CONTEXT Approximately 2.7 million US individuals are chronically infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV). As public health campaigns are pursued, a growing number of treatment candidates are likely to have minimal evidence of liver damage. OBJECTIVE To examine the clinical benefits and cost-effectiveness of newer treatments for chronic hepatitis C infection in a population of asymptomatic, ...

PURPOSE The epidemiology of coronary restenosis after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has been documented extensively in clinical trials, but no data exist on the clinical and economic burden of restenosis in a managed care population. DESIGN Retrospective cohort with a nationally representative managed care claims database (IHCIS, Waltham, Mass.) representing 2.8 million members. ...

A $2k computer can execute about 8k transactions per second. This is 80x more than one of the largest US bank’s 1970’s traffic – it approximates the total US 1970’s financial transaction volume. Very modest modern computers can easily solve yesterday’s problems. 1. A Thousand-Transactions-per-second was once difficult and expensive. In 1973, Bank of America wanted to convert their paper-based b...

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) affects over 1.5 million Americans annually and consumes a significant amount of healthcare dollars. Identification of complications and factors that impact recovery from TBI is important in improving outcome and allocating appropriate resources. Understanding the role of non-neurologic complications such as sepsis, acute kidney injury, and respiratory problems on T...

BACKGROUND The World Health Organization in 2000 cited specific chronic diseases (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart disease, diabetes and certain cancers) as major and preventable health hazards. There have subsequently been calls for increased investment in prevention activities. Currently there is no information on the economic magnitude of these promotion activities. In this study...