Stanford University

Health and Medicine

FSI’s researchers assess health and medicine through the lenses of economics, nutrition and politics. They’re studying and influencing public health policies of local and national governments and the roles that corporations and nongovernmental organizations play in providing health care around the world. Scholars look at how governance affects citizens’ health, how children’s health care access affects the aging process and how to improve children’s health in Guatemala and rural China. They want to know what it will take for people to cook more safely and breathe more easily in developing countries.

FSI professors investigate how lifestyles affect health. What good does gardening do for older Americans? What are the benefits of eating organic food or growing genetically modified rice in China? They study cost-effectiveness by examining programs like those aimed at preventing the spread of tuberculosis in Russian prisons. Policies that impact obesity and undernutrition are examined; as are the public health implications of limiting salt in processed foods and the role of smoking among men who work in Chinese factories. FSI health research looks at sweeping domestic policies like the Affordable Care Act and the role of foreign aid in affecting the price of HIV drugs in Africa.

Reducing the risk of Nipah virus transmission in Bangladesh

Nipah virus commonly infects large fruit bats in South and Southeast Asia. It does not cause any apparent disease in bats, but when the infection spills over into humans in Bangladesh, over 75 percent of infected people die, and infected humans can pass the infection on to other people. People in Bangladesh most commonly become infected with Nipah virus by drinking raw date palm sap that has been contaminated by bats during harvest.

Consortium for Health Care Informatics Research (CHIR): Translational Use Case Project Natural Language Processing of Chest Radiograph Reports

The Consortium for Healthcare Informatics Research (CHIR) is a multisite project funded by Department of Veterans Affairs Health Services Research and Development (HSR&D). The projects develops methods in natural language processing (NLP) to advance the effective use of unstructured text and other types of electronic health record (EHR) clinical data to improve the health and health care of Veterans. 

Supplier-induced Demand in Newborn Treatment: Evidence from Japan

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We measure the degree of supplier-induced demand in newborn treatment, by exploiting changes in reimbursement arising from the introduction in Japan of the partial prospective payment system (PPS). Under the partial PPS, neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) utilization became relatively more profitable than other procedures, since it was excluded from prospective payments. We find that hospitals respond to PPS adoption by increasing NICU utilization and more frequently manipulating infants' reported birth weights -- the latter of which is a measure that determines the infant's maximum allowable length of stay in NICU. This induced demand substantially increases hospitals' reimbursements.

 
Hitoshi Shigeoka received a B.A. (2001) and an MA (2003) in chemical engineering from University of Tokyo, and master of international affairs (2006) and PhD in economics (2012) from Columbia University. Hitoshi’s research interests include health, labor, public economics, and experimental economics. His current research involves estimating the demand elasticity of health care utilization, examining the degree of supplier-induced demand by physicians and hospitals, examining the effects of competition and peer-to-peer teaching on learning, and investigating how the long-term incentives of mothers affect the timing of births.

Philippines Conference Room

Hitoshi Shigeoka Assistant Professor Speaker Simon Fraser University
Seminars

Striving for good feelings or averting bad ones

Previous research suggests that the emotions people value (“ideal affect”) can help explain cultural differences in health care preferences.  For example, those valuing excitement tend to prefer physicians who promote excitement and medications that induce feelings of excitement. However, the emotions people want to avoid (“avoided affect”) may be just as influential, particularly among older adults and East Asian Americans who tend to be motivated more by avoiding (versus approaching) certain outcomes.

The role of message framing in health behavior promotion among older adults

Adherence rates to public health recommendations are low, and seem to be falling. DiMatteo (2004) found that on average, at least one quarter of patients and recipients of lifestyle advice do not follow the recommendations given; other studies estimate this rate as high as 90% (Burke & Dunbar-Jacob, 1995). One possible reason why people are not following these recommendations may be that they are not communicated in a way that motivates people, especially not older adults.

Age Related Positivity Effect in Decision Making: Implications for Choice Preferences and Decision Quality

Prior research indicates reliable age differences in decision making processes consistent with the age-related positivity effect: Relative to younger adults, older adults demonstrate greater attention and memory for positive versus negative information about choice alternatives (e.g., Löckenhoff & Carstensen, 2007; Mather et al., 2005). However, the implications of age-related positivity for decision outcomes remain less clear.

Improving the quality of quality metrics for decision making: Understanding the role of social factors on hospital rates

This study will examine the relationship between social factors and hospital utilization using data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). This study will provide pilot data about this relationship, especially more details about how social risk factors affect actual measures in use by decision makers. The researchers will examine this relationship using a regression approach.

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