Issues
May 2010 COMMENTARY
- Worksite Clinics and the Patient-Centered Medical Home: Competition or Collaboration?
Bruce W. Sherman, MD Patient-centered medical homes and worksite clinics represent 2 employer healthcare cost containment strategies. Although each may afford benefit, integration can yield enhanced employer value.  Full Text PDF CLINICAL
- Relationship of Asthma Control to Asthma Exacerbations Using Surrogate Markers Within a Managed Care Database
Michael Schatz, MD, MS; Robert S. Zeiger, MD, PhD; Su-Jau T. Yang, PhD; Wansu Chen, MS; William W. Crawford, MD; Shiva G. Sajjan, PhD; and Felicia Allen-Ramey, PhD Fewer short-acting β-agonist canisters dispensed (but not dispensing of any controller) and higher ratio of controller to total medication are associated with reduced asthma exacerbations.
- The Effect of a Cardiovascular Educational Intervention on Healthcare Utilization and Costs
Amar C. Nawathe, MD, MHA; Sherry A. Glied, PhD; William S. Weintraub, MD; and Lori J. Mosca, MD, PhD A low-cost cardiovascular disease screening and periodic educational intervention did not increase healthcare resource utilization and expenditures at 1 year. CLINICAL
- Treatment of Ductal Carcinoma In Situ Among Patients Cared for in Large Integrated Health Plans
Reina Haque, PhD; Ninah S. Achacoso, MS; Suzanne W. Fletcher, MD, MSc; Larissa Nekhlyudov, MD, MPH; Laura C. Collins, MBBS; Stuart J. Schnitt, MD; Charles P. Quesenberry Jr, PhD; and Laurel A. Habel, PhD Although we found no DCIS treatment disparities by race/ethnicity, use of adjuvant radiation therapy was less among older women and among residents of poorer neighborhoods.
- Physician Assessment of Appropriate Healthcare Level Among Nonurgent Patients
Ann-Sofie Backman, MD; Paul Blomqvist, MD, PhD; Magdalena Lagerlund, PhD; and Johanna Adami, MD, MPH, PhD Physicians at an emergency department and in primary care evaluated the appropriateness of complaints among nonurgent patients. Low regular previous healthcare use correlated with inappropriateness. MANAGERIAL
- Cost Burden of Treatment Resistance in Patients With Depression
Teresa B. Gibson, PhD; Yonghua Jing, PhD; Ginger Smith Carls, PhD; Edward Kim, MD, MBA; J. Erin Bagalman, MSW; Wayne N. Burton, MD; Quynh-Van Tran, PharmD; Andrei Pikalov, MD, PhD; and Ron Z. Goetzel, PhD When a clinical staging algorithm for treatment-resistant depression was applied to administrative claims data, higher scores predicted higher future medical costs.
- Impact of Predictive Model–Directed End-of-Life Counseling for Medicare Beneficiaries
Karen S. Hamlet, MA; Adam Hobgood, MS; Guy Brent Hamar, DDS, MPH; Angela C. Dobbs, MA; Elizabeth Y. Rula, PhD; and James E. Pope, MD A telephonic counseling program, directed by a predictive model, reduced end-of-life costs by 4.5% within 2 Medicare Health Support pilot programs.
- Clinical Process Variation: Effect on Quality and Cost of Care
Charles L. Moore, MBA; Michael J. McMullen, BA; Samuel W. Woolford, PhD; and Barry M. Berger, MD Wide variation in the way clinical services are provided to similar patients for similar visit types results in highly variable costs but similar clinical outcomes. CORRECTION STATEMENT
- Correction Statements
Neumann PJ, et al and Sankaranarayanan J, et al. Full Text PDF WEB EXCLUSIVE CONTENT
- Clinical Consequences of Disseminating the Rosiglitazone FDA Safety Warning
Kathleen B. Orrico, PharmD, BCPS; Joyce K. Lin, PharmD; Amy Wei, PharmD; and Henry Yue, PharmD Notifying patients and providers about the rosiglitazone cardiovascular safety alert led to sweeping changes in drug therapy that were initiated by both physicians and patients.
- Medicare Part D Policy Update and Implications for 2010
Ronnie J. DePue, Jr, PharmD; JoAnn Stubbings, MHCA; and David C. Baker, PharmD Although the fundamental structure of Medicare Part D remained the same in 2010, the beneficiary provisions continued to improve.
- Preliminary Treatment Considerations Among Men With Newly Diagnosed Prostate Cancer
Steven B. Zeliadt, PhD, MPH; Carol M. Moinpour, PhD; David K. Blough, PhD; David F. Penson, MD, MPH; Ingrid J. Hall, PhD, MPH; Judith Lee Smith, PhD; Donatus U. Ekwueme, PhD; Ian M. Thompson, MD; Thomas E. Keane, MD, ChB, FRCSI; and Scott D. Ramsey, MD, PhD In a survey of local-stage prostate cancer patients, preference for prostatectomy was influenced by perceptions of its efficacy and personal burden versus nonsurgical options.
- Comparative Effectiveness Research: Challenges for Medical Journals
Harold C. Sox, MD; Mark Helfand, MD, MPH; Jeremy Grimshaw, MBChB, PhD, FRCGP; Kay Dickersin, PhD; the PLoS Medicine Editors*; David Tovey, FRCGP; J. Andre Knottnerus, MD, PhD; and Peter Tugwell, MD In order to encourage dissemination, this commentary is freely available in PLoS Medicine, and will also be published in Medical Decision Making, Croatian Medical Journal, The Cochrane Library, Trials, and Journal of Clinical Epidemiology.
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