Patenting and other rewards that rely on protected markets to encourage research investment in medical technology do not always provide the right incentives needed to optimize public health. In recent years, a number of proposals have focused on replacing or supplementing the patent system and related incentives with a mechanism that rewards medical research based…
This colloquium brought together specialists on a group of model states and countries to discuss relevant health care systems, their successes and limitations, and their potential application to the reform of health care in the United States. The event aimed to interpret the U.S. reform effort in the context of the global system and to…
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 promises to trigger an explosion in the use of electronic health records through direct payments to health providers. While the privacy concerns related to electronic health records (EHR) have been discussed at length, little attention has been given to the impact EHR might have on a provider’s…
Jeff Crowley, the White House Director of National AIDS Policy and Senior Advisor on Disability Policy, visited Harvard Law School to speak about the Obama Administration’s agendas for health reform, developing a national AIDS strategy, addressing health disparities, and disability rights. Mr. Crowley addressed the issue of health reform, noting that it dominates the Obama…
Universal health insurance may be on the horizon, but a growing body of empirical research has shown that, even for those who enjoy health insurance, medical crises can push families to the financial brink, causing them to load up credit cards, miss work, forgo additional care, lose their homes to foreclosures, and even declare bankruptcy….
Presentation Joseph Doyle’s paper: Returns to Physician Human Capital: Analyzing Patients Randomized to Physician Teams
Amidst this larger debate about drug prices and pharmaceutical innovation, there is a growing consensus of a need for reform in the industry and how it is regulated. The substance of the necessary reforms remains subject to great debate, however, and the policies chosen by Congress are likely to have significant consequences for the public….
Presentation Alison Galvani’s paper: Long-standing influenza vaccination policy is in accord with individual self-interest but not with the utilitarian optimum
Presentation Download Adriana Lleras-Muney’s paper: Understanding Differences in Health Behaviors by Education
On the occasion of publication of a new book on physician conscience clauses written by Holly Fernandez Lynch, this panel examined the legal and ethical aspects of the current debates surrounding physicians and health care practitioner’s rights to refuse to perform legally permissible medical procedures on the grounds of moral objections. The author of Conflicts…
