Twitter Round Up

This week’s twitter round up features a variety of topics from our contributors, from discussions about health care spending and the Affordable Care Act to articles about environmental poisoning of soldiers in Iraq.

  • Amitabh Chandra tweeted that “Healthcare spending growth hits a 10yr high… so much for ‘ACA is bending the cost curve’” and shared an article from USA Today.
  • Frank Pasquale shared a blog entry by Larry Backer about Pennsylvania State University students’ worries about the rise of health care costs.
  • I. Glenn Cohen shared a link to an article in The New York Times entitled “‘Environmental Poisoning’ of Iraq Is Claimed” and states that many veterans suffer from environmental poisoning while the “IOM [is] not sure.”
  • Kate Greenwood retweeted Austin Frakt and an article from The Incidental Economist about the negative impact of the insurance market before the implementation of the Affordable Care Act on entrepreneurship.
  • Stephen Latham tweeted a link to his blog reporting on the recent announcement of the Public Health Committee of the Connecticut Legislature that it does not plan to vote on a bill addressing “Aid-In-Dying” or physician-assisted suicide despite “61% public support for the bill.”

Twitter Round Up

This week’s twitter round up features a variety of topics from our contributors, from discussions about the troubles of patient matching to generic drug labeling and the readmission penalty.

Adrian Gropper shared a link to the most recent entry of his The Health Care Blog entitled “What You Need To Know About Patient Matching and Your Privacy and What You Can Do About It” in which he compares patient matching to “NSA surveillance.”

Amitabh Chandra tweeted that “the current readmission penalty, however well-intentioned, sure looks like a tax on minority and indigent serving hospitals.”

Frank Pasquale shared an article about the myths of high-protein diets and the potential consequences, including the quote that there is a “strong association between longevity and a low-protein, high-carbohydrate diet.”

I. Glenn Cohen shared a link to an article about “Intersextion: Germany Allows Patient to Choose ‘No Sex’ on Birth Certificate” and poses the question of whether or not the United States should follow Germany’s example in making such an allowance.

Kate Greenwood retweeted Alexander Gaffney including a link to a discussion of the new arguments being made about the generic drug labeling rule: “Opponents, Proponents of Generic Drug Labeling Rule Unleash New Argument and Supporters.”

Blogger Twitter Round-Up

By Parker Davis

This week’s twitter round up features a variety of topics from our contributors, from the chemical imbalance theory to infant mortality rates and IVF conception rates.

Frank Pasquale tweeted an article from The Star about the shift of the chemical imbalance theory related to mental illness from an agreed upon medical principle to simply another tactic used by marketers for pharmaceutical companies.

Art Caplan shared two updates regarding current rates of flu vaccination. The first was a retweet of a map graphic showing the “rate of nonmedical vaccine exemptions by state,” and the second was an update based on the records of the Immunization Action Coalition regarding the “now more than 400 organizations with mandatory flu” vaccines for health care workers.

Amitabh Chandra tweeted an update of the infant mortality rates of Pakistan versus India: “In 1960, India and Pakistan had the same infant mortality rate (155/1000). Today, Pakistan’s is 71/1000, which is what India had in 1995.” He also tweeted a Wikipedia article regarding infant mortality driving child mortality.

Stephen Latham tweeted a link to his blog reporting on “US IVF Conceptions at All-time High” which discusses the potential effects of not insuring people for assisted reproduction and encouraging implantations of multiple embryos.

Richard Epstein tweeted several times about the contraceptive mandate including links to the John Batchelor Show online.

Twitter Round-Up 2/12

This week’s twitter round up features a variety of topics from our contributors from the hunger crisis in America to the contraceptive mandate and the Lancet/Oslo Commission on Global Governance for Health.

Frank Pasquale tweeted an article from MSNBC about the millions of residents of New York suffering from hunger and the American hunger crisis overall (2/12).

Art Caplan was a guest of Southern California Public Radio, where he discussed the proposal in Rhode Island to mandate flu shots for children from 6 months to 5 years enrolled in preschool or daycare.

In response to a New York Times article about Medicaid expansion, Amitabh Chandra tweeted in support of allowing Medicaid beneficiaries to buy insurance on an exchange.

Stephen Latham tweeted a link to his blog responding to the Lancet/Oslo Commission on Global Governance for Health.

Richard Epstein tweeted his article in “Defining Ideas” about the contraceptive mandate and his view on the strength of the classical liberal case versus the religious case against the law.

Twitter Round-Up 11/20

In this Twitter round-up, many of our contributors shared news about end-of-life care and decision making. Some also continued to share their own thoughts, and those of others, about the Affordable Care Act.

Amitabh Chandra posted a NY Times article entitled “How Doctors Die.” The piece discusses some of the contrasts, which some might regard as disparities, between the quality of death experienced by laypeople and that of doctors and their families. (11/20)

Richard Epstein tweeted his blog post about some of the ethical quandaries that still plague “Obamacare.” In “Obamacare’s Death Spiral,” he addresses what he views as constitutional and social complications associated with the ACA. (11/18)

Amitabh Chandra tweeted a brief Wall Street Journal blog post titled “So Many Patients– But Not Enough Doctors to Treat Them!” The author discusses an impending doctor shortage being worsened by the lack of federal funds being appropriated to medical training, and the failure of the ACA to address the problem. (11/18)

Art Caplan posted the NPR story, “Seeking Lung Donors After At Home Death.” Many people who wish to be organ donors actually never fulfill this duty if they die outside the hospital. New advances in lung transplantation, however, may cause this to change.  (11/17)

Frank Pasquale tweeted a CBS News article detailing the success of the first few weeks of Medicaid open-enrollment. 440,000 people in 10 states have signed up. (11/12)

Art Caplan touched on the issue of end-of-life care as well this week, when he tweeted the CNN article, “Paralyzed after falling from tree, hunter and dad-to-be opts to end life.” Shortly after learning of his spine injury and paralysis, the man decided not to remain on life support.  (11/6)

Twitter Round-Up 11/5

The Affordable Care Act continues to be a popular topic of discussion amongst Bill of Health contributors, who also recently touched on issues of drug approval, vaccine improvements, and provider decision making.

Frank Pasquale tweeted an article about the extremely low-cost health insurance policies that will be available to some people under the Affordable Care Act. Millions of people will be eligible for free-premium plans, but an associated risk is that people will opt for these at the expense of plans that cover necessary care. (11/4)

Art Caplan tweeted his agreement with Robert Kuttner’s blog post about the Affordable Care Act. Building on private insurance was a mistake, according to Kuttner, whereas simply extending Medicare would have been a more favorable approach. (11/4)

Art Caplan also tweeted the results of a new study from Costa Rica suggesting that just one dose of the HPV vaccine might be enough to protect women from the virus. In his tweet, Caplan suggests that such a change might make the vaccine, which is currently taken in three doses, more widely accessible around the world. (11/4)

Michelle Meyer posted an article about the difficult balance between the FDA approval process and patient needs. The author describes his experience as part of a promising trial for a treatment for polycystic kidney disease, only to be let down by the Administration’s decision not to approve the drug. (11/2)

Frank Pasquale tweeted the results of a study revealing that half of clinical decision support (CDS) alerts are inappropriately overridden by providers. CDS alerts highlight things like patient allergies, drug interactions, etc., and can be potentially dangerous when erroneously ignored. (11/3)

Amitabh Chandra posted an article comparing the rollout of the Affordable Care Act to that of Massachusetts’s healthcare program in 2006. The author highlights, among other things, differences in the laws themselves, the websites designed to implement them, and the political context of the time. (10/30)

Twitter Round-up 10/22

By Sara Providence

This week, our contributors tweeted quite a bit about the Affordable Care Act, but also about vaccination, the cost of extending life, and the budgetary impact of preventive health policy.

Amitabh Chandra (@AmitabhChandra2) tweeted the piece “The Cost of Living,” a New York Magazine article about the dilemma posed by very expensive cancer drugs that extend life only by a few dozen days. His opinion on the article: “If there is only one article that you read on healthcare this year, make it this one.” (10/22)

Frank Pasquale (@FrankPasquale) tweeted Paul Krugman’s blog post, “Maybe Economics is a Science, but Many Economists are not Scientists.” Krugman raises the question of whether economists are actually using the evidence garnered in their studies to inform policy debates, using healthcare as an example. (10/21)

Adrian Gropper (@agropper), our newest contributor, tweeted his own blog post: “State Surveillance Endangers the Affordable Care Act: A Case Study.” He uses Massachusetts as a lens to discuss the issues caused by state monitoring of individual health information. (10/18)

Art Caplan (@ArthurCaplan) tweeted a BBC report that a judge in the UK ordered two sisters to receive the MMR vaccine. The ruling represents the latest perspective on the benefits of the vaccine versus its risks. (10/17)

Amitabh Chandra (@AmitabhChandra2) tweeted a report by the New England Journal of Medicine on the effect of cigarette taxes on the Federal budget. The analysis, performed by the Congressional Budget Office, highlights the complexity of determining the effects of health policy on the deficit. In Chandra’s opinion, it “exposes [the] sloppiness of prevention arguments.” (10/17)

Richard Epstein (@RichardAEpstein) tweeted his blog post, “The Obamacare Train Wreck,” about his take on how to improve the Affordable Care Act. In the post, he touches on ideas to “fix” the exchanges, the employer mandate, the coverage structure, etc. (10/14)