In a study published by JAMA Internal Medicine, nonresident scholar Kevin Erickson — an assistant professor of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine — and his co-authors examined associations between dialysis facility performance and patient experience measures as well as patient, facility and geographic characteristics:
By Kevin Erickson, Wolfgang C. Winkelmayer, Vivian Ho, Jay Bhattacharya, and Glenn M. Chertow
The authors investigate if dialysis facility consolidation was associated with patient mortality. They find that decreased market competition for these facilities may have led to increased mortality for patients in areas with very few dialysis centers. Read this article in Value in Health at: https://bit.ly/2LXmTUR.
Nonresident scholar Kevin Erickson is a co-author of a study that examined trends in employment among patients initiating dialysis and in the six months before end stage renal disease.
In this study, the authors examine the impact of consolidation among U.S. dialysis providers on: 1) the ability of patients to choose among competing dialysis providers and 2) the market concentration of providers in each hospital service area.
The article analyzes the spread of neglected tropical diseases in Somolia due to severe poverty, and civil strife, and discusses the need for reforms to the country’s health systems and infrastructure.
The Medicare program’s transition in 2004 to tiered fee-for-service physician reimbursement for dialysis care had the unintended consequence of reducing use of home dialysis. In this paper, authors evaluate whether payment reform influenced dialysis modality assignment.
Enhancement of American science, technology, engineering, and math education (STEM) at all levels, even early childhood, is a justifiable federal priority.
Kirstin R.W. Matthews, George RomarSeptember 19, 2013
Every patient with cancer or another life-threatening disease wants the most effective treatment, but drug prices have become staggering. What determines the escalating prices of cancer drugs?
Donald Light, Hagop M. KantarjianSeptember 3, 2013
For both generic and patented cancer drugs, the free-market economy has not worked well. Solutions are needed to maintain reasonable drug prices that allow for corporate profits and are affordable to patients and to the U.S. health care system.
Hagop M. Kantarjian, Leonard A. ZwellingAugust 26, 2013