BACK of the BOOK
Heard in the Blogosphere
Dale Shephard, MD, PhD
@ShephardDale
Study: A third of U.S. adults don’t get enough #sleep.
(Hmm...it’s 2:30 am. I might be in that 1/3.)
Deanna Attai, MD
@DrAttai
“I don’t know” - hard for any MD to say, but may be the
only words that fit.
Jim Omel, MD
@IMFjimMYELOMA
Whenever I see an article headlined “Multiple Myeloma
(Kahler Disease),” I know the author is a financial analyst
who knows NOTHING about MM.
Andy Slavitt
@ASlavitt
My Experience with Lymphoma: Navigating the
Ups and Downs of a Life-Changing Diagnosis
“The basic idea of a stem cell transplant was simple, though the procedure has an air of medical magic. … My
recovery from the transplant has gone better than expected. Most importantly, I did not catch a single infection.
Six weeks out, I was walking a mile, now two miles a day. … While my battle against my disease is over, I hope,
now I must return to the challenge of living the rest of my life. I guess those challenges, given my diagnosis, are
better than the alternatives.”
—Steven Kelman, Weatherhead Professor of Public Management at Harvard University’s
John F. Kennedy School of Government, on his lymphoma diagnosis in The Atlantic
Why Some Drug Prices Should Be High
“There is no doubt that new drugs are pricey. But the current way they are valued misses the boat – it ignores vital
aspects of why drugs are developed, prescribed, and taken. Most attempts to quantify a drug’s value are based on
what individuals are (in theory) willing to pay for the benefits a drug can bring, be it longer or higher-quality life.
This fails to factor in beneficial effects that extend beyond the treated individual and that accrue to loved ones
and communities. … Only a system that more clearly recognizes what constitutes value can stop overpaying for
low-value drugs, and start rewarding the use and development of high-value ones.”
—Dhruv Khullar, MD, and Anupam Jena, MD, PhD, discussing the potential
“spill-over” benefits of drugs and their effect on drug pricing in Stat News
Need to move to paying for docs to *talk* to patients
not just pay for new technology, devices, surgeries &
prescriptions
Taxiarchis Kourelis, MD
@taxkourel
@ASH_hematology headquarters in DC for CRTI final class
(taking Twitter shot of @jmikhaelmd taking a Twitter shot)
Drug Shortages Force Hard Decisions on Rationing Treatment
Drug shortages are unfortunately
becoming the new normal in American
medicine, and can result in drug rationing. Experts discussed how they make
these difficult decisions in The New
York Times.
Follow ASH and ASH Clinical News on:
@ASH_Hematology, @BloodJournal, and
@ASHClinicalNews
Facebook.com/AmericanSocietyofHematology
“It was painful. We kept coming back to wow, we’ve got
that tragic choice: two kids in front of you, you only have
enough for one. How do you choose?”
—Yoram Unguru, MD, an oncologist at the
Children’s Hospital at Sinai in Baltimore
“Different places around the country are each doing their
best to patch together their own guidelines – if they’re
doing anything at all.”
—Nicole Lurie, MD, MSPH, assistant secretary for
Preparedness and Response at the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services
“We do play the ‘pediatric card’ for sure. … We have been
close to being forced into making very, very hard decisions. The discussions became, ‘Why are two kids more
important than one adult?’”
—Alix Dabb, PharmD, a pharmacy specialist in pediatric
oncology, and Kenneth Cohen, MD, director of pediatric
neuro-oncology at Johns Hopkins Hospital
@ASH_Hematology
40
ASH Clinical News
June 2016