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Meghan Ross

Oct 28 2020
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Angela Duckworth and Kevin Mahoney

Two CHIBE Members Make Phillymag’s List of 76 Most Influential Philadelphians

By CHIBEblog

Congratulations to CHIBE’s Angela Duckworth, PhD, MA, MSc, and Kevin Mahoney, MBA, who were named two of Phillymag’s 76 most influential Philadelphians. Dr. Duckworth, the Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Psychology, is a CHIBE-affiliated faculty member, while Mr. Mahoney, University of Pennsylvania Health System CEO, serves on CHIBE’s Internal Advisory Board. Phillymag praised Dr. Duckworth’s work “unraveling the mystery of human behavior change” and her efforts advocating for equitable resources in public schools. In addition to the vast number of institutions and individuals under Mr. Mahoney’s purview, the health system CEO told Phillymag he was proud of Penn’s research…

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Oct 27 2020
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Dr. Peter Reese Awarded Samuel Martin Health Evaluation Sciences Research Award

By CHIBEblog

Congratulations to CHIBE-affiliated faculty member Peter P. Reese, MD, MSCE, who has won the University of Pennsylvania’s Samuel Martin Health Evaluation Sciences Research Award. In addition to his affiliation with CHIBE, Dr. Reese is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at Perelman School of Medicine and Associate Professor of Medical Ethics and Health Policy. “This is the highest award for the type of research that faculty in our department do, and reflects his outstanding contributions to extending the benefits of organ transplantation to ever-wider circles of patients who might not have benefited in the past,” Interim Chair of the…

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Oct 27 2020
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judy shea headshot

Dr. Judy Shea Wins Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching

By CHIBEblog

Congratulations to Judy Shea, PhD, a CHIBE-affiliated faculty member and Professor of General Internal Medicine at Perelman School of Medicine, who has been awarded the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching from Penn. The Lindback is the University’s highest teaching honor. Dr. Shea also serves as the Associate Dean of Medical Education Research and co-Director of the Masters of Science in Health Policy Research. “She serves dual roles, working with faculty and fellows to design and evaluate research projects, and directing the evaluation of the medical school curriculum and faculty,” Penn Medicine stated. “Much of her…

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Oct 23 2020
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Penn Today: Workplace wellness programs could improve if more personalized

By In the News

In a program that used three different types of behavioral nudges, personal and psychological characteristics are strongly tied to people’s progress—or lack thereof. The programs were intended to nudge them toward increased physical activity. “A one-size-fits-all approach to nudging new behaviors within wellness programs can have limited success,” says senior author Mitesh Patel, director of the Penn Medicine Nudge Unit. “We’ve shown that different forms of nudging can be effective, and in this latest study on this program, we’ve now demonstrated that matching nudges to the right behavior profiles can unlock their full potential.” Read more at Penn Today.

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Oct 22 2020
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Wired: Your Brain Prefers Happy Endings. That’s Not Always Smart

By In the News

In a study published Monday in The Journal of Neuroscience, Vestergaard and coauthor Wolfram Schultz show that participants prefer experiences with happy endings to experiences that became slightly less enjoyable towards the end. Based on fMRI imaging, they were able to suggest some of the mechanical underpinnings of this preference by showing that different parts of the brain preserve and process different pieces of information from the same experience. “The specific idea that we were interested in in this work is the disconnect between what people enjoy and what they want,” says Vestergaard. Although people may enjoy sunny beach vacations, if they don’t…

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Oct 16 2020
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EHR Intelligence: EHR Nudges Boost Statin Prescriptions, Streamline Workflow

By In the News

EHR nudges show promise in increasing prescription rates for patients with certain chronic illnesses, according to a study published in JAMA Cardiology. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine found a 4 percent increase in statin prescription rate following EHR nudge integration. “Active choice prompts are used commonly in electronic health records, but they often are not rigorously tested head-to-head against other approaches,” Mitesh Patel, MD, the director of Penn Medicine’s Nudge Unit, said in a statement. “By systematically testing these interventions we can build upon the approaches that do work and turn off the ones that don’t.” By implementing tools to reduce alert fatigue,…

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Oct 15 2020
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Penn Today: Nudges and machine learning triples advanced care conversations

By In the News

According to a randomized study of nearly 15,000 patients, an electronic nudge to clinicians tripled the rate of end-of-life conversations, targeting patients with cancers. The electronic nudges are supported by an algorithm that uses machine learning methods to flag patients with cancer who would most benefit from the exchange. “Within and outside of cancer, this is one of the first real-time applications of a machine learning algorithm paired with a prompt to actually help influence clinicians to initiate these discussions in a timely manner, before something unfortunate may happen,” says co-lead author Ravi B. Parikh, an assistant professor of medical ethics and…

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Oct 15 2020
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Atheen Venkataramani at PHS Workshop 2019

Dr. Venkataramani Launches Opportunity for Health Lab

By CHIBEblog

Atheendar Venkataramani, MD, PhD, has launched the Opportunity for Health Lab, whose mission is to eliminate health disparities by bolstering economic opportunity. The lab seeks to understand how the American Dream affects America’s health and to identify and develop policies that improve access to the American Dream and boost population health. The team believes that “Economic opportunity—the extent to which one’s income does not depend on that of their parents’—is good for health.” Some of the topics the lab is exploring include social mobility; health consequences of a changing economy; structural racism and health disparities; immigration policy, opportunity, and health;…

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Oct 13 2020
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Docwire News: Pay-for-Performance Reimbursement Associated with Increased Prescription of Evidence-Based Cancer Drugs

By In the News

A pay-for-performance (P4P) program for cancer drug reimbursement was found to increase use of evidence-based drugs without significant changes to overall spending, according to a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Also known as “value-based purchasing”, P4P is a healthcare reimbursement model that offers financial incentives to providers for meeting specific performance measures. “We know that prescribing evidence-based cancer drugs is high-quality care and increases both the length and quality of life for patients with cancer,” said Justin E. Bekelman, MD, Director of the Penn Center for Cancer Care Innovation at the Abramson Cancer Center and a co-lead author of the study,…

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Oct 12 2020
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Newsmax: Computer ‘Nudge’ Caused Doctors to Prescribe Statins for Heart Patients

By In the News

Prescriptions of cholesterol-lowering statins for heart disease patients rose significantly when doctors were prompted to choose whether or not to order them, according to a new study. Doctors received either a “passive choice” or “active choice” notification. “Active choices” notified doctors to either accept or dismiss prescribing a certain dose of statins. Among doctors who received active nudges, there was a 4-percentage-point increase in optimal statin prescribing in patients with heart disease, according to the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine study. According to Dr. Mitesh Patel, director of the Penn Medicine Nudge Unit. “By systematically testing these interventions we…

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