Healthcare Economist Unbiased Analysis of Today’s Healthcare Issues
- Two visions for value – Why GCEA and HEMA clash on drug pricingby Jason Shafrin on April 14, 2026 at 6:21 pm
That is the title of my latest Perspectives from the Healthcare Economist article published in The Evidence Base this week. Here is the teaser: In this guest column, healthcare economist Jason Shafrin (FTI Consulting and Mann School of Pharmacy, University of Southern California) explores a widening divide over how health systems define value, and what that means…
- Why your measurement of medication adherence may be flawedby Jason Shafrin on April 14, 2026 at 5:44 am
Proportion of days covered (PDC) is the most widely endorsed measure of medication adherence. For instance, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) uses PDC as its preferred adherence measure for its Quality Rating System for many chronic conditions (e.g., hypertension, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia). However, your PDC measure may be flawed depending on what…
- Quantifying the Lifetime Economic Impact of Pediatric Oral Nutritional Supplementsby Jason Shafrin on April 10, 2026 at 12:52 am
That is the title of a new paper published this week in Clinical Nutrition with co-authors Kyi-Sin Than, Khounish Sharma, Kirk W. Kerr, and Dhanasekhar Kesavelu. The abstract is below: IntroductionPediatric malnutrition is a significant global public health challenge, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. This study quantifies the lifetime, per-person economic impact of pediatric…
- Life expectancy in Panama is better than in the USby Jason Shafrin on April 3, 2026 at 6:02 am
I am traveling to Panamá this Friday. Here are some interesting facts about the country’s health care system. Life expectancy is better than the U.S. Life expectancy in Panamá is 79.59 compared to 79.30 in the U.S. Mix of public and private health insurance. Panama’s healthcare architecture rests on two distinct public pillars. The Caja de…
- Linksby Jason Shafrin on April 3, 2026 at 5:25 am
Role of health care in the 2026 election. Where does economics fall in terms of study reproducibility? COVID-19’s “cicada” variant is spreading Best practices for transparent reporting for group based trajectory models. What is “learned helplessness”?