Data Stream
The Court of Public Opinion is Now in Session
Peer-Tested,
Real-World–Approved
According to a study of 137,215 peer-reviewed grants funded
between 1980 and 2008, the National Institutes of Health’s
(NIH’s) peer-review system does a good job of identifying
promising projects: Grants that receive better funding scores
during the review process are generally more successful.
How was success defined? For each 10-point drop in
score, awarded grants were associated with:
7
14%
15%
19%
The Affordable Care Act is experiencing a
surge in popularity – well, “surge” might
be an exaggeration. According to the
most recent “Kaiser Health Tracking Poll”
of more than 1,500 adults:
However, the respondents were still sharply divided along political lines:
70%
% fewer publications
75%
of Democrats viewed
the law favorably
of Republicans viewed
the law unfavorably
fewer follow-on patents
42% expressed
an unfavorable
view
43% expressed a
favorable view of
the health-care
law
fewer citations
fewer high-impact
publications
Of course, the current study does not look at the success of
the potentially path-breaking grants that were not chosen
for funding. “We’re not trying to make the case that the
system is perfect or infallible,” said Leila Agha, economist
at Boston University and co-author of the paper, but the
study shows “that peer review is adding something.”
Source: Li D, Agha L. Big names or big ideas: Do peer-review panels select
the best science proposals? Science. 2015;348:434-8.
Not-So-Super Spending
An estimated 576,000 Americans used at least
$50,000 in prescription medications last
year – exceeding the median household
income for 2014, and skyrocketing
up 63% from 2013, according to an
Express Scripts report examining
patients with exceedingly high
annual medication costs. The
population of patients who
spent more than $100,000 in
medications nearly tripled in
the past year – from 47,000 to
139,000 in 2014.
“These patients are overwhelmingly taking specialty
medications and have multiple
comorbidities, prescriptions, and providers,” the study authors noted. In fact,
60% of patients took 10 or more different
medications.
Source: Express Scripts, “Super Spending: U.S. Trends in High-Cost
Medication Use.”
16
ASH Clinical News
Source: DiJulio B, Firth J, Brodie M. Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: April 2015.
Satisfaction Guaranteed… Mostly
In general, physicians are satisfied with their career choices – and would do it all over again, according to Medscape’s “2015 Physician Compensation Report,” which surveyed more than 19,500
physicians in 25 specialties. When asked whether they would choose a different path, 64% of
respondents said they would choose medicine again, but only 45% would select their own specialty
and only 24% would choose the same practice setting.
In case you’re considering a career switch, here are the specialties professing the highest level
of satisfaction (with income, medicine, and choice of specialty). Hematology was not included in the
survey, but oncology wasn’t too far behind, at 54%.
100
80
63%
60
57%
57%
56%
gy
ncy
rge cine
e
Em edi
m
56%
40
20
0
og
rm
l
ato
De
y
d
an
ry lth
t
hia ea
syc ntal h
P e
m
Pa
lo
tho
rics
at
edi
P
Source: “Medscape Physician Compensation Report 2015,” April 2015.
June 2015