Author Archives
David Cutler, PhD, is the Otto Eckstein Professor of Applied Economics, Department of Economics and Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
-
JAMA Forum: Insurers Are Once Again At Odds With Hospitals and Physicians
The longest running battle in medical care is heating up again. I refer, of course, to the struggle between insurers and physicians, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies. In recent weeks, Aetna and Humana announced their intention to merge, as did Anthem… Read More ›
-
JAMA Forum: The SGR Is Dead, but the Pressure on Physicians Is Not
The Sustainable Growth Rate formula used to determine physician payments in Medicare has died, and not a tear was shed at the funeral. Because the SGR, as it was known, linked the growth in physician payments to the rate of… Read More ›
-
JAMA Forum: Payment Reform Is About to Become a Reality
The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) continues to take major steps toward transforming the payment system for Medicare. After hinting about a new payment reform plan in September, HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell put out more specifics… Read More ›
-
JAMA Forum: A New Federal Health Care Strategy
Although Ebola has consumed the health care headlines of late, US consumers are worried about more than this dangerous viral disease. The cost and quality of medical care remain paramount in people’s minds. In September, between dealing with Ebola and… Read More ›
-
JAMA Forum: What Near-Death Experience Can Tell Us About Medical Care
In 2005, a survey was conducted examining how aggressively physicians treat patients near the end of life. Some 1500 primary care physicians and cardiologists were presented a scenario describing an 85-year-old man with severe congestive heart failure. The fictional patient… Read More ›
-
JAMA Forum: Will the Country Look to Massachusetts Again?
By David Cutler, PhD, and Steven Walsh, JD Like bad generals who are “always fighting the last war,” the federal government is always fighting the last health care battle. More than 4 years after the Affordable Care Act was passed,… Read More ›
-
JAMA Forum: The Three-Fold Path to Health Savings and Better Care
With each passing month, evidence accumulates that health care spending growth has reset to a new, lower level. Preliminary data for 2013 show an increase in health care spending essentially equal to the growth of the economy—a rate of increase… Read More ›
