Does more spending improve outcomes?

A number of studies have claimed that increased health expenditures may result in no better, or even worse outcomes.  For instance, a paper by Fisher et al. (2003) looking at patients with acute myocardial infarction, colorectal cancer, or hip fracture finds that “Quality of care in higher-spending regions was no better on most measures and…

Are multiple sclerosis treatments worth the cost? Comparing how treatment “value” is determined by five cost effectiveness analyses

by Daniel Kantor, Michelle Brauer and Jason Shafrin As drug prices continue to rise, many patients, payers and policymakers are asking whether the treatment benefits justify the cost. One method favored by health technology assessment (HTA) bodies for making this decision in a formal manner is to conduct a cost effectiveness analyses (CEA).  However, there…

A cancer tool to improve survival?

A recent paper by Basch et al. 2017, found that electronic patient-reported symptom monitoring improved patient overall survival by 5 months.  This finding came from a randomized clinical trial at Memorial Sloan Kettering. For patients in the arm with electronic patient-reported symptom monitoring, when “…participants reported a severe or worsening symptom, an email alert was triggered to a clinical…

What does “value” mean to patients?

There are numerous value frameworks being developed by an alphabet soup of organizations including ACC/AHA, ASCO, ICER, MSKCC, NCCN, and others.  These organizations generally represent providers or payer perspective on value.  But what does “value” mean to patients? The National Patient Advocate Foundation (PAF) provides their thoughts in a recent white paper titled “The Roadmap to…

Diagnostic Ability and Quality of Care

Quality of care often is seen as how physicians and other health care providers treat patients with a given disease.  Accurately diagnosing the disease a patient has, however, is in almost all cases a necessary condition to provide high-quality treatment.  Nevertheless, a physician’s ability to accurately diagnose a disease is rarely measured within exsting quality…