Frequent emergency department (ED) users gave similar reasons for using the ED rather than a clinic compared to other patients, including concerns around convenience, access, and quality.
Opioid use incidence and prevalence rates decreased with implementation of an opioid safety initiative, whereas nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug rates remained constant. Rates of adverse events were higher among opioid users.
This study demonstrates patient acceptance of a virtual health coach while waiting for the physician to enter the primary care exam room.
Alzheimer disease and other dementias (ADOD) have a substantial impact on the prevalence and costs of certain comorbid conditions compared with matched beneficiaries without ADOD.
Venous thromboembolism during or after recent hospitalization for medical illness contributes a substantial economic burden to society across all hospital and ambulatory care delivered.
A longitudinal case-control design was used to evaluate the effects of the patient-centered medical home model on medical costs and utilization among high-risk patients.
The 30-day readmission risk was reduced 25% by a collaborative program model employing discharge planning and telephonic follow-up for high-risk patients with CMS penalty diagnoses.
Primary care teams implementing medical homes experience professional role confusion and interpersonal conflict, and require effective administrative leadership to ensure success during this transition.
Health plans use data to decide on quality improvement initiatives. Having a dashboard that characterizes how equitably plans are serving their enrollees would promote health equity.
A slight decrease in the convenience of ordering a laboratory test led to a dramatic decrease in test utilization.
Building negative incentives into value-based insurance design programs to discourage use of low-value care will involve a number of challenges.
Incorporating functional status in diagnosis-based risk adjustment measures may modestly improve overall expenditure prediction for beneficiaries with substantial disabilities, but not prescription cost prediction.
Automated patient support calls with feedback to informal caregivers and clinicians represent a viable strategy for increasing access to depression monitoring and self-management assistance.
Primary care physicians who address multiple problems during acute care visits achieve better clinical scores, comparable patient experience, and lower annual cost.
The Hospital-in-Home program implemented at the Veterans Affairs Pacific Islands Health Care System in Honolulu, Hawaii, is associated with reduced costs with no compromise in quality.
A cancer pain control program for inpatients based on electronic health record–based automatic screening provided effective pain relief and achieved high satisfaction among patients and physicians.
The healthcare burden of opioid abuse is substantial; abusers often have complex healthcare needs and may require care beyond that which is required to treat abuse.
The ambulatory intensivist model makes achieving the Triple Aim a reality through improved physician interpersonal, analytic, intuitive, and advanced clinical skills, including the use of telemedicine.