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Michael Barnett

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H-index: 52
Political science 62%
Sociology 22%
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by José F. Figueroa — Reposted by Michael Barnett, John Mullahy

joefigs.bsky.social
It’s hard to put into words how inspiring Dr. Sue Goldie is.

An extraordinary teacher, researcher, leader, and mentor to so many of us @hsph.harvard.edu who now shares her deeply personal story fighting against Parkinson’s disease.

Her story in @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Sue Goldie Has Parkinson’s Disease
An acclaimed researcher is an expert at explaining complicated problems. Now she has to confront the most vexing question: What is happening to her?
www.nytimes.com
1 5

Reposted by Michael Barnett

vinisingh.bsky.social
I finally made the switch to R from stata, and as a fierce long-time defender of stata, I can concede that R is leagues better in almost every way.

Still, I do wish there was an easier way to diagnose merges w/o complicated code. GPT hasn't helped, and joyn doesn't seem to do it right. Any advice?
6 2 32

Reposted by Michael Barnett

altcdc.altgov.info
More CDC Cuts :: NCHS Edition 📊🔫

At least 1/3 of the staff at the National Center for Health Statistics has been cut (and remain cut). This is catastrophic for our nation’s health data.

Say goodbye to national health statistics that you can trust, healthcare surveys, NHANES and data systems.
10 210 480

Reposted by Michael Barnett

archive.org
🐹 Before viral videos on TikTok or YouTube, there was Hampsterdance.

Full of dancing hamster GIFs & a sped-up tune, it became one of the internet’s first viral hits.

You can still dance to it on the #WaybackMachine ➡️ web.archive.org/web/19991222...

#Wayback1T

🧵
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by Michael Barnett

mlbarnett.bsky.social
sounds like a repeat experiment is coming soon? i need you here for moral support though
1 1

Reposted by Michael Barnett

science.org
This year’s #NobelPrize in Physics honors researchers who demonstrated quantum mechanical effects in electric circuits on a chip. https://scim.ag/46T4qQK
Physics Nobel awarded for macro demonstration of quantum effects
John Clarke, Michel Devoret, and John Martinis honored for work demonstrating quantum mechanical tunneling in electrical circuits
scim.ag
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by Michael Barnett

mlbarnett.bsky.social
well, beggars can't be choosers these days. X is not any better 😭
1 4

Reposted by Michael Barnett

phillewis.bsky.social
Rite Aid closes all remaining stores after 63 years in business
Rite Aid closes all remaining stores after 63 years in business
"All Rite Aid stores have now closed. We thank our loyal customers for their many years of support." Rite Aid, once one of America's biggest pharmacy chains, shuttered its remaining 89 stores this wee...
abc7.com
41 260 710

Reposted by Michael Barnett, Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham

aschwartz.bsky.social
Today's Nobel Prize in Medicine went to the discoverers of regulatory T-cells. How could this discovery about our immune systems change the world?

Here is one possible way: leading to treatments for terrible neurological diseases. (1/3)
1 5 15

Reposted by Michael Barnett

jenlucpiquant.bsky.social
Multi-generational vulture nests hold 700 years of human artifacts www.popsci.com/environment/...
Multi-generational vulture nests hold 700 years of human artifacts
Crossbow bolts, sandals, slingshots, and more.
www.popsci.com
2 22 54

by Rishi K. Wadhera — Reposted by Michael Barnett

rkwadhera.bsky.social
Medicaid work requirements will soon be implemented nationwide

Our new @bmj.com study shows what happened to insurance coverage and jobs when Georgia rolled them out in 2023. bit.ly/3VE1QsK

Featured in @nytimes.com #medsky
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/w...
Medicaid Work Requirements Don’t Boost Employment, Study Shows
www.nytimes.com
1 2

Reposted by Michael Barnett, Rita Rubin

jama.com
Clinicians can enhance patient understanding by using numerical data instead of verbal probabilities, consistent denominators, absolute risk comparisons, and clear context for unfamiliar data types.

ja.ma/4pAC3zi
JAMA Insights: How to Communicate Medical Numbers. It outlines recommendations for conveying risk, adjusting numerators, communicating probability changes, using visualizations, and providing context, with examples of problematic and preferred communication styles.
3 7 21

by José F. Figueroa — Reposted by Michael Barnett

joefigs.bsky.social
Federal funding reportedly sent to Harvard for about 200 grants totaling $46 million.

Some welcome relief hopefully to so many.

Story below:

www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
Harvard Receives $46 Million in Federal Grants, Ending 4-Month Freeze | News | The Harvard Crimson
Millions of dollars in federal research grants from the National Institutes of Health began to flow to Harvard on Friday, the first grant money to return to the University since a judge struck down th...
www.thecrimson.com
2 1

Reposted by Michael Barnett

mrlovenstein.bsky.social
Secret Panel HERE 🐢 tapas.io/episode/2491229
8 210 1.2K

by Michael Barnett

mlbarnett.bsky.social
thanks john!
1

Reposted by Michael Barnett, Dorothy Bishop, Ben Bond‐Lamberty , and 10 more

thomasp85.com
I am beyond excited to announce that ggplot2 4.0.0 has just landed on CRAN.

It's not every day we have a new major #ggplot2 release but it is a fitting 18 year birthday present for the package.

Get an overview of the release in this blog post and be on the lookout for more in-depth posts #rstats
ggplot2 4.0.0
A new major version of ggplot2 has been released on CRAN. Find out what is new here.
www.tidyverse.org
9 280 850

Reposted by Michael Barnett, Julie L. Lockwood

conservation.bio
New 🐟 just dropped.

🧪🌎

www.mbari.org/news/mbaris-...
MBARI's advanced underwater technology reveals a new species of deep-sea snailfish • MBARI
The bumpy snailfish is one of three new species of deep-sea snailfish described by MBARI collaborators at SUNY Geneseo.
www.mbari.org
14 110 320

Reposted by Michael Barnett

lck303.bsky.social
I worked as a rehab nurse liaison for years, and anecdotally, can confirm what your research revealed. Another interesting avenue, look at comparing Medicare Advantage-covered IP days across the different insurance providers. I would presume a noticeable difference would present between the carriers
1 1

by Michael Barnett

mlbarnett.bsky.social
thanks Rachel!
1

by Michael Barnett

mlbarnett.bsky.social
Thanks to my co-authors, the National Institute on Aging for funding and more on the topic to come.

Please read or send me a message for the article if you can't access!

jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Extended Hospital Stays in Medicare Advantage and Traditional Medicare
This cohort study compares the length of stay between patients covered by traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
jamanetwork.com
1 10

by Michael Barnett

mlbarnett.bsky.social
Medicare Advantage plans could be gumming up the entire pipeline from ED visit to hospital discharge through this process. We are already seeing the prolonged ED stays are much more common, which could result from hospital beds being locked up.

www.healthaffairs.org/doi/full/10....
Hospital ‘Boarding’ Of Patients In The Emergency Department Increasingly Common, 2017–24 | Health Affairs Journal
When hospital beds are scarce, patients “board” in the emergency department until an inpatient bed becomes available. Using national data on 46.2 million hospitalizations, 2017–24, we documented rising burdens of hospital boarding in the US. At the peak in January 2022, 40.1 percent of patients boarded for more than four hours, and 6.3 percent boarded for more than twenty-four hours.
www.healthaffairs.org
2 5 16

by Michael Barnett

mlbarnett.bsky.social
We think this reflects the incentives in Medicare Advantage to have very tight networks of nursing homes that they cover and requiring prior authorization. This has been the subject of congressional reports and intense scrutiny.

www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/pre...
Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Releases Majority Staff Report Exposing Medicare Advantage Insurers' Refusal of Care for Vulnerable Seniors | U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connect...
[WASHINGTON, DC] – U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Chair of the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), released a...
www.blumenthal.senate.gov
1 3 20

by Michael Barnett — Reposted by Michael Barnett, John A. Graves

mlbarnett.bsky.social
Overall, we estimate that longer hospital stays for Medicare Advantage patients are contributing to close to 2 million extra hospital bed days occupied by people who don't need to be there any more annually. This is a huge waste and bad for patient care.

Why is this happening?
1 4 9

by Michael Barnett

mlbarnett.bsky.social
When you break things down, the one group with higher lengths of stay are patients enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans - in particular, those going to a nursing home for rehab.

The likelihood that these patients stay in the hospital for ≥14 days increased by ~30% from 2018 to 2023.
1 2 10

by Michael Barnett

mlbarnett.bsky.social
We studied Medicare hospital claims from 2017 to 2023 and found something striking.

The likelihood that any hospital stay in Medicare was longer than 14, 21 or 28 days (a VERY long time for a hospital stay)has gone up substantially since the pandemic and stayed high. There's a pattern, though ...
1 1 9

by Michael Barnett — Reposted by Michael Barnett, Cary P. Gross, Rishi K. Wadhera

mlbarnett.bsky.social
New paper w/ Brian McGarry, Ashvin Gandhi, and Drew Wilcock in @jamainternalmed.com!

Hospitals are complaining across the US that patients are "stuck" waiting for rehab beds at nursing homes when they are medically stable and ready for discharge. What is going on??

jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Question Has hospital length of stay increased more for Medicare Advantage beneficiaries than for traditional Medicare beneficiaries since the COVID-19 pandemic?Findings In this cohort study involving more than 89 million hospitalizations from 2017 to the third quarter of 2023, Medicare Advantage beneficiaries experienced disproportionately greater increases in extended hospital stays, especially among those discharged to skilled nursing facilities.Meaning These findings suggest that the Medicare Advantage plan design and practices may contribute to hospital discharge delays, with implications for patient outcomes and hospital capacity as enrollment continues to rise.
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Reposted by Michael Barnett

npr.org
Known for his intellectual and illuminating touch on the podium, the refined conductor was also surprisingly outspoken when it came to politics and his peers.
Christoph Von Dohnányi, longtime conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra, has died
Known for his intellectual and illuminating touch on the podium, the refined conductor was also surprisingly outspoken when it came to politics and his peers.
n.pr
1 24 160

Reposted by Michael Barnett, Simon Roux, Jason Williams

matthewcobb.bsky.social
Co-discoverer of reverse transcriptase at 32, Nobel Prize at 37, played a key role at the 1975 Asilomar comference.
David Baltimore, Nobel-Winning Molecular Biologist, Dies at 87
www.nytimes.com
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Reposted by Michael Barnett, Ellen Meara, Sara R. Collins

adrianna.bsky.social
Ben Sommers and I have a new piece up at @jamahealthforum.com on how to think about generalizing lessons from unwinding to looming new Medicaid red tape requirements.

jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

We appreciate support from the @commonwealthfund.org for this work!
2 8 13

Reposted by Michael Barnett, Jonathan A. Eisen, Hilary M. Babcock , and 2 more

apha.org
New statement: IDSA, APHA and partners call for RFK Jr. to resign: "Our country needs leadership that will promote open, honest dialogue — not disregard decades of lifesaving science, spread misinformation, reverse medical progress and decimate programs that keep us safe." bit.ly/3JOgDya
JOINT STATEMENT CALLING FOR SECRETARY KENNEDY RESIGNATION Infectious Diseases Society of America  American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology American Academy of HIV Medicine  American Association of Immunologists American Public Health Association American Society for Microbiology American Society for Virology Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC)  AVAC   Camenzind Solutions LLC  Fast-Track Cities Institute  ID Care International Association of Providers of AIDS Care  NTM Info & Research  Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society   Peggy Lillis Foundation Seattle Children’s Research Institute Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists (SIDP) Stop TB USA  Treatment Action Group 
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