-leading-change-advancing-health.aspx

Priceless: Curing the Healthcare Crisis: http://www.amazon.com/Priceless-Healthcare-Independent-Studies-Political/dp/1598130838

Chapter 1

New website to compare hospitals: http://hospitalcompare.hhs.gov

Hospital mergers and how that will affect costs and care: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1313948

Veteran’s Administration:

News about the 2014 scandal over 40 deaths in Phoenix: http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/23/health/veterans-dying-health-care-delays/index.html
An example of the research showing good outcomes at the VA: Trivedi, Amal; Matula, Sierra; Miake-Lye, Isomi; Glassman, Peter A.; Shekelle, Paul; Asch, Steven. “Systematic Review: Comparison of the Quality of Medical Care in Veterans Affairs and Non-Veterans Affairs Settings.” Medical Care. Jan 2011. Vol 49. Issue 1. Pp76-88. doi: 10.1097/MLR.0b013e3181f53575
Explanation of the VA’s transformation in the 1990s: Extreme makeover: transformation of the veteran’s health care system

Non-hospital Care:

Post-acute care will be the next big thing in controlling spending: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1315607
Urgent care: Extensive overview: http://www.hschange.com/CONTENT/1366/ , “25 things to know” http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/lists/25-things-to-know-about-urgent-care.html
Trends in Complementary and Alternative Medicine: http://muse.jhu.edu.beckerproxy.wustl.edu/journals/journal_of_health_care_for_the_poor_and_underserved/v022/22.1.su.html

Trends & Issues:

The Anatomy of Health Care in the United States. An amazing article focusing on 1980-2011, chock-full of interesting information. http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1769890&resultClick=3

Primary Care:

Primary care’s effect on health: http://www.commonwealthfund.org/usr_doc/starfield_milbank.pdf
Primary care shortage: http://www.acponline.org/advocacy/current_policy_papers/assets/primary_shortage.pdf
Research showing more PCPs correlated with generally better health outcomes: http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=900155

Accountable Care Organizations:

Medicare Shared Savings Program vs. Pioneer ACOs: http://us.milliman.com/uploadedFiles/insight/healthreform/medicare-shared-savings-program.pdf
Results of ACOs (as of early 2014): http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2014/05/30/aco-results-what-we-know-so-far/
About Pioneer ACOs: http://innovation.cms.gov/Files/fact-sheet/Pioneer-ACO-General-Fact-Sheet.pdf
“Lessons” from the start of the Pioneer ACOs: http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/10/pioneer-accountable-care-organizations-lessons-from-year-1/
Problems with ACOs: http://theincidentaleconomist.com/wordpress/problems-with-acos/

Hospital Readmissions & Lack of Medicare Reimbursement:

A general brief on the topic: http://www.commonwealthfund.org/~/media/Files/Publications/Issue%20Brief/2013/Sep/1703_Marks_hosp_readmissions_ib_FINAL_v3.pdf
Just as the title says, a grab-bag of readmissions topics from JAMA: http://theincidentaleconomist.com/wordpress/a-grab-bag-of-readmissions-stuff-from-jama/
Nurses and readmissions: the article (http://journals.lww.com/lww-medicalcare/Abstract/2013/01000/Hospital_Nursing_and_30_Day_Readmissions_Among.11.aspx), some commentary (http://theincidentaleconomist.com/wordpress/reducing-readmissions-nurses-to-the-rescue/)
Problems with measurement: http://theincidentaleconomist.com/wordpress/hospital-readmissions-are-down-but-are-they-appropriately-measured/

Cost-Shifting:

This blog post has links to a ton of information on this ongoing phenomenon and debate surrounding it. http://blog.academyhealth.org/a-cost-shifting-update/

Chapter 2

General Information about Economics and Spending:

Health care spending over time: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1310228
Comparison to Canada, focusing on administrative costs and pricin: http://scholar.harvard.edu/cutler/publications/medical-spending-differences-united-states-and-canada-role-prices-procedures-and
A big experiment looking at whether insurance even plays a role in improved health, the RAND Health Insurance Experiment: http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB9174.html
The value of medical spending: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa054744

Behavioral Economics and Health Care: http://www.annualreviews.org.beckerproxy.wustl.edu/doi/full/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031912-114353?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%3dpubmed

Employer Sponsored Insurance:

Origins & implications http://www.nejm.org.beckerproxy.wustl.edu/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMhpr060703
An economist’s perspective on how ESI affects the labor market (this is the first in a series): http://theincidentaleconomist.com/wordpress/job-lock-introduction/
Examining what might happen if the tax benefits of ESI were limited: http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/412816-Limiting-the-Tax-Exclusion-of-Employer-Sponsored-Health-Insurance-Premiums.pdf
Trends in ESI: http://content.healthaffairs.org.beckerproxy.wustl.edu/content/32/10/1715.long

Sustainable Growth Rate:

Overview of the topic plus some efforts to change the legislation: http://www.acponline.org/advocacy/state_health_policy/hottopics/sgr.pdf
News article in early 2014 about yet another “doc fix:” http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/03/31/for-17th-time-in-11-years-congress-delays-medicare-reimbursement-cuts-as-senate-passes-doc-fix/
Informative editorial lambasting the SGR: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1007200

Pay For Performance:

About the provider payment modifier: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1311957
UK reduction in mortality associated with P4P: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa1114951
As the title says, an argument against reimbursing providers for value: http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleID=1863929

Understanding the differences between cost and price. Painter MW, Chernew ME. “Counting Change: Measuring Health Care Costs, Prices, and Spending.” Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. March 2012.

Super-utilizers:

Atul Gawande article about the issue from 2011: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/01/24/110124fa_fact_gawande?currentPage=all
Using “hotspotting:” http://www.rwjf.org/en/about-rwjf/newsroom/features-and-articles/Brenner11.html
CMS suggestions to address super-utilizers: http://medicaid.gov/Federal-Policy-Guidance/Downloads/CIB-07-24-2013.pdf

Health Spending Trends:

A good overview of the slowdown and now the possible speed-up: http://www.newrepublic.com/article/117452/rising-health-care-costs-what-it-means-economy-obamacare

Higher Patient Mortality Correlated with Better Patient Satisfaction: http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1108766

Administrative Overhead:

Reducing administrative costs: http://scholar.harvard.edu/cutler/publications/reducing-administrative-costs-and-improving-health-care-system
How administrative costs drive up spending more than doctors’ salaries: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/18/sunday-review/doctors-salaries-are-not-the-big-cost.html?hp&rref=opinion&_r=1

Trends in Emergency Department usage, increasingly where patient’s get acute care: http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/29/9/1620.abstract

Chronic disease costs, you can look up the data: http://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/resources/calculator/

Overview of hospice and trends in hospice usage: http://www.nhpco.org/sites/default/files/public/Statistics_Research/2012_Facts_Figures.pdf

Smoking is really expensive! http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/07/the-cost-of-a-smoker-5816/

About the connection between socioeconomic status and health (and costs): http://www.econ.ucla.edu/alleras/papers/Final%20handbook%20version.pdf

About the connection between education and Health: https://www.chrp.org/pdf/Cutler_Lieras-Muney_Education_and_Health.pdf

Chapter 3

Medical Errors:

To err is human, the original report that launched a thousand quality initiatives: http://www.iom.edu/Reports/1999/to-err-is-human-building-a-safer-health-system.aspx
Cost from total medical errors: http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/30/4/596.abstract

Transitions of care – a model used by Eric Coleman at University of Colorado: http://www.caretransitions.org/

Residency work hours

An “empirical narrative” of the issue: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsr1210160
An editorial with links to many studies: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/18/doing-the-math-on-resident-work-hours/
Looking at patient safety and resident well-being since the change in work-hour rules: http://link.springer.com.beckerproxy.wustl.edu/article/10.1007%2Fs11606-011-1657-1

Hospital-acquired infections

Prevalence: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1306801
Associated costs: http://www.cdc.gov/hai/pdfs/hai/scott_costpaper.pdf
The Keystone ICU project which reduced infections with checklists: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa061115
An interview with Bob Wachter about how non-payment doesn’t effectively reduce HAIs: http://webmm.ahrq.gov/perspective.aspx?perspectiveID=65

Nursing and Quality

Pdf brief of Health Systems Change: http://www.hschange.com/CONTENT/972/972.pdf
http://www.nursingquality.org/ (NDNQI)
AHRQ evidence-based handbook: http://www.ahrq.gov/professionals/clinicians-providers/resources/nursing/resources/nurseshdbk/index.html
AHRQ nursing research list: http://www.ahrq.gov/professionals/clinicians-providers/resources/nursing/ahrq/ra/index.html

Electronic Health Records

Sample debate about EHR’s utility:
- Original article: http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/31/3/488.abstract
- Rebuttal: http://www.healthit.gov/buzz-blog/meaningful-use/study-facts/
- Author’s response: http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2012/03/12/the-effect-of-physicians-electronic-access-to-tests-a-response-to-farzad-mostashari/
Small survey, 70% physicians don’t think EHR is worth it: http://medicaleconomics.modernmedicine.com/medical-economics/news/physician-outcry-ehr-functionality-cost-will-shake-health-information-technol?contextCategoryId=146

Meaningful use

Official overview from healthIT.gov: http://www.healthit.gov/providers-professionals/meaningful-use-definition-objectives
A review of Health IT focused on Meaningful Use: http://annals.org/article.aspx?articleID=1811028&csrt=11755048756813842309
Hacking Healthcare: A Guide to Standards, Workflows, and Meaningful Use, a Kindle e-book by Fred Trotter: http://www.amazon.com/Hacking-Healthcare-Standards-Workflows-Meaningful-ebook/dp/B005WZ0T4A/ref=tmm_kin_title_0

Culture change for quality and IT

Editorial about demanding not just use but utility: http://annals.org/article.aspx?articleid=1691739

Medical Malpractice

Nurses & malpractice: http://ccn.aacnjournals.org/content/23/2/104.full
A primer on med mal: http://www.rwjf.org/content/dam/farm/reports/reports/2006/rwjf17974
Debunking myths: http://www.rwjf.org/en/about-rwjf/newsroom/newsroom-content/2011/06/medical-malpractice-myths-clarified-at-meharry-session.html
Conflicting viewpoints on tort reform in Texas:
- Physician supply before and after tort reform: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2047433
- The conservative viewpoint: http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2013/07/ten-years-of-tort-reform-in-texas-a-review
- How tort reform affects patients: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/25/us/even-with-counsel-texas-amputee-is-hindered-by-state-tort-laws.html?_r=0
- An overview of the issues: http://theincidentaleconomist.com/wordpress/malpractice-reform-in-texas-a-review/
- Effect on costs: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1635882
Med mal and health care costs: http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/29/9/1569.full?ijkey=9EysG6JrbtmkY&keytype=ref&siteid=healthaff
Connection between quality and litigation, focused on nursing homes: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa1009336

Chapter 4

The title says it all, Role of Public-Sector Research in the Discovery of Drugs and Vaccines: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa1008268#t=article

NIH fact sheet about the sequester & decreased research funding: http://www.nih.gov/news/health/jun2013/nih-03.htm

Translational research and the “valley of death”

Research is important for health: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.200.7197&rep=rep1&type=pdf

The Pharmaceutical Industry. (This is a pretty big topic with a lot of controversy. It could extend this “suggested reading” section by several pages. To keep it at a minimum, we’ve included an article by a prominent critic of Pharma along with an article rebutting her arguments.)

Marcia Angell’s position: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2009/jan/15/drug-companies-doctorsa-story-of-corruption/
Countering Marcia Angell: http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnlamattina/2012/12/14/marcia-angells-attacks-on-pharma-have-lost-all-credibility/

The Food and Drug Administration

A list of all clinical trials, not just those that get through the FDA: https://clinicaltrials.gov/
A comparison of similar institutions in Canada and the EU: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa1200223

“Me too” drugs