In an interview, CHIBE Steering Committee member Dr. Scott Halpern discusses his recently published NEJM study, a pragmatic trial of six smoking cessation interventions within a workplace wellness program.
AcademyHealth Panel Rounds Up the Research As a number of states experiment with health incentives as an element of their Medicaid programs, researchers are analyzing the results with an eye towards informing future evidence-based policies. At this week’s AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting, CHIBE affiliated faculty member Charlene Wong, MD led a panel in which investigators discussed the latest evidence on the impact of these incentives on healthy behaviors among Medicaid beneficiaries. The panel began with a presentation by Rob Saunders, PhD of the Duke Margolis Center for Health Policy. Saunders and his colleagues, including Dr. Wong, recently authored an issue…
Kevin Volpp, MD, PhD, interviews Karen DeSalvo, MD, MPH, Professor in the Departments of Internal Medicine and Population Health at Dell Medical School, and former Acting Assistant Secretary for Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Part 2 of a 2-part interview. Missed part 1? Catch up here. Kevin Volpp: One other area I want to ask you about is related to tools, specifically technology and digital health. You’ve done a lot of work in that space, and I’m curious what you see as particularly promising ways to leverage technology and digital health, and traditional public health programs and…
Kevin Volpp, MD, PhD, interviews Karen DeSalvo, MD, MPH, Professor in the Departments of Internal Medicine and Population Health at Dell Medical School, and former Acting Assistant Secretary for Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Part 1 of a 2-part interview. Part 2 continues here. Kevin Volpp: Hi, this is Kevin Volpp. I am a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and I’m joined today by Karen DeSalvo. Karen is a professor at the Dell Medical School at UT Austin and has had a very distinguished public health career. I’m pleased to have Karen join me today,…
Way to Health was purpose-built to help researchers address critical and complex problems facing healthcare and patient health by providing the tools needed to rigorously test solutions on one comprehensive digital platform. Mental illness qualifies as one of those challenges in need of fixing. It is estimated that 9.6 million American adults suffer from a serious mental illness (SMI), experiencing a diminished ability to function in daily life and a shorter life-expectancy. In addition to the patient burden, mental illness drains healthcare budgets as the third most expensive medical condition after heart conditions and traumatic injury. Way to Health will…
When organizations turn a blind eye to sexual harassment in the workplace, how many people need to take a stand before the behavior is no longer seen as normal? According to a new paper published to be published tomorrow in Science(link is external), there is a quantifiable answer: roughly 25% of people need to take a stand before large-scale social change occurs. This idea of a social tipping point applies to standards in the workplace, and any type of movement or initiative. Online, people develop norms about everything from what type of content is acceptable to post on social media, to how…
My colleagues and I, including Kevin Volpp and Michael Harhay, recently published results of a large smoking cessation trial in the New England Journal of Medicine. We tested the real-world effectiveness of offering five strategies for quitting smoking among all known smokers at 54 U.S. companies (over 6,000 employees), regardless of their interest in quitting. The results reflect what employers, insurers, or others offering similar programs might expect to see. I want to share some thoughts on the trial, including what we can and cannot conclude, and answer some questions I’ve heard so far. Scott D. Halpern, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology, and Medical Ethics…
“A study in Science by Professor Damon Centola finds that when 25% of people in a group adopt a new social norm, it creates a tipping point where the entire group follows suit. This shows the direct causal effect of the size of a committed minority on its capacity to create social change.” Watch the video here
Penn Medicine Nudge Unit Director Mitesh Patel, MD, MBA, MS explains how using a particular kind of lottery-based financial incentive can help increase physical activity among overweight and obese adults.
A new class of cholesterol-lowering agents known as PCSK9 inhibitors (PCSK9Is) are back in the headlines for two seemingly contradictory reasons: the release of new clinical trial results showing that treatment with alirocumab (Praluent®), one of two PCSK9Is currently on the market, is indeed associated with favorable cardiovascular outcomes; and an announcement of unprecedented price reductions for the same drug as part of a new deal between the manufacturer and a large pharmacy benefit manager. Since when does more positive clinical evidence for a drug lead to lower prices? PCSK9Is offer a fascinating case study in the intersections between pharmaceutical innovation, specialty drug…
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