Can we reasonably consider ‘doing nothing’ as an alternative course of action? In many cost-effectiveness analyses the intervention under consideration is compared against a ‘doing nothing’ scenario, although frequently the next best alternative is used. Ultimately the health technology assessment… Read More »The ethics of doing nothing
Recent changes to the NHS raise the potential for health care providers to deny treatment based on an individual’s characteristics, such as their weight or whether they smoke. I think this calls for a reminder of the implications of discriminating in… Read More »The efficiency of treating fat smokers
The ongoing Occupy… protests around the world have brought more attention to the debate on income inequality in the world. Wage variance has increased in the last thirty years, most notably in the United States. In the UK, for example,… Read More »Income inequality and health
Simulation and data analysis are two of the principle parts of health economics research. Most Master’s courses teach both, although many focus more heavily on the former. There are many programs and packages available to a researcher, each with their… Read More »Tools of the trade
Last year the UK government announced the establishment of a £600 million cancer drug fund, to be spent over 3 years. This represents a minuscule amount of money compared to the NHS’s annual budget, which is in excess of £100,000,000,000. However, it… Read More »Cancer drugs and public preferences
What causes people to respond to incentives? From a simplistic view we may say that people just pick the option with the highest utility; everybody has a price, right? Financial incentives are often used to alter health related behaviours. In… Read More »The impact of incentives
Ben Goldacre, author of Bad Science, recently published an article online for his Guardian column discussing hospital level variation in Bowel Cancer mortality. In this article he discusses how journalists often see patterns in random variation, to which he responds… Read More »Cause and effect: Hospital choice and rankings
Many have spoken out in opposition to the bill. Some have spoken out in support. As health economists most of us have done little of either. I recently wrote to health economists asking them to answer a simple question: “With… Read More »Health and Social Care Bill 2011
Credit Crunch Health Care – How economics can save our publicly funded health services Paperback, 160 pages, ISBN: 9781847427526, published 16 February 2011 Amazon / Google Books / The Policy Press Cam Donaldson has chosen to use his powers of prophecy for good in his new book… Read More »Review: Credit Crunch Health Care (Cam Donaldson)
We have recently seen the idea of buying/selling/trading organs thrust into the media spotlight (and not for the first time). There’s a lot of very poor thinking floating around in this debate, though Sue Rabbitt Roff’s recent paper, which helped fuel the… Read More »Paying for organs