Price increases are the biggest driver of rising emergency room visit costs across the U.S., according to research led by the Center for Health and Biosciences' Vivian Ho and Sasathorn Tapaneeyakul.

Social distancing and stay-at-home measures provided scientists with a natural experiment to study social phenomena that hinge precisely on human mobility and contact — including criminal activity. A study by Center for the U.S. and Mexico experts and co-authors explores the relationship between COVID-19 and criminal activity in Mexico.

The results of this study suggest that Medicare Data on Provider Practice and Specialty, which costs less to obtain than from a for-profit data source, can be used to reliably track the cost and quality effects of vertical integration between hospitals and physicians.

The authors compare views on the relationship between faith and health for two groups that are overrepresented in American Christianity and underrepresented in medical careers (African Americans and Latinos) with a group that is similarly religious but comparatively well-represented in medical professions (Korean Americans).

The authors investigate whether stance of a religious tradition toward capitalism will help shape individual scientists’ views on science commercialization and whether the religious tradition of scientists correlates with their attitude toward the commercialization of science.

Data from a survey of 892 scientists in Taiwan demonstrate that while scientists perceive religion and scientific research as generally separate in the abstract, in practice, they regard the boundary between religion and their workplace as somewhat permeable.

Both black Americans and Latinos have concerns about science teachers being biased. Yet, the groups differ in their assessment of the danger of anti-religious bias, according to findings by the authors. Published by Review of Religious Research.

Drawing on a nationally representative survey of US adults, the authors examine what factors — when individuals have a question about science — shape respondent’s likelihood of turning to science-based versus religion-based sources.

The dramatic deterioration in state finances during the Great Recession raised concerns regarding government’s ability to support community health and education. In this study published in the National Tax Journal, the authors find that state revenue declines lead to short and long terms cuts in children’s Medicaid benefits, and declines in elderly Medicaid enrollment, and that larger cuts (nominal and proportional) in education spending versus Medicaid occurred.

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between structural strain (the imbalance between actual and preferred…