Article Critique: Health Economics and Management Analysis Report

This report presents a comprehensive critique of the article "Too Much Medicine," focusing on its central arguments, supporting evidence, and implications for health leadership and management. The analysis delves into the authors' claims regarding excessive medical prescriptions, the ineffectiveness of treatments, and the ethical concerns of health economics, particularly the role of unethical incentives. The critique evaluates the research methodology, highlighting the reliance on literature review and the absence of quantitative data. The report explores the article's limitations, including a lack of statistical data and a vague structure. The analysis incorporates the article's conclusions, emphasizing the uneconomic growth resulting from overconsumption of care and the financial burden on patients. The report recommends further research with patient-based analysis and data collection to improve the assessment of the issue and develop more effective solutions. The report also considers the implications for health leadership and management, underscoring the need for ethical practices and improved patient care. It concludes by summarizing the key findings and recommendations for future research in health economics.

Running head: ARTICLE CRITIQUE
ARTICLE CRITIQUE
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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ARTICLE CRITIQUE
Introduction
Health economics is branch of the economics which focuses on the efficiency and the
financing of the health care system1. On this context “TOO MUCH MEDICINE” article has
researched the factors of the present condition of health care and the unnecessary treatment
provided to the patients which provides almost no benefit. Based on this article the critical
analysis would be done and the factors mentioned in this article would be discussed as well. The
following section would focus on the central arguments of the article, lacks of the article and the
implementation of the discussion in the health care set up would also be critically analysed.
Analysis
The authors of the article focused on the factor of the excessive medicine prescription of
by the health care professionals for the health care of the patients. They also focused on the
factor of the ineffectiveness of these excessive medicines on the patient’s health condition along
with the factor of the health economics. The health economics in this aspect refers to the factor
of the unethical incentive collection by the health care professionals for the prescribing
unnecessary medicine and care to the patients2. On this context they also stated that the
economists should consider this situation which has been neglected for a long time. Authors used
the literature review process as the research method on the context. Literature review on this
context would provide the knowledge about the situation however, the quantitative and
qualitative data collection would be more effective in the knowledge develop about the adverse
1 Barker, Isaac, Adam Steventon, Robert Williamson, and Sarah R. Deeny. "Self-management capability in patients
with long-term conditions is associated with reduced healthcare utilisation across a whole health economy: cross-
sectional analysis of electronic health records." BMJ Qual Saf 27, no. 12 (2018): 989-999.
2 Hensher, Martin, John Tisdell, and Craig Zimitat. "“Too much medicine”: Insights and explanations from
economic theory and research." Social Science & Medicine 176 (2017): 77-84.

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ARTICLE CRITIQUE
situation of the health economics3. Thus it can be stated that the research process was incomplete
in the article. The authors concluded that there is requirement of the extensive additional
research on this context. They also stated that this practice would contribute in the uneconomic
growth. Hence, on the basis of the analysis of this paper wit can clearly be stated that the article
is arguing about the health economic context and also the issue of the excessive medicine
prescription. On the other hand the argument of the article was not supported evidence properly
as there is no statistical data on the practice or on the issue4. Hence, it can be stated that the
article was based on the literature review process that is the secondary research process.
However, the statement of the article is not clear or properly structured. The argument is not
supported with proper evidences and also describing the facts of the health economy which is not
clear. The progression of the article is vague and is not clearly pointing out a single factor. Thus
it can be stated that the article is discussing about the factor of the health economy and excessive
amount of medicine prescription by the health care professionals to the patients along with
unnecessary care providence5.
However, the discussion was not up to the mark and vague as the article discusses about
different factors along with the factor of the medicine. It can be stated on the basis of the analysis
that the process of the article can be more suitable if the statistical data would be provided and
3 Hart, Chris. Doing a literature review: Releasing the research imagination. Sage, 2018.
4 Jakovljevic, Mihajlo, Mira Vukovic, Chia Ching Chen, Mirjana Antunovic, Viktorija Dragojevic Simic, Radmila
Velickovic Radovanovic, Mladenovic Siladji Djendji et al. "Do health reforms impact cost consciousness of Health
care professionals? Results from a nation-wide survey in the Balkans." Balkan medical journal 33, no. 1 (2016): 8-
17.
5 Melzer, Jörg, Sascha Melzer, and Reinhard Saller. "Medicine and Economy in an Ever-Changing World."
Complementary medicine research 25 (2018): 220-222.

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the article would be more structured. Thus the importance of the statistical data can be visible in
this context and the process of the discussion with proper structure as well. It has been expected
from the name of the article that there would be data which would specify the issue of the mal
practice in the health care set up which referred as the unethical incentive collection for
providing unnecessary care to the patients6. The secondary research on this issue by the authors
provided no such data that can be helpful in concluding on the issue. On the other hand the factor
of the research is unstructured as there is no mentioning about the proper method or results7.
Hence, the article is basically lacking the aspects of the geographic, demographic and qualitative
data about the too much medicine prescription. Thus it can be stated that the article can be
improved if the quantitative and the qualitative data would be collected and would help the
economical aspects as well as there is a lack of the financial data as well.
It can be easily stated that the introduction of the article is good enough to introduce
about the factor of the economical flaws happening on the context of the ethical consideration of
the health care set up. The prospect of the article on the other hand missing as there is no specific
factor of the health economy and discussing about different aspects. Thus the structure of the
article also lacks the factors of the health economy and the phenomenon of “too much medicine”.
However, the context of the article indicates the mal practice of the excessive medicine
providence by the health care professionals to the patients for the unethical incentive obtaining
the medicine companies and also by the third parties involving in the financing sector of health.
6 Terebessy, András, Edit Czeglédi, Bettina Claudia Balla, Ferenc Horváth, and Péter Balázs. "Medical students’
health behaviour and self-reported mental health status by their country of origin: a cross-sectional study." BMC
psychiatry 16, no. 1 (2016): 171.
7 Prada-Ramallal, Guillermo, Fatima Roque, Maria Teresa Herdeiro, Bahi Takkouche, and Adolfo Figueiras.
"Primary versus secondary source of data in observational studies and heterogeneity in meta-analyses of drug
effects: a survey of major medical journals." BMC medical research methodology 18, no. 1 (2018): 97.

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ARTICLE CRITIQUE
Thus the clarity of the article is to some extent helping in the knowledge development of the
readers on this context. However, the lack of the methodological research made the article weak.
Hence, it can be recommended that on this context fair analysis of the issue can be done with the
proper sampling and also collecting data of the patient’s feelings and the financial aspects which
affecting the economy also required for the proper assessment of the issue8.
The result portion of the article discusses different aspects of the economics however; all
the description has been discussed in a literary way and no data has been provided as evidence.
Thus the effectiveness of the discussion cannot be assessed for the lack of evidence and
information about the context. Thus the conclusion of the article cannot be made to a specific
point. The conclusion of the article states that the context of over consumption of care leads to
the uneconomic growth and gaining of the profit by the health care professionals9. On the other
hand the conclusion also states that the issue puts the patients seeking care in a situation where
they are facing inconvenience as they have to pay much higher than required. The factor of the
inconvenience of the patients refers to the ethical breach of the autonomy as well. On this
context it can be stated that the health economy which refers to the health services breached in
every context. However, the factor of the health economy has been discussed in the article
properly with sub sections of the health economy10. However, the context of the “too much
8 Ozer, B., O. Arikan, G. Moral, and A. Altintas. "Extraction of primary and secondary frequency control from
active power generation data of power plants." International Journal of Electrical Power & Energy Systems 73
(2015): 16-22.
9 Mandl, Kenneth D., Joshua C. Mandel, and Isaac S. Kohane. "Driving innovation in health systems through an
apps-based information economy." Cell systems 1, no. 1 (2015): 8-13.
10 Auffray, Charles, Rudi Balling, Inês Barroso, László Bencze, Mikael Benson, Jay Bergeron, Enrique Bernal-
Delgado et al. "Making sense of big data in health research: towards an EU action plan." Genome medicine 8, no. 1
(2016): 71.

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medicine” highlighted in the United States which also provided with no data. Thus the whole
article lacks the research approach and follows only the literature review and subjective
discussion. Therefore, it can be stated that the article was based on the literature review process
that is the secondary research process. However, the statement of the article is not clear or
properly structured. The argument is not supported with proper evidences and also describing the
facts of the health economy which is not clear. The progression of the article is vague and is not
clearly pointing out a single factor. Thus it can be stated that the article is discussing about the
factor of the health economy and excessive amount of medicine prescription by the health care
professionals to the patients along with unnecessary care providence11. The patient based analysis
should be done for the appropriate analysis of the context. Hence, further research would be
needed for the proper assessment of the situation12. The recommendation for addressing the
situation would also be needed to develop a better article on this context.
Conclusion
Based on the discussion it can be concluded that the article “Too Much Medicine” has
researched the factors of the present condition of health care and the unnecessary treatment
provided to the patients which provides almost no benefit. However, the research is incomplete
as there are no quantitative and qualitative data on the context of the over consumption of
medicine by the patients and obtaining unethical incentives by the health care professionals.
Hence, it is recommended that the article on this context should be developed with at least the
11 Llewellyn, Sue, Naomi Chambers, Sheila Ellwood, Christos Begkos, and Chris Wood. "Patient-level information
and costing systems (PLICSs): a mixed-methods study of current practice and future potential for the NHS health
economy." (2016).
12 Johnston, Melissa P. "Secondary data analysis: A method of which the time has come." Qualitative and
quantitative methods in libraries 3, no. 3 (2017): 619-626.

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qualitative data collection process from the patients which would be helpful in the proper
assessment of the issue on the basis of the financial and demographic data.

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ARTICLE CRITIQUE
Bibliography
Auffray, Charles, Rudi Balling, Inês Barroso, László Bencze, Mikael Benson, Jay Bergeron,
Enrique Bernal-Delgado et al. "Making sense of big data in health research: towards an EU
action plan." Genome medicine 8, no. 1 (2016): 71.
Barker, Isaac, Adam Steventon, Robert Williamson, and Sarah R. Deeny. "Self-management
capability in patients with long-term conditions is associated with reduced healthcare utilisation
across a whole health economy: cross-sectional analysis of electronic health records." BMJ Qual
Saf 27, no. 12 (2018): 989-999.
Hart, Chris. Doing a literature review: Releasing the research imagination. Sage, 2018.
Hensher, Martin, John Tisdell, and Craig Zimitat. "“Too much medicine”: Insights and
explanations from economic theory and research." Social Science & Medicine 176 (2017): 77-84.
Jakovljevic, Mihajlo, Mira Vukovic, Chia Ching Chen, Mirjana Antunovic, Viktorija Dragojevic
Simic, Radmila Velickovic Radovanovic, Mladenovic Siladji Djendji et al. "Do health reforms
impact cost consciousness of Health care professionals? Results from a nation-wide survey in the
Balkans." Balkan medical journal 33, no. 1 (2016): 8-17.
Johnston, Melissa P. "Secondary data analysis: A method of which the time has come."
Qualitative and quantitative methods in libraries 3, no. 3 (2017): 619-626.
Llewellyn, Sue, Naomi Chambers, Sheila Ellwood, Christos Begkos, and Chris Wood. "Patient-
level information and costing systems (PLICSs): a mixed-methods study of current practice and
future potential for the NHS health economy." (2016).

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ARTICLE CRITIQUE
Mandl, Kenneth D., Joshua C. Mandel, and Isaac S. Kohane. "Driving innovation in health
systems through an apps-based information economy." Cell systems 1, no. 1 (2015): 8-13.
Melzer, Jörg, Sascha Melzer, and Reinhard Saller. "Medicine and Economy in an Ever-Changing
World." Complementary medicine research 25 (2018): 220-222.
Ozer, B., O. Arikan, G. Moral, and A. Altintas. "Extraction of primary and secondary frequency
control from active power generation data of power plants." International Journal of Electrical
Power & Energy Systems 73 (2015): 16-22.
Prada-Ramallal, Guillermo, Fatima Roque, Maria Teresa Herdeiro, Bahi Takkouche, and Adolfo
Figueiras. "Primary versus secondary source of data in observational studies and heterogeneity in
meta-analyses of drug effects: a survey of major medical journals." BMC medical research
methodology 18, no. 1 (2018): 97.
Terebessy, András, Edit Czeglédi, Bettina Claudia Balla, Ferenc Horváth, and Péter Balázs.
"Medical students’ health behaviour and self-reported mental health status by their country of
origin: a cross-sectional study." BMC psychiatry 16, no. 1 (2016): 171.