Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies Stanford University


FSI Stanford Publications


Stanford Health Policy Summer 2009 Newsletter

Newsletter

Published by
CHPPCOR, August 2009


Stanford Health Policy (CHP/PCOR)
Summer 2009 Newsletter
Director's Letter * News * Awards * New People * Departures * Publications * Media Mentions <!-- -->


Director's Letter
A full summer, looking ahead to our 11th year

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The recess may have slowed legislative debates about health reform in Washington, but efforts of researchers in our centers to inform health policy continue unabated.  And this month, the work of our center researchers on such diverse topics as the effectiveness of elective labor induction and the cost of the Massachusetts health care system will appear.

   I spent the first part of the summer at the Nuffield Trust in London, where I set out to learn more about incentives for care integration and clinical performance in the National Health Service and in the U.S.  It was refreshing to see that, despite the famously high costs of U.S. health care, some of the features of U.S. health care are models for care in the rest of the world.

   Research on global health remains an important focus of our centers, and this summer we also took on a new training activity. We co-hosted the first class of Global Health Corps fellows (read more about it below). Similar to a Peace Corps for young people interested in improving health care access, the 21 GHC members came to Stanford for a two-week intensive training session before heading across the world to do field work with partner organizations. They were an impressive group, and we were delighted to be able to help them in their efforts to acquire new skills in designing and improving health care in some of the most needy areas in the world. 

   This quarter marks our centers’ 11th year at Stanford, and our mission is as important as ever, both in the U.S. and in the world at large.

--Alan Garber

News

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Global Health Corps prepares with help from Stanford Health Policy for year of field work

The 2009 Global Health Corps fellows came to Stanford this July for an intensive orientation program. At the conclusion of the two weeks, the 21 fellows left for a year of global health work in Tanzania, Rwanda, Malawi, Newark, NJ, and Boston, MA.

   Stanford Health Policy hosted the fellows' orientation program, which included intensive courses in skill development, critical issues background, analysis of public service, personal reflection and community building. The program was also hosted by Stanford's new global health initiative, spearheaded by senior associate dean for global health Michele Barry. Read more.

Awards

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The Nuffield Trust designated director Alan Garber the 2009 Rock Carling Fellow. This fellowship is awarded to a distinguished individual to give them the resources to review an area of their choosing and to broadcast their findings. Garber will be considering financial incentives in the NHS and the impact they have on integrated care.

   Associate faculty Kate Bundorf has received a Fulbright to work in China. She will be working in Fudan University’s School of Public Health in Shanghai, and giving guest lectures throughout the country on the United States health care system.

   The Psychologists in Public Service Division of the American Psychological Association selected associate-faculty-on-leave Keith Humphreys for its 2009 Outstanding VA Researcher award.  Humphreys also received an honorary professorship in psychiatry in recognition of his accomplishments in the addiction field from Kings College, London.

   Associate Glenn Chertow was named to the Policy Board of the American Society of Nephrology.  This board is responsible for interfacing between the professional society and governmental organizations.

   Former trainee Mike Ong is a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Physician Faculty Scholar, a position he will hold until 2012.

   HRP concentration scholar Jacqueline Baras Shreibati won the AcademyHealth's Student Poster Award. Her poster, "MRI Availability and Low Back Pain Care for Medicare Patients," was also named one of the four best abstracts submitted by students at the AcademyHealth's annual meeting, and her work was featured in a special panel of the top student projects. Read more.

   The competing renewal for Center on the Demography and Economics of Health and Aging (CDEHA) has been awarded.

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New People

Oddvar Martin Kaarbøe is a visiting scholar. He is on leave from the University of Bergen where he serves as research director at Health Economics and associate professor of economics.

Barbara Starfield is a visiting scholar. She is a professor of pediatrics and health policy and management at Johns Hopkins where her research has focused on equity of health care.

Eran Bendavid was appointed an instructor in the Division of General Internal Medicine and remains affiliated with Stanford Health Policy.

Kate O’Leary is a new AHRQ trainee. She is also a fellow in reproductive endocrinology and infertility.

Kit Delgado is a new AHRQ trainee. He is an emergency physician who is interested in the public health impact of emergency departments in the United States.

Vivan Tsai is a new AHRQ trainee. She is also a cardiology fellow.

Torrey Simons is a new VA trainee. This summer she completed a fellowship in palliative care.

Lauren Albin is a new research assistant. She will be working with executive director Kathryn McDonald.

Departures

 

We send our condolences to the friends and family of former associate faculty John Barton, who died this month. John was a remarkable man whose insight and presence will be missed. Read more about John's life and work.

   Associate faculty Keith Humphreys has accepted the position of Senior Policy Advisor at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and is going on extended leave from Stanford.  In his new role he will assist the Obama administration in its development of policy surrounding addiction, health care and criminal justice.

   Administrative associate Kristin Cox stepped down to attend law school at Santa Clara University in the fall. She will be missed!


Publications

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  • Senior researcher Dena Bravata, former research staffer Allison Gienger, former trainee Jon-Erik Holty, assistant research director Vandana Sundaram, associate faculty Nayer Khazeni, core faculty Paul Wise, executive director Kathryn McDonald, core faculty Douglas Owens, et al “Quality improvement strategies for children with asthma: a systematic review.” Archives of Pediatric Adolescent Medicine, June 2009
  • Associate faculty Paul Heidenreich, et al “Use Criteria for Cardiac Radionuclide Imaging: A Report of the American College of Cardiology Foundation Appropriate Use Criteria Task Force, et al.” Journal of American College of Cardiology, June 2009
  • Core faculty Alain Enthoven “The Only Public Health Plan We Need.” New York Times op-ed, June 2009
  • Core faculty Jay Bhattacharya, associate faculty Kate Bundorf, visiting scholar Noemi Pace, et al “Does health insurance make you fat?” National Bureau of Economic Research working paper series, July 2009
  • Associate faculty Paul Heidenreich “Use of implantable cardioverter defibrillators for primary prevention in the community: do women and men equally meet trial enrollment criteria?” American Heart Journal, August 2009

Media Mentions

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Director Alan Garber

New York Times “The Good, and Bad, of Heart Care”

New York Times’ Economix Blog “Cato Challenge: Name an Industry With a Record as Poor as Education’s”

CNN Money “Why prevention won’t cure health care”

Marketplace “Diagnosing the health care overhaul”

New York Times “Real Challenge to Health Bill: Selling Reform”

Time “Re: YouTube Wars...”

Honolulu Star-Journal “Middle class wary of health care bill”

New York Times “Tackling the Mystery of How Much It Costs”


Core faculty Jay Bhattacharya

Wall Street Journal Health Blog “Does Health Insurance Make You Fat?”

Fox Business News segment on health insurance causing obesity

Connecticut Post “Obesity grows as health threat”

New York Times “The Way We Live Now: Should Fat People Pay More for Health Care?”


Core faculty Alain Enthoven

Economist “America's hospital industry Taking a scalpel to costs”

San Francisco Examiner “Let's not make the deal where the feds control price of medicine”

Examiner “ObamaCare disses doctors”

TIME “Health Insurance Exchanges: What They Would (and Wouldn't) Do”


Core faculty Victor Fuchs

Bloomberg News “US Pays $2.5 Trillion for Care That Cost $912 Billion in 1993”

New York Times “Rhetoric of Rationing Health Care Overlooks Reality”

Christian Science Monitor “Why does healthcare reform founder?”

MSNBC “Is a 'public plan' the fix for health insurance?”

CNNmoney.com “Why prevention won't cure health care”

San Francisco Chronicle “Turmoil behind change at Children's Hospital”

San Francisco Chronicle “Hazardous to America's health”

KPBS “The High Cost of Healthcare, Part 2”

San Francisco Chronicle “Misconception over key issues at core of debate”


Core faculty Douglas Owens

U.S. News and World Report “Induced Labor May Prevent Need for Cesarean Section”

San Francisco Chronicle “Study disputes myth about induced labor”


Associate faculty Laurence Baker

Globe and Mail “Critics use Canada to assail Obama’s health plan”


Associate faculty Kate Bundorf

New York Times “The Way We Live Now: Should Fat People Pay More for Health Care?”

National Post “50 million uninsured Americans?”


Associate faculty Keith Humphreys

Wall Street Journal “The Decoder”


Associate faculty Nayer Khazeni

Bloomberg News “Antiviral Drugs for Swine Flu Prevent Most Symptoms, Study Says”


Associate faculty Brian Knutson

Foreign Policy “Just a little of the o’ game theory and cognitive neuroscience”

CNN “6 common shopping traps -- how to avoid them”


Associate faculty Randall Stafford

Washington Post “In Retooled Health-Care System, Who Will Say No?”

Palo Alto Online “Playing to Win”

KCBS “Stanford doc to participate in senior games”

CBC.ca “Antidepressant suicide risk declines with age”

News 8 Austin “Understanding off-label prescriptions”


Affiliate Eran Bendavid

National Catholic Register “Bush Quietly Saved a Million African Lives”


Trainee Daniella Perlroth

New York Times “In Health Reform, Cancer Offers an Acid Test”

Philadelphia Inquirer “Debate surrounds new prostate-cancer treatment”


We will resume weekly announcements this fall-- please submit news for inclusion to tealpenn@stanford.edu. Follow Stanford Health Policy (CHP/PCOR) on twitter-- www.twitter.com/StanfordHP

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Topics: Aging | Business | Comparative effectiveness research | Economics | Health and Medicine | Health care reform | Health policy | HIV/AIDS | Organizations | Pandemics and global responses | Population health | Belgium | Canada | China | Malawi | North America | Rwanda | Tanzania | United States