Browsing by Subject "Health services research"
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Item Blogs, Videos, Newspapers, Books: PLOS SciComm Talks To Aaron Carroll About Health Communication(Public Library of Science, 2017-11-06) Sullivan, AaronItem Characteristics of Veterans with non-VA encounters enrolled in a trial of standards-based, interoperable event notification and care coordination(American Board of Family Medicine, 2021) Kartje, Rebecca; Dixon, Brian E.; Schwartzkopf, Ashley L.; Guerrero, Vivian; Judon, Kimberly M.; Yi, Joanne C.; Boockvar, Kenneth; Epidemiology, School of Public HealthIntroduction: Understanding how veterans use Veterans Affairs (VA) for primary care and non-VA for acute care can help policy makers predict future health care resource use. We aimed to describe characteristics of veterans enrolled in a multisite clinical trial of non-VA acute event notifications and care coordination and to identify patient factors associated with non-VA acute care. Methods: Characteristics of 565 veterans enrolled in a prospective cluster randomized trial at the Bronx and Indianapolis VA Medical Centers were obtained by interview and chart review. Results: Veterans' mean age was 75.8 years old, 98.3% were male, and 39.2% self-identified as a minority race; 81.2% reported receiving the majority of care at the VA. There were 197 (34.9%) veterans for whom a non-VA acute care alert was received. Patient characteristics significantly associated with greater odds of a non-VA alert included older age (OR = 1.05; 95% CI, 1.04-1.05); majority of care received is non-VA (OR = 1.83; 95% CI, 1.06-3.15); private insurance (OR = 1.39; 95% CI, 1.19-1.62); and higher income (OR = 4.01; 95% CI, 2.68-5.98). Conclusions: We identified several patient-level factors associated with non-VA acute care that can inform the design of VA services and policies for veterans with non-VA acute care encounters and reintegration back into the VA system.Item A Consensus Action Agenda for Achieving the National Health Information Infrastructure(Oxford University Press, 2004) Yasnoff, William A.; Humphreys, Betsy L.; Overhage, J. Marc; Detmer, Don E.; Brennan, Patricia Flatley; Morris, Richard W.; Middleton, Blackford; Bates, David W.; Fanning, John P.; Medicine, School of MedicineBACKGROUND: Improving the safety, quality, and efficiency of health care will require immediate and ubiquitous access to complete patient information and decision support provided through a National Health Information Infrastructure (NHII). METHODS: To help define the action steps needed to achieve an NHII, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services sponsored a national consensus conference in July 2003. RESULTS: Attendees favored a public-private coordination group to guide NHII activities, provide education, share resources, and monitor relevant metrics to mark progress. They identified financial incentives, health information standards, and overcoming a few important legal obstacles as key NHII enablers. Community and regional implementation projects, including consumer access to a personal health record, were seen as necessary to demonstrate comprehensive functional systems that can serve as models for the entire nation. Finally, the participants identified the need for increased funding for research on the impact of health information technology on patient safety and quality of care. Individuals, organizations, and federal agencies are using these consensus recommendations to guide NHII efforts.Item Correction to: Development and Feasibility Testing of a Multilevel Intervention to Increase Hepatitis C Virus Screening Among Baby Boomers in Primary Care(Springer, 2023) Kasting, Monica L.; Laily, Alfu; Nephew, Lauren D.; Shields, Cleveland G.; Shedd‑Steele, Rivienne; Rawl, Susan M.; Medicine, School of MedicineCorrection to: Journal of Cancer Education 10.1007/s13187-023-02268-x The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake. Table 3, p.8 of the article, the header REMINDER LETTER should be replaced with EDUCATIONAL VIDEO. The original article has been corrected.Item Delivery of adjuvant chemotherapy (AC) to veterans with resected colon cancer(ASCO Annual Meeting, 2012-06) Riggs, Heather D.; Lane, Kathleen A.; Loehrer, Patrick J.; Hui, Sui; Rawl, Susan M.; Ormerod, Anne; Weiner, MichaelPatients with incomplete administration of AC for colon cancer (CC) likely experience inferior survival while oxaliplatin- and capecitabine-containing AC may not improve survival for older patients. The influence on AC completion of age, other baseline patient characteristics, or regimen characteristics is unknown. We evaluated the association of baseline characteristics and planned AC regimen with AC delivery in resected CC patients.Item Development and Feasibility Testing of a Multilevel Intervention to Increase Hepatitis C Virus Screening Among Baby Boomers in Primary Care(Springer, 2023) Kasting, Monica L.; Laily, Alfu; Nephew, Lauren D.; Shields, Cleveland G.; Shedd‑Steele, Rivienne; Rawl, Susan M.; Medicine, School of MedicineChronic infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) results in an increased risk of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Only 15% of baby boomers (born 1945–1965) have ever been screened. We aimed to develop a multilevel intervention to increase HCV screening for baby boomers in a primary care setting. This study included two phases: intervention development (phase 1) and feasibility testing (phase 2). In phase 1, we partnered with a Community Advisory Board and a Provider Advisory Board to develop a multilevel intervention to increase HCV screening to be delivered to both providers and patients in primary care. Phase 2 assessed intervention feasibility, acceptability, and usability by conducting Concurrent Think Aloud (CTA) interviews and surveys using previously validated scales with patients (n = 8) and providers (n = 7). Phase 1 results: The patient-level intervention included a mailed reminder letter and CDC pamphlet and a 7-min in-clinic educational video. The provider-level intervention included a 30-min educational session and monthly performance feedback e-mails. Phase 2 results: Qualitatively, both the patient and provider-level intervention were feasible, acceptable, and usable by the target audiences. Quantitatively, on a 1–4 scale, the range of patient-level scores was 3.00–4.00 and provider level was 3.50–4.00 for feasibility, acceptability, and usability. This intervention could improve HCV screening among a high-risk population and therefore reduce HCV-related morbidity and mortality. This project developed a feasible, acceptable, and usable multilevel intervention aimed at increasing HCV screening in primary care.Item Economic Assessment of 4 Approaches to the Diagnosis and Initial Treatment of Sleep Apnea(American Association for Respiratory Care, 2018-01) Bravata, Dawn M.; Lightner, Nancy; Yaggi, H. Klar; Miech, Edward J.; Medicine, School of MedicineBACKGROUND: A dilemma faced by health-care administrators is that need greatly outstrips capacity for diagnosing and treating sleep apnea, with such decisions carrying significant economic consequences. Our objective was to develop an economic model to estimate the relative costs of 4 approaches for diagnosis and initial treatment of sleep apnea. METHODS: The analysis consisted of developing a mathematical model depicting possible diagnostic and treatment approaches to the care of patients with sleep apnea; developing 4 clinical scenarios to describe distinct approaches to the management of sleep apnea patients (in-laboratory, unattended, direct-to-autotitrating PAP [auto-PAP], and mixed); and identifying costs associated with each scenario. We created a hypothetical cohort of 1,000 patients with 85% prevalence of sleep apnea to generate cost estimates. RESULTS: The driver of per-patient costs was the total number of sleep studies, which varied widely across scenarios: from 425 for the direct-to-auto-PAP approach to 1,441 in the unattended approach. The scenarios also differed in per-patient costs: Per-patient costs excluding facility startup costs were $456 for direct-to-auto-PAP, $913 for in-laboratory, $991 for mixed, and $1,090 for unattended. CONCLUSIONS: Approaches to diagnosing and treating sleep apnea that emphasized early application of auto-PAP had lower per-patient costs.Item Editorial Peer Reviewers' Recommendations at a General Medical Journal: Are They Reliable and Do Editors Care?(Public Library of Science, 2010-04-08) Kravitz, Richard L.; Franks, Peter; Feldman, Mitchell D.; Gerrity, Martha; Byrne, Cindy; Tierney, William M.; Medicine, School of MedicineBackground Editorial peer review is universally used but little studied. We examined the relationship between external reviewers' recommendations and the editorial outcome of manuscripts undergoing external peer-review at the Journal of General Internal Medicine (JGIM). Methodology/Principal Findings We examined reviewer recommendations and editors' decisions at JGIM between 2004 and 2008. For manuscripts undergoing peer review, we calculated chance-corrected agreement among reviewers on recommendations to reject versus accept or revise. Using mixed effects logistic regression models, we estimated intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC) at the reviewer and manuscript level. Finally, we examined the probability of rejection in relation to reviewer agreement and disagreement. The 2264 manuscripts sent for external review during the study period received 5881 reviews provided by 2916 reviewers; 28% of reviews recommended rejection. Chance corrected agreement (kappa statistic) on rejection among reviewers was 0.11 (p<.01). In mixed effects models adjusting for study year and manuscript type, the reviewer-level ICC was 0.23 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.19–0.29) and the manuscript-level ICC was 0.17 (95% CI, 0.12–0.22). The editors' overall rejection rate was 48%: 88% when all reviewers for a manuscript agreed on rejection (7% of manuscripts) and 20% when all reviewers agreed that the manuscript should not be rejected (48% of manuscripts) (p<0.01). Conclusions/Significance Reviewers at JGIM agreed on recommendations to reject vs. accept/revise at levels barely beyond chance, yet editors placed considerable weight on reviewers' recommendations. Efforts are needed to improve the reliability of the peer-review process while helping editors understand the limitations of reviewers' recommendations.Item Errors in self-reports of health services use: impact on alzheimer disease clinical trial designs(Wolters Kluwer, 2015-03) Callahan, Christopher M.; Tu, Wanzhu; Stump, Timothy E.; Clark, Daniel O.; Unroe, Kathleen T.; Hendrie, Hugh C.; Department of Medicine, IU School of MedicineBACKGROUND: Most Alzheimer disease clinical trials that compare the use of health services rely on reports of caregivers. The goal of this study was to assess the accuracy of self-reports among older adults with Alzheimer disease and their caregiver proxy respondents. This issue is particularly relevant to Alzheimer disease clinical trials because inaccuracy can lead both to loss of power and increased bias in study outcomes. METHODS: We compared respondent accuracy in reporting any use and in reporting the frequency of use with actual utilization data as documented in a comprehensive database. We next simulated the impact of underreporting and overreporting on sample size estimates and treatment effect bias for clinical trials comparing utilization between experimental groups. RESULTS: Respondents self-reports have a poor level of accuracy with κ-values often below 0.5. Respondents tend to underreport use even for rare events such as hospitalizations and nursing home stays. In analyses simulating underreporting and overreporting of varying magnitude, we found that errors in self-reports can increase the required sample size by 15% to 30%. In addition, bias in the reported treatment effect ranged from 3% to 18% due to both underreporting and overreporting errors. CONCLUSIONS: Use of self-report data in clinical trials of Alzheimer disease treatments may inflate sample size needs. Even when adequate power is achieved by increasing sample size, reporting errors can result in a biased estimate of the true effect size of the intervention.Item Impact of proton beam availability on patient treatment schedule in radiation oncology(American Association of Physicists in Medicine, 2012-11-08) Miller, Eric D.; Derenchuk, Vladimir; Das, Indra J.; Johnstone, Peter A. S.; Radiation Oncology, School of MedicineProton beam therapy offers unique physical properties with potential for reduced toxicity and better patient care. There is an increased interest in radiation oncology centers to acquire proton therapy capabilities. The operation of a proton treatment center is quite different than a photon-based clinic because of the more complex technology involved, as well as the single proton beam source serving multiple treatment rooms with no backup source available. There is limited published data which investigates metrics that can be used to determine the performance of a proton facility. The purpose of this study is to evaluate performance metrics of Indiana University Cyclotron Operations (IUCO), including availability, mean time between failures, and mean time to repair, and to determine how changes in these metrics impact patient treatments. We utilized a computerized maintenance management system to log all downtime occurrences and servicing operations for the facility. These data were then used to calculate the availability as well as the mean time between failures and mean time to repair. Impact on patient treatments was determined by analyzing delayed and missed treatments, which were recorded in an electronic medical record and database maintained by the therapists. The availability of the IUCO proton beam has been increasing since beginning of operation in 2003 and averaged 96.9% for 2009 through 2011. The mean time between failures and mean time to repair were also determined and correlated with improvements in the maintenance and operating procedures of the facility, as well as environmental factors. It was found that events less than 15 minutes in duration have minimal impact on treatment delays, while events lasting longer than one hour may result in missed treatments. The availability of the proton beam was more closely correlated with delayed than with missed treatments, demonstrating the utility and limitations of the availability metric. In conclusion, we suggest that the availability metric and other performance parameters, such as the mean time between failures and the mean time to repair, should be used in combination with downtime impact on patient treatments in order to adequately evaluate the operational success of a proton therapy facility.