HCP’s Joseph Newhouse, PhD, has received lots of press for his newest publication entitled, “The Effect of Medicare Part D on Drug and Medical Spending” published in the New England Journal of Medicine on July 2. The article, published in conjunction with four other researchers, two of whom were former doctoral students at HCP, discusses prescription coverage for Medicare Part D. Their work sheds light on the downstream effects of the increased use of prescription drugs by Medicare participants. To do so, they compared prescription drugs and other medical care two years before the execution of Part D and two years after the program’s implementation in four groups of elderly recipients. They concluded that enrollment in Medicare Part D was associated with increased spending amounts on prescriptions drugs. In groups with no or very limited prior drug coverage, spending on hospital and physician services decreased, but in a group with generous prior coverage it increased. Some of the press coverage can be seen at the NPR website.