AJMC® Research Roundup: May 2019

Hi, I’m Christina Mattina for The American Journal of Managed Care^®. Here are 5 findings from research published in the May issue.

Pilot of Urgent Care Center Evaluation for Acute Coronary Syndrome

1. A pilot study of patients with chest pain found that evaluating them for potential acute coronary syndrome in urgent care centers can avoid emergency department visits without compromising safety.

Evaluation of Value-Based Insurance Design for Primary Care

2. After a large employer removed cost sharing for primary care visits as part of a value-based insurance design strategy, investigators found that the group without cost sharing saw reduced spending without a significant increase in physician office visits relative to a comparison cohort.

Patient-Centered Medical Homes and Preventive Service Use

3. This cross-sectional study determined that whether an individual has a usual source of care is a stronger predictor of their likelihood of receiving preventive services than whether or not that usual source of care is a patient-centered medical home.

Cost-Effectiveness of DPP-4 Inhibitor and SGLT2 Inhibitor Combination Therapy for Type 2 Diabetes

4. A diabetes treatment pathway using newer brand-name medications is more cost-effective over a lifetime than a pathway of generic sulfonylureas and insulin, according to modeling that incorporated cost savings from the newer therapies’ cardiovascular protective effects.

Beyond Satisfaction Scores: Exploring Emotionally Adverse Patient Experiences

5. Using in-depth interviews and survey comments, this qualitative study explored reports of emotionally adverse experiences in cancer care centers that can negatively influence patient outcomes. Such experiences were rarely reported, and there was wide variation in their causes.

To read all of these studies and more, visit AJMC.com.