Looking back at an experience through rose-colored glasses

The benefit of looking on the bright side of an experience is part of everyday vernacular and is supported empirically in academic research. The proposition here is that when people need to justify repeating an activity, they will try to reconstruct the past as more positive. The positive memory provides them with ammunition to rationalize a desired activity. Participants were offered either an incentive or a disincentive to replay a game. Participants in the disincentive condition who indicated a desire to replay, needed to justify the replay decision more than other participants. These participants were more likely to strategically select moments from a previous experience to construct a positive retrospective evaluation. A plausible alternative explanation for the results, distorting the salient moments of the experience, is tested and rejected.     

Consumers telling consumption stories: Word-of-mouth and retrospective evaluations

During conversations, people generally comply with norms such as keeping the story interesting for the listener. If word-of-mouth about a previous consumption experience is communicated in a conversational format, then adherence to conversational norms could result in changes to the retrospective evaluation of the event. The research presented here investigates whether an alteration occurs, the possible consequences of an alteration to the retrospective evaluation, and the mechanisms behind a change. A peak-trough moment approach to constructing retrospective evaluations is compared with an average moment (or overall attitude) change. The peak is the most intensely positive moment in a positive experience and the trough is the most intensely negative moment in a positive experience. The results show that post-conversational retrospective evaluations are amplified and that the change in the intensity of the trough that has an important role to play in explaining the changes in the retrospective evaluation of the consumption event.     

Design of financial incentives and payment schemes in healthcare systems: A review

In this paper, we review the existing studies on the design of financial incentives and payment mechanisms for healthcare service providers, which have been published in the literature of operations research & management science. We classify these studies in two ways: first, by the care provider focused on: physicians or hospitals; and next, by categorizing payment/incentive schemes as retrospective or prospective models under each care provider group. The problem setting, including the geographic background and research methodology, are briefly discussed for each paper, as are the findings with regard to accessibility, quality, efficiency, and the facilitation of integration and collaboration, if reported. We also provide a detailed discussion of potential research problems that would offer promising avenues for future study.     

Promises,policies and pocketbook voting

Do voters respond to political parties׳ promises or to their past actions? We use a suitable sequence of events in Swedish politics to provide the first answer to this question. In the 1994 election campaign the Social Democrats proposed major cuts in transfers to parents with young children, whereas in the 1998 campaign they promised to increase transfers. The Social Democrats won both elections and delivered on both promises. Using voting among parents with slightly older children as counterfactual, we find that voters with young children responded markedly to economic promises rather than to implemented policies.     

Endogenous political competition and political accountability

We contribute to the debate over the effectiveness of elections in motivating incumbents to perform well. We show that with endogenous political competition the effectiveness of democracy in disciplining officials can be largely diminished.     

医院多西他赛不良反应发生情况

目的探讨使用多西他赛出现的药物不良反应(ADR)发生特点和影响因素。方法利用阜新矿总医院医院信息系统(HIS)导出2013年1月至2018年12月该院应用多西他赛进行治疗的患者的病例,收集多西他赛相关ADR并进行回顾性分析。结果在获取的273例病例中,52例患者出现多西他赛相关ADR,其中男16例,女36例;40~55岁患者ADR发生率最高,为28.26%;体表面积与多西他赛的体内过程无直接关联;乳腺癌在全部原患肿瘤中排名第一,ADR上报15例(32.61%);使用剂量>75 mg/m^2患者ADR发生率最高,发生率为33.33%,其中骨髓抑制发生率22.22%;多西他赛联合铂类药物ADR发生例数最多,为26例,占25.00%;多西他赛引发ADR最常见的累及器官为血液系统,共计34例次,占55.74%,最常见的临床表现为骨髓抑制。结论不同个体采用多西他赛进行治疗出现的ADR差异较大,并且影响因素较多,临床应根据患者个体情况进行早期评估和用药监控,从而降低患者ADR发生率,提高患者满意度。     

Healthcare costs,treatment patterns,and resource utilization among pancreatic cancer patients in a managed care population

Abstract

Background:

Pancreatic adenocarcinoma has few effective treatment options and poor survival. The objective of this study was to characterize treatment patterns and estimate the costs and resource use associated with its treatment in a commercially-insured US population.

Methods:

In this retrospective claims-based analysis, individuals ≥18 years old with evidence of pancreatic adenocarcinoma between January 1, 2001 and December 31, 2010 were selected from a managed care database. Treatment phase (either initial non-metastatic or metastatic) was determined using a claims-based algorithm. Patients in the pancreatic cancer population were matched 1:3 to a control population. Resource use (events/person-years), treatment patterns, and healthcare costs (per-patient per-month, PPPM) were determined during a variable length follow-up period (from first pancreatic cancer diagnosis to earliest of death, disenrollment, or study end).

Results:

In this study, 5262 pancreatic cancer patients were matched to 15,786 controls. Rates of office visits, inpatient visits, ER visits, and inpatient stays, and mean total all-cause healthcare costs PPPM ($15,480 vs $1001) were significantly higher among cancer patients than controls (all p?<?0.001). Mean inpatient costs were the single largest cost driver ($9917 PPPM). Also, mean total all-cause healthcare costs were significantly higher during the metastatic treatment phase vs the initial treatment phase of non-metastatic disease ($21,637 vs $10,358, p?<?0.001).

Conclusions:

These results indicate that pancreatic cancer imposes a substantial burden on the US healthcare system, and that treatment of more advanced disease is significantly more costly than initial treatment of non-metastatic disease.

Limitations:

Additional research is needed to validate the accuracy of the claims-based algorithms used to identify the treatment phase.     

An investigation of hindsight bias in nascent venture activity

We posit that individuals who are actively engaged in activities to develop their own venture will exhibit hindsight bias when recalling their startup experiences. We observe that those who fail to develop their startup activity into an operating business demonstrate substantial hindsight bias concerning the probability of venture formation. In particular, the recalled probability of success, reported after their decision to quit, is lower than the probability of success solicited during the nascent process. We argue that the systematic distortion of the past has important implications for individuals involved in the venturing process. Specifically, we suggest that these individuals are at risk of overestimating their chances of success when starting future nascent activity if they do not correct for their optimistic tendencies. The evidence from this study suggests it is important to recognize that what nascent entrepreneurs believe they experienced, and what they actually experienced, may not be equivalent.