resources Archives

21 03, 2019

Paper of the Week 21.03.2019: Bilateral versus Single Internal-Thoracic-Artery Grafts at 10 Years

ruth brice2019-03-21T16:17:14+00:00

This week’s paper of the week is brought to you by Professor Sir Muir Gray, 3V's Founding Director. Bottom line, chosen by Muir from the paper Among patients who were scheduled for CABG and had been randomly assigned to undergo bilateral or single internal-thoracic-artery grafting, there was no significant between-group difference in the rate of death from any cause at 10 years in the intention-to-treat analysis. The conclusion is This study shows that in the case of CABG more in healthcare is often no better. Once again Avedis Donabedian’s illustration about optimality has been demonstrated. Implications for value improvement This is another example of the principle first described by Avedis Donabedian and expressed through his diagrammatic representation [...]

Paper of the Week 21.03.2019: Bilateral versus Single Internal-Thoracic-Artery Grafts at 10 Yearsruth brice2019-03-21T16:17:14+00:00

21 12, 2018

Paper of the week: Temporal trends in use of tests in UK primary care

ruth brice2018-12-21T10:47:25+00:00

This weeks paper of the week focuses on 'Temporal trends in use of tests in UK primary care, 2000-15: retrospective analysis of 250 million tests'. Listen to the podcast to hear author Jack O'Sullivan talk about this paper with 3V's Dr Tim Wilson Reference: O’Sullivan Jack W, Stevens Sarah, Hobbs F D Richard, Salisbury Chris, Little Paul, Goldacre Benet al. Temporal trends in use of tests in UK primary care, 2000-15: retrospective analysis of 250 million tests BMJ 2018; 363 :k4666 3V's Bottom Line There has been an 8% per annum increase in testing in UK primary care. Some of this increase will represent better monitoring or attempts to make earlier diagnoses. But some may represent overuse of testing, and certainly the impact of the increase is not just in the cost of testing, [...]

Paper of the week: Temporal trends in use of tests in UK primary careruth brice2018-12-21T10:47:25+00:00

10 10, 2018

Paper of the week 10.10.18: Paying for Cures: Perspectives on Solutions to the “Affordability Issue”

ruth brice2018-10-10T13:48:23+00:00

Reference: Paying for Cures: Perspectives on Solutions to the “Affordability Issue” Karlsberg Schaffer K et aljournal This weeks paper of the week is brought to you by Professor Sir Muir Gray, 3V Executive Director. Bottom line ‘We conclude that there is a mismatch between the enthusiasm in the academic literature for developing new approaches and the scepticism of payers that they can work or are necessary. For the foreseeable future, affordability pressures will continue to be handled by aggressive price bargaining, high co-pays (in systems in which this is possible), and restricting access to subgroups of patients. Of the mechanisms we explored, outcomes-based payments were of most interest to payers, but the costs associated with operating such schemes, [...]

Paper of the week 10.10.18: Paying for Cures: Perspectives on Solutions to the “Affordability Issue”ruth brice2018-10-10T13:48:23+00:00