Selected Publications

The following recently-published papers address important issues in health care value assessment.

• In an article in BMC Health Services Research, by Allison Oaks and colleagues they discuss systemic overuse in the commercially insured population. Findings suggest that systematic overuse is found at a regional level and stays persistent over time. Read full article here.

• In a study from The National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation, researchers found a large percentage of x-rays and MRIs provided within 30 days of an initial office visit were deemed inappropriate, costing commercial insurers between $4.6 and $5.5 million over the two-year study period. Read full article here.

• In an editorial piece by Mark Fendrick and Darrell George in AJMC, they discuss the “Drug Price Iceberg”, cautioning that when it comes to the political iceberg of drug prices, there is more than meets the eye. Read full article here.

• In a study recently published in JAMA Internal Medicine, Badgery-Parker and colleagues study the level of hospital acquired complications associated with low-value care in Australia. Findings suggest that the use of 7 low value care procedures in harming some patients, consuming additional hospital resources and potentially delaying care for other patients. Read full article here.

• In a follow on to the low-value care webinar hosted by the University of Michigan’s Center for Value-Based Insurance Design and VBID Health, Laura Joszt from AJMC discusses the elements in the webinar including the difficulties in reducing the use of low-value care. Read full article here.

• In a study published by Betsy Cliff, Richard Hirth and Mark Fendrick in Health Affairs, they discuss the likelihood of high and low value service use in the first two years after an insurance benefit change. Their findings suggest that interventions aimed at increasing high-value preventive services can cause spillovers to low value services and should include deterrents to low value care. Read full article here.

• In a JAMA research letter, Dr. Kevin Platt and colleagues discuss their study on the overuse of self-monitored glucose testing in Type 2 diabetic patients, and the cost it has on the health care system. Read the full article here.

• In a study by Aaron Schwartz and colleagues, they conclude physician practices may substantially contribute to low-value service usage but it is difficult to which physicians are more wasteful without measuring their behavior. Read the full article here.

• In a meta-analysis conducted by Dr. Daniel Morgan and colleagues to understand medical overuse, they found many current practices represent overuse while other services were used inappropriately. Read the full article here.

• In an interview with the Patient Safety Network’s Perspectives on Safety, Dr. David Meltzer discusses his research in the Comprehensive Care Physician Model that he developed and has been testing to improve the cost and quality of hospital care. The full interview can be read, and listened to here.  
• An article by Anupam Jena and colleagues in the American Journal of Managed Care, examines value frameworks with real-world patient outcomes. Read the full article here. 
• The Health Affairs Council on Health Care Spending and Value announces the twenty member experts and charge of the group. Read the full article here.  
• In an opinion piece, Drs. Navathe, Emanuel and Volpp discuss the potential disconnect between patients and health care organizations/providers in value-based insurance designs. Read the full article here. 
• In a Health Affairs viewpoint article, John O’Shea discusses how the well intentioned efforts to move to the health care system to be more effective is adding substantial administrative and regulatory burden on physicians, hospitals and providers. Read the full article here. 
• In this invited commentary Dr. Peter Groeneveld discusses the nuances in measuring and improving value in health care. Read the full article here.  
• In an NBER working paper, Liran Einav, Amy Finkelstein, and Neale Mahoney identify a specific source of waste in long-term care hospitals. Read the full article here. 
• Andrew Heekin, et al. “Choosing Wisely Clinical Decision Support Adherence and Associated Inpatient Outcomes”, AJMC (August 2018). 
• Budros, Michael, and Fendrick, A. Mark. “Levers to Reduce Use of Unnecessary Services: Creating Needed Headroom to Enhance Spending on Evidence-Based Care,” AJMC (August 2018).
• Miller, George, Corwin Ryhan, Beth Beaudin-Seiler, and Paul Hughes-Cromwick. “A Framework for Measuring Low-Value Care,” Value in Health (April 2018).
• Neumann, Peter J., and Joshua Cohen, "America’s 'NICE'?" Health Affairs Blog (March 12, 2018).
• Armstrong, Melissa J., and Daniel C. Mullins, "Value Assessment at the Point of Care: Incorporating Patient Delivery and Draft Taxonomy of Patient Values," Value Health (February 2018). 
• Mafi John N, and Michael Parchmanl, "Low-Value Care: An Intractable Global Problem with no Quick Fix," BMJ Quality & Safety (Jan. 13, 2018).