Can online doctor reviews be trusted?
In today’s culture of crowdsourcing, there are numerous websites devoted to grading doctors—and these rating systems have both limitations and advantages. According to a July 5, 2018 Prevention.com article, it may be unwise to rely too heavily on…
Ebola outbreak in Congo contained, but not yet over
After seven weeks and 28 deaths, the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo appears to be contained. A recent statement from Oly Ilunga Kalenga, the country’s health minister, noted that all people who were potentially exposed…
Lowering health care costs may mean shifting where care is delivered
How much a medical procedure costs depends on where it is performed. Giving birth at a teaching hospital, for instance, costs about $2,000 more than doing so at a community hospital. Cataract surgery at a clinic affiliated with…
Changing Places
Kashmere Gardens has seen better days. In this neighborhood of northeast Houston, modest ranch homes are framed by murky drainage ditches and rusting chain-link fences. About 15 percent of its residents are unemployed, and most of those who…
Is WHO’s response to new Ebola outbreak symbolic or substantive?
The World Health Organization appears to have mounted a swift response to the newly declared Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, marking a significant improvement from the organization’s slow and heavily criticized response to the…
What to do about high U.S. healthcare costs
Healthcare costs take up roughly 17.8% of the U.S. economy every year—much more than what other high-income countries spend. But there are some ways to reduce those costs, according to health policy expert Ashish Jha. A recent Harvard…
Medicare program linked with reduced black-white disparities in hospital readmissions
For immediate release: April 2, 2018 Boston, MA – A Medicare program that penalizes hospitals for high readmission rates was associated with a narrowing of readmission disparities between black and white patients and between minority-serving hospitals and other…
Prices of labor, prices of pharmaceuticals, and administrative costs are the key drivers of high U.S. healthcare spending
For immediate release: March 13, 2018 Boston, MA – The major drivers of high healthcare costs in the U.S. appear to be higher prices for nearly everything—from physician and hospital services to diagnostic tests to pharmaceuticals—and administrative complexity.…
Faculty awarded grants from Harvard Climate Solutions Fund
Two research projects run by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health faculty members are recipients of grants from Harvard’s Climate Change Solutions Fund.
Three corporations team up with an aim to reduce employee health costs
Ashish Jha, K.T. Li Professor at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and director, Harvard Global Health Institute, was interviewed January 31, 2018 on NBC’s Today Show about plans announced by three of the nation’s largest corporations…