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CHIBE/LDI Work-in-Progress Research Seminar Series: Michael L. Barnett, MD, MS
May 13 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
“Political partisanship and physician prescribing of proposed COVID-19 treatments in 2020 (work in progress).”
Virtual Seminar with Michael L. Barnett, MD, MS, Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Management, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health
About this Event: In early 2020, there were surges of prescriptions for drugs proposed to treat COVID-19, such as hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin, and azithromycin despite a very uncertain evidence base. Increased prescribing persisted throughout 2020 even after RCT evidence demonstrated that these treatments were ineffective. The factors influencing physicians to continue prescribing debunked therapies for COVID-19 are unknown. A possible influence is political partisanship of patients or physicians given that these drugs became politically polarized via promotion by right-wing leaders and news media. In this preliminary work, I examine whether there is evidence that physicians are vulnerable to partisanship in prescribing decisions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
