Medical care
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Observational Study
Diffusion of Bevacizumab Across Oncology Practices: An Observational Study.
Technological advances can improve care and outcomes but are a primary driver of health care spending growth. Understanding diffusion and use of new oncology therapies is important, given substantial increases in prices and spending on such treatments. ⋯ Use of bevacizumab varied widely across oncology practices, particularly for lower-value indications. These findings suggest that interventions targeted to practices have potential for decreasing low-value use of high-cost cancer therapies.
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This paper concerns public health crises today-the problem of opioid prescription access and related abuse. Inspired by Case and Deaton's seminal work on increasing mortality among white Americans with lower education, this paper explores the relationship between opioid prescribing and local economic factors. ⋯ Lower county median household income, higher unemployment rates, and less income inequality were consistently associated with more and higher MME opioid prescriptions among disabled Medicare beneficiaries. Geographically, we found that the urban-rural divide was not gradual and that beneficiaries in large central metro counties were less likely to have an opioid prescription than those living in other areas.