Welcome to The Healthy Nudge. Each month, we'll get you up to speed on the latest developments in policy-relevant health behavioral economics research at CHIBE.
|
|
"On inpatient medical services, it’s common to hear patients’ laboratory results presented with statements sounding like 'CALCE-MAG-FOSS were normal.' The efficiency of this reporting is part of the secret handshake of one insider communicating with another. Contraction of three serum ions resembles children learning the alphabet through song: A, B, C, D are sung as discrete letters, but eventually LMNO spills out all at once as if it were one of the English alphabet’s 23 letters. Singing “elemeno” isn’t a problem unless children actually believe it’s a single letter. But often verbal constructions and other shortcuts are tightly linked with behaviors. Not only do some physicians report the results of serum calcium, magnesium, and phosphate simultaneously, they often order these tests together — a reflex where their behavior mirrors the contractions in their speech — even though there are many more reasons to check a calcium than a magnesium. The result here is needless tests and avoidable costs." Read more here.
|
|
CHIBE Scientific Director Alison Buttenheim, PhD, MBA, shares some of the highlights of her sabbatical — with a behavioral science twist. See which behavioral science principles came to mind as she trekked through the United States, England, and New Zealand. Read more here.
|
|
By increasing the number of physicians weighing in on a case, doctors can significantly increase the likelihood of an accurate diagnosis and a favorable result, according to a team of researchers led by Damon Centola, PhD. "We can use doctors’ networks to improve their performance,” said Dr. Centola. “The real discovery here is that we can structure the information-sharing networks among doctors to substantially increase their clinical intelligence.” Read more here. Or, find the PNAS paper here.
|
|
CHIBE is saddened to announce the passing of former affiliate Howard Kunreuther, PhD. Learn more about his career and hear from some of his friends, collaborators, and mentees in CHIBE's article here.
|
|
During the COVID-19 pandemic, SNAP emergency allotments provided temporary increases to households’ benefit size. The emergency allotments officially ended in March 2023, but 18 states discontinued them earlier. In this study, researchers examined associations between changes in SNAP emergency allotments amounts and food insufficiency. They found that SNAP recipients experienced approximately a 21% relative increase in both food insufficiency and child food insufficiency. These findings imply that more than 2 million more American households faced food insufficiency when emergency allotments ended in all states. Find the JAMA Health Forum paper here, and read the Penn Medicine press release here.
|
|
Register for the Nudges in Health Care Symposium: September 14-15!
The keynote speakers will be CHIBE Director Kevin Volpp, MD, PhD, and Elizabeth Linos, PhD, the Emma Bloomberg Associate Professor for Public Policy and Management, and Faculty Director of The People Lab at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Learn more and register here.
|
The University of Pennsylvania's Division of Health Policy is seeking a highly motivated Senior Research Coordinator to be responsible for the day-to-day research operations for health policy and cancer outcomes data analysis projects with an emphasis on machine learning and predictive analytics. The Senior Research Coordinator will support the Human Algorithm Collaboration Laboratory (HACLab) and its primary function is to facilitate, promote, and ensure good clinical practice in the conduct of all research protocols. The Senior Research Coordinator will independently manage different phases of complex clinical trials and mentor coordinators and research assistants. They will work with partnering institutions and create multi-center budgets and manage expenses. They will participate in study team meetings and ongoing protocol training/compliance meetings. The Senior Research Coordinator will support the research team by completing tasks in a timely basis to fulfill project deadlines; this will include reviewing medical charts on the electronic health record in addition to leading the development of deliverables (proposals, policy briefs, literature reviews, etc.) to be shared internally and / or externally. The Senior Research Coordinator will also support the HACLab on additional tasks as needed (i.e. manuscript preparation, note-taking, website support). In addition to the above, the Senior Research Coordinator may also work on projects with the Penn Center for Cancer Care Innovation, as capacity allows. APPLY HERE.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
