Healthcare Policy Archives

COVID-19: Lessons from Smallpox

by Barry P Chaiken, MD | Jan 16, 2021 | Healthcare Policy

In 1980 the World Health Organization declared smallpox eliminated, a long 21 years after the start of the eradication program. Initial steps focused on mass vaccination in a quest for herd immunity. In developed countries with robust infrastructure, this proved...

Musings on Patient Safety, Processes, and HIT

by Barry P Chaiken, MD | Aug 12, 2018 | Healthcare Policy

While working on a consulting project in Chile I connected with representatives from the Universidad Andres Bello who requested an interview to discuss my perspectives on patient safety and the role of processes and technology in delivering safe care. Here are...

Clinical Trials, Genetic Testing, and Personalized Medicine

by Barry P Chaiken, MD | Oct 6, 2017 | Analytics, Healthcare Policy

As medicine marches toward its embrace of personalized medicine and immunotherapy, researchers struggle to obtain meaningful discoveries that can be applied to the ever-expanding number of patient cohorts. The growth in the understanding and use of genetic testing...

Show Me the Money

by Barry P Chaiken, MD | Feb 22, 2017 | Healthcare Policy

As the country wonders about the next iteration or obliteration of the Affordable Care Act and how to prepare for changes to the healthcare marketplace in 2017, the 1996 movie Jerry Maguire, starring Tom Cruise and Cuba Gooding Jr., may have all the answers we need....

Rein in National Drug Spending

by Barry P Chaiken, MD | Feb 5, 2016 | Healthcare Policy

Although overall healthcare cost inflation remains relatively small, healthcare spending just passed 18 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product at the end of 2015. Because of the size of healthcare as a component of the nation’s expenditures, this continued...

Choosing the “Good Jobs” Strategy

by Barry P Chaiken, MD | Nov 5, 2015 | Healthcare Policy

For more than half a century, provider organizations have had a free ride. Unlike other industries that faced rapid disruptions in their markets requiring constant adjustment to survive, healthcare has been fairly stable and predictable. As provider organizations...