Michel Boudreaux

HHS Open Data Access official HHS datasets for research, analysis, and transparency.

New dataset dropped this month: national Medicaid provider spending (2018–2024), aggregated by NPI x HCPCS x month. Includes FFS, managed care, and CHIP encounter data. Public, 3.3GB, provider-level detail. Looks very useful for utilization & spending research
opendata.hhs.gov

On Causality A History of How Economics Learned to Think About Cause and Effect

Nice essay by Carlos Chavez on the history and development of causal inference
carloschavezp29.substack.com/p/on-causality

Yakima!!

A lot of NOFOs at #NIH have expired. If you wish to submit an unsolicited application, do so to the parent #NOFO. Furthermore, unsolicited applications no longer require prior approval for exceeding $500K. Please inform your networks. #geronsky #hspr #hpss #statssky

Medicaid Insurers Promise Lots of Doctors. Good Luck Seeing One. Many doctors listed in insurer networks treat few or no Medicaid recipients, leaving patients with long waits. “Don’t get sick.”

"economic triage"

www.wsj.com/health/healt...

Thanks for the reminder, @dmgreene.bsky.social. Terps, I've got a challenge for you. From now until #GivingTuesday, I will match every signature with one dollar donated to the @univofmaryland.bsky.social. @mboudreaux.bsky.social claims he'll match me. @publichealthumd.bsky.social, what about you?

We can fix the goofy way we pay for vision care in the US My eyes are part of my body. Why do I have separate vision benefits?

We can fix the goofy way we pay for vision care in the US 👓

SPH prof Michel Boudreaux's research informs this
@voxdotcom.bsky.social piece on insurance for eye care!
👁️👁️

brnw.ch/21wXgiO

Job opportunity - come and join our incredible research team led by Maria Steenland at UMD as a health data analyst - partial or full telework will be considered. Happy to answer any questions over email, info here: umd.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/UMCP/j... #healthpolicy

Tracking Census Dataset Changes See when the U.S. Census Bureau adds or removes datasets.

The Census Bureau APIs added 1 dataset: 2024/sipp
See the full tracker: www.hrecht.com/census-api-d...

The 2024 uninsured rate held steady at 8%, statistically unchanged from 2023 & 2022, according to Census’ Current Population Survey (CPS). But looking ahead, 15 million more ppl will be uninsured under the R megabill and other policies. See our live blog on today’s Census data: tinyurl.com/bdfadufc

Trump says he wants to make D.C. parks great again. That might be harder than he thinks Residents say the federal government has long created more problems than solutions for the city’s green spaces.

“It’s very analogous to all the other things we’re seeing,” says the author of a 2023 report on the state of federal parks in the city. “The federal government is not set up to run the city of Washington, D.C.”

Assistant/Associate Professor (2 Vacancies)

I am chairing the search for two (2) Tenure Track positions at the Department of Health Services, Policy and Management at
@uscarnoldschool.bsky.social

We are looking to move relatively fast so please get your applications in quickly

#HealthPolicy
#AcademicSky

uscjobs.sc.edu/postings/194...

Working people across DC showed up to make clear: We are united. We are strong. We are powerful. We are loud! #FreeDC

We're building power to make DC’s demand for full democratic representation un-ignorable. Our communities deserve dignity, respect, and self-determination. Join the effort to win it. #FreeDC

There is a CPS supplement on work scheduling. Not sure what all it has.

Canadian wildfires are bringing terrible air pollution into the Midwest. Yesterday, Chicago had the worst air quality of any major city in the world.

Full Committee Markup of Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Acts | United States Senate Committee on Appropriations United States Senate Committee on Appropriations

🧪 Senate appropriators say: NIH's budget gets a... boost!

Rather than 40% cut, NIH gets a $400M *increase* in the Senate committee bill for FY26 (about +1%).

"Congress has your back," said @murray.senate.gov.

ADVOCACY MATTERS! There's still a long road (esp in the House), so keep up pressure.

Heard from #AHRQ that the entire grants staff has been let go! They are unable to issue funds for grants already funded, let alone fund new grants. This is outrageous and will make Americans poorer and sicker. Why? A brief thread about just some recent AHRQ-funded research: #MedSky #HealthPolicy

AHRQ-funded research found that 40% of kids aren't getting evidence-based treatment for pneumonia. t.co/OfhoEo10Zp

AHRQ-funded researchers did a series of interventions on over 7.5 million radiology reports to reduce ambiguous/unnecessary recs for additional imaging while increasing useful recs 7-fold, leading to a 30% increase in follow-up of important findings. t.co/zWUC9K3LaK

AHRQ research found that 3/100 people hospitalized for a high risk problem were actually seen in the ED within the prior week, suggesting the diagnosis may have been missed, and illuminating ways in which we could try to avoid those misses. t.co/1a9X338rLs

AHRQ-funded researchers figured out how best to disinfect carpet to prevent spread of C. diff, which causes half a million infections in the US every year. t.co/d9JqqPhhsT

AHRQ funded a massive revision of national guidelines for assessing the safety and effectiveness of electronic health record design - a requirement for all hospitals and EHR developers that had not been updated since 2016. t.co/HAsAND16RD

AHRQ-funded researchers figured out an extremely reliable way to identify people who are incorrectly labeled as being allergic to penicillin, allowing them to get safer, more effective antibiotics. t.co/rWrAHwirEo

Proposed Data Collection Submitted for Public Comment and Recommendations The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part of its continuing effort to reduce public burden and maximize the utility of government information, invites the general public and other ...

Health researchers take note:
If you use restricted use data for your work, you need to read (and respond to) this call for comments
www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...

cc @gregggonsalves.bsky.social

So good! Thanks!

A new paper using administrative income data finds evidence that Medicaid expansion differentially increased income among low-income adults in expansion states

academic.oup.com/healthaffair...

American Statistical Association The American Statistical Association is the world’s largest community of statisticians, the “Big Tent for Statistics.

‪
I'm running for #hpss chair of the American Statistical Association. It's been an honor to work with @amstatnews.bsky.social and @asa-scipol.bsky.social.
Members, see my statement and vote. Yes, I'm still here. I'm still in this if you are, too. #defendresearch #statssky #rstats

JUST IN: The Census Bureau's #2030Census Advisory Committee has been terminated by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who oversees the bureau, Arturo Vargas, the committee's chair, confirms to @npr.org. I've reached out to the press offices of the bureau and the Commerce Department for comment...

Study reveals racial and ethnic disparities in maternity care spending | University of Maryland | School of Public Health COLLEGE PARK, MD – A new study out today in JAMA Health Forum is the first to show that Blac

UMD study out today shows Black, Hispanic + Asian people with private insurance pay more out-of-pocket for maternity care than white people.
“Their average additional spending on medical care from pregnancy through postpartum is significantly more," said UMD's @rgourevitch.bsky.social
bit.ly/3Dd5QuA