To round out a week of “most-read” lists (top 10 Health Affairs Blog posts of 2007 and of January-February 2008), we are pleased to announce the most-read Health Affairs journal articles published in 2007. All articles below are free access for 2 weeks—through March 20, 2008.

“Health Spending Projections Through 2016: Modest Changes Obscure Part D’s […]

It is by no means a coincidence that an explosion of knowledge about the human genome has occurred simultaneously with huge breakthroughs in computing capability and information technology. Sequencing the genome, after all, depended on being able to digitize the representation of the nucleotides in DNA. The genome’s mechanisms of operation involve intercellular messaging that […]

The spread of convenience clinics—or “McClinics”—has been debated across the health care blogosphere in recent weeks, stemming in part from Wal-Mart’s announcement that it plans to open hundreds in coming years. Yesterday, the subject was the question of the day on the Wall Street Journal’s health blog (sparked by a Journal op-ed by Grace-Marie Turner, president […]

In an interview published online at Health Affairs, John Brown, current chairman and past chief executive officer (CEO) of the Stryker Corporation, reviews the development of his device firm and the medical device industry over the past thirty years. He also shares with interviewer Rob Burns (professor at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania) his […]

The annual debate on how to spend Medicare dollars is here again. We have many modern analytical tools to look at health care spending, but it may be worth going back to some basic insights of microeconomics. About 140 years ago, a group of economists showed that rational decision making meant looking at marginal cost […]

Clayton Christensen is one of America’s most influential business thinkers and writers. A professor at Harvard Business School, Christensen is perhaps best known for his writings on disruptive innovation in such books as The Innovator’s Dilemma and The Innovator’s Solution. In an interview I conducted with Christensen, he argues that the answer for more affordable […]

Medical imaging promises transformative benefits for the practice of medicine. However, the technologies involved are already costly and getting more so, making it crucial to ensure that techniques such as computed tomography (CT) scans, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and positron emission tomography (PET) are used cost-effectively. 
I interviewed E. James Potchen, the University Distinguished Professor and […]

In his post, Jamie Robinson has raised the specter of an upside-down world of setting prices for biomedical innovations based on cost. Before we examine his serious admonition to focus on value in pricing new biotechnology drugs, let’s walk down the other trail: the argument that drugs should be pricy because they cost so darn […]