Advocates for Evidence-Based Health Policy Speakers
Pay-for-Performance Update
RAND researchers investigated the nations largest pay-for-performance (P4P) system, California’s Integrated Healthcare Association’s P4P. This system represents 225 independent practice associations and integrated medical groups covering over 6 million patients. The enrollees of this program have insurance coverage which provides Continue Reading …
The Kaiser Prototype for Health Information Technology
In 2004, Kaiser Permanente implemented KP HealthConnect, a possible prototype for an interoperable health information technology (HIT) system. A retrospective, observational study of one Kaiser Permanente region in the state of Hawaii explored the effects of HealthConnect on the performance Continue Reading …
Parents’ Perspectives on Medicaid Changes
During tough economic times, state governments often make drastic cuts to health programs, specifically Medicaid, in order to balance budgets. A recent study in the Journal of the National Medical Association investigated the opinions of Medicaid parents regarding federally-mandated changes Continue Reading …
Generics vs. Brand-Name Drugs
As authorized by the 1984 Hatch-Waxman Act, generic drugs must be demonstrated to be “bio-equivalent” to their brand-name counterparts. There must be an absence of a significant difference in the availability of the active ingredient at the site of drug Continue Reading …
Competence and capacity: the right practitioner for the right procedure?
British researchers conducted a pragmatic, randomized trial aiming to compare the effectiveness of doctors and nurses performing upper and lower endoscopy. The authors enrolled 29 hospitals comparing 67 doctors to 30 nurses who performed endoscopic procedures on 1888 randomized patients Continue Reading …