Hopkins Researchers Ranked First and Third in Health Affairs Most-Read Articles (web article)

January 13, 2005

Two articles co-authored by Professor Gerard Anderson, PhD, and graduate student Peter S. Hussey, both with the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, were recognized as the most-viewed and third-most-viewed studies by the journal Health Affairs in its end-of-year review.

Dr. Anderson and Mr. Hussey’s study, entitled “U.S. Health Care Spending in an International Context,” received the most visits on the Internet of any of the journal's article from January 1 to December 21, 2004. The article examined reasons why U.S. health spending is so much higher than that of other countries. The duo co-authored the study with Uwe E. Reinhardt, PhD, James Madison Professor of Political Economy at Princeton University. It was published in the May/June 2004 issue of Health Affairs and was viewed 38,260 times on the journal's website during 2004.

An article in the same issue, entitled “How Does the Quality of Care Compare in Five Countries?” was ranked third in the most-viewed list, with 28,554 page visits. This article presented comparisons of health care quality, and showed that the U.S. does not consistently rank higher than other countries. Mr. Hussey and Dr. Anderson led an international group of authors that included Robin Osborn, Colin Feek, Vivienne McLaughlin, John Millar and Arnold Epstein.

“It’s amazing to see our work reaching so many people. It is gratifying to know that we are making a difference. Sometimes when doing research it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that every single word could eventually reach thousands of people all over the world. I also feel extremely fortunate to have been able to collaborate with Dr. Anderson and others at Johns Hopkins on these exciting projects,” said Mr. Hussey. -- Kenna L. Lowe