Browsing by Subject "Health systems"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    A Unique Use of Regional Information Exchange by a Statewide Health System Serving Refugees: "Operation Allies Welcome"
    (Thieme, 2023) Webber, Emily C.; Peterson, Rachel J.; Lory, Katie; Kanis, Jessica; Saysana, Michele; Schneider, Kimberly S.; Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    Background: In September 2021, a military camp in the United States was identified for an initial relocation of over 6,600 Afghanistan refugees. This case report describes a novel use of existing health information exchange to expedite and provide health care for a large refugee population throughout the state during the duration of their entry into the United States. Methods: Medical teams of the health systems and military camp partnered to provide a scalable, reliable mechanism for clinical data exchange leveraging an existing regional health information exchange. Exchanges were evaluated for clinical type, originating source, and closed loop communication with the refugee camp and personnel military camp. Results: Approximately 50% of the camp residents were under the age of 18 years. Over 20 weeks, approximately 4.51% of the refugee camp residents were cared for in participating health systems. A total of 2,699 clinical data messages were exchanged, 62% of which were clinical documents. Conclusion: All health systems participating in care were offered support to utilize the tool and process set up using the regional health information exchange. The process and guiding principles may be applied to other refugee health care efforts to provide efficient, scalable, and reliable means of clinical data exchange to health care providers in similar situations.
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    Service delivery challenges in HIV care during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic: results from a site assessment survey across the global IeDEA consortium
    (Wiley, 2022) Brazier, Ellen; Ajeh, Rogers; Maruri, Fernanda; Musick, Beverly; Freeman, Aimee; Wester, C. William; Lee, Man-Po; Shamu, Tinei; Crabtree Ramírez, Brenda; d’Almeida, Marcelline; Wools-Kaloustian, Kara; Kumarasamy, N.; Althoff, Keri N.; Twizere, Christella; Grinsztejn, Beatriz; Tanser, Frank; Messou, Eugène; Byakwaga, Helen; Duda, Stephany N.; Nash, Denis; International epidemiology Databases to Evaluate AIDS; Biostatistics, School of Public Health
    Introduction: Interruptions in treatment pose risks for people with HIV (PWH) and threaten progress in ending the HIV epidemic; however, the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on HIV service delivery across diverse settings is not broadly documented. Methods: From September 2020 to March 2021, the International epidemiology Databases to Evaluate AIDS (IeDEA) research consortium surveyed 238 HIV care sites across seven geographic regions to document constraints in HIV service delivery during the first year of the pandemic and strategies for ensuring care continuity for PWH. Descriptive statistics were stratified by national HIV prevalence (<1%, 1-4.9% and ≥5%) and country income levels. Results: Questions about pandemic-related consequences for HIV care were completed by 225 (95%) sites in 42 countries with low (n = 82), medium (n = 86) and high (n = 57) HIV prevalence, including low- (n = 57), lower-middle (n = 79), upper-middle (n = 39) and high- (n = 50) income countries. Most sites reported being subject to pandemic-related restrictions on travel, service provision or other operations (75%), and experiencing negative impacts (76%) on clinic operations, including decreased hours/days, reduced provider availability, clinic reconfiguration for COVID-19 services, record-keeping interruptions and suspension of partner support. Almost all sites in low-prevalence and high-income countries reported increased use of telemedicine (85% and 100%, respectively), compared with less than half of sites in high-prevalence and lower-income settings. Few sites in high-prevalence settings (2%) reported suspending antiretroviral therapy (ART) clinic services, and many reported adopting mitigation strategies to support adherence, including multi-month dispensing of ART (95%) and designating community ART pick-up points (44%). While few sites (5%) reported stockouts of first-line ART regimens, 10-11% reported stockouts of second- and third-line regimens, respectively, primarily in high-prevalence and lower-income settings. Interruptions in HIV viral load (VL) testing included suspension of testing (22%), longer turnaround times (41%) and supply/reagent stockouts (22%), but did not differ across settings. Conclusions: While many sites in high HIV prevalence settings and lower-income countries reported introducing or expanding measures to support treatment adherence and continuity of care, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in disruptions to VL testing and ART supply chains that may negatively affect the quality of HIV care in these settings.
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    Strategic use of health information exchange and market share, payer mix, and operating margins
    (Wolters Kluwer, 2022) Vest, Joshua R.; Freedman, Seth; Unruh, Mark Aaron; Bako, Abdulaziz T.; Simon, Kosali; Health Policy and Management, School of Public Health
    Background: Health information exchange (HIE) capabilities are tied to health care organizations' strategic and business goals. As a technology that connects information from different organizations, HIE may be a source of competitive advantage and a path to improvements in performance. Purpose: The aim of the study was to identify the impact of hospitals' use of HIE capabilities on outcomes that may be sensitive to changes in various contracting arrangements and referral patterns arising from improved connectivity. Methodology: Using a panel of community hospitals in nine states, we examined the association between the number of different data types the hospital could exchange via HIE and changes in market share, payer mix, and operating margin (2010-2014). Regression models that controlled for the number of different data types shared intraorganizationally and other time-varying factors and included both hospital and time fixed effects were used for adjusted estimates of the relationships between changes in HIE capabilities and outcomes. Results: Increasing HIE capability was associated with a 13 percentage point increase in a hospital's discharges that were covered by commercial insurers or Medicare (i.e., payer mix). Conversely, increasing intraorganizational information sharing was associated with a 9.6 percentage point decrease in the percentage of discharges covered by commercial insurers or Medicare. Increasing HIE capability or intraorganizational information sharing was not associated with increased market share nor with operating margin. Conclusions: Improving information sharing with external organizations may be an approach to support strategic business goals. Practice implications: Organizations may be served by identifying ways to leverage HIE instead of focusing on intraorganizational exchange capabilities.
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    Strengthening Referral Networks for Management of Hypertension Across the Health System (STRENGTHS) in western Kenya: a study protocol of a cluster randomized trial
    (BioMed Central, 2019-09-09) Mercer, Tim; Njuguna, Benson; Bloomfield, Gerald S.; Dick, Jonathan; Finkelstein, Eric; Kamano, Jemima; Mwangi, Ann; Naanyu, Violet; Pastakia, Sonak D.; Valente, Thomas W.; Vedanthan, Rajesh; Akwanalo, Constantine; Medicine, School of Medicine
    BACKGROUND: Hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD), yet treatment and control rates for hypertension are very low in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Lack of effective referral networks between different levels of the health system is one factor that threatens the ability to achieve adequate blood pressure control and prevent CVD-related morbidity. Health information technology and peer support are two strategies that have improved care coordination and clinical outcomes for other disease entities in other settings; however, their effectiveness and cost-effectiveness in strengthening referral networks to improve blood pressure control and reduce CVD risk in low-resource settings are unknown. METHODS/DESIGN: We will use the PRECEDE-PROCEED framework to conduct transdisciplinary implementation research, focused on strengthening referral networks for hypertension in western Kenya. We will conduct a baseline needs and contextual assessment using a mixed-methods approach, in order to inform a participatory, community-based design process to fully develop a contextually and culturally appropriate intervention model that combines health information technology and peer support. Subsequently, we will conduct a two-arm cluster randomized trial comparing 1) usual care for referrals vs 2) referral networks strengthened with our intervention. The primary outcome will be one-year change in systolic blood pressure. The key secondary clinical outcome will be CVD risk reduction, and the key secondary implementation outcomes will include referral process metrics such as referral appropriateness and completion rates. We will conduct a mediation analysis to evaluate the influence of changes in referral network characteristics on intervention outcomes, a moderation analysis to evaluate the influence of baseline referral network characteristics on the effectiveness of the intervention, as well as a process evaluation using the Saunders framework. Finally, we will analyze the incremental cost-effectiveness of the intervention relative to usual care, in terms of costs per unit decrease in systolic blood pressure, per percentage change in CVD risk score, and per disability-adjusted life year saved. DISCUSSION: This study will provide evidence for the implementation of innovative strategies for strengthening referral networks to improve hypertension control in LMICs. If effective, it has the potential to be a scalable model for health systems strengthening in other low-resource settings worldwide.