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Harold M Hastings

Harold Hastings’s journal round-up for 16th July 2018

Every Monday our authors provide a round-up of some of the most recently published peer reviewed articles from the field. We don’t cover everything, or even what’s most important – just a few papers that have interested the author. Visit… Read More »Harold Hastings’s journal round-up for 16th July 2018

Kenneth Arrow on healthcare economics: a 21st century appreciation

Nobel laureate Kenneth Arrow passed away on February 21, 2017. In a classic, fifty-year-old paper entitled Uncertainty and the Welfare Economics of Medical Care, Arrow discussed how: “the operation of the medical-care industry and the efficacy with which it satisfies… Read More »Kenneth Arrow on healthcare economics: a 21st century appreciation

ICU triage: a challenge and an opportunity

In a well-publicized snapshot of the challenge of ICU triage, Chang and colleagues wrote: Critical care services can be life-saving, but many patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) are too sick or, conversely, not sick enough to benefit. Intensive care… Read More »ICU triage: a challenge and an opportunity

Slide rule

“Doing the math” on the distribution of healthcare expenditures: a Pareto-like distribution is inevitable

Yesterday I explored one of the major challenges to affordable, universal health insurance, namely the high cost of providing care to the sickest patients. The extreme distribution of healthcare costs means that “Targeting the highest spenders represents the greatest opportunity… Read More »“Doing the math” on the distribution of healthcare expenditures: a Pareto-like distribution is inevitable

Stanchions and velvet ropes

Sharing the burden of healthcare: providing care to our sickest patients

One of the major challenges to affordable, universal health insurance is the high cost of providing care to the sickest patients. According to Roy Vaughn, senior vice president at BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, “just 5 percent of the company’s marketplace… Read More »Sharing the burden of healthcare: providing care to our sickest patients