August 2012

August 15, 2012

Despite increased enrollment, the role of Medicare managed care in explaining declines in preventable hospitalization rates diminished over time.

August 15, 2012

Randomized controlled trial of a home care program for managed care patients resulted in lower probability of hospital admission and greater patient satisfaction with care.

August 15, 2012

Savings claims for Community Care of North Carolina raise many questions, concerning both arithmetic/epidemiologic plausibility and omission of presumably authoritative but contradictory source materials/citations.

August 15, 2012

Standardized measurement of migraine, an underdiagnosed and perhaps underrecognized condition, is necessary for health plans to understand utilization of costly diagnostic and treatment services.

August 16, 2012

Implementation of a point-of-care case management team consisting of a nurse, social worker, pharmacist, and health navigators reduced readmissions and associated costs.

August 16, 2012

Academic detailing coupled with a provider survey did not decrease the rate of new prescriptions for costly, on-patent second-generation antipsychotics in a VA hospital.

August 20, 2012

Racial disparities are widespread in healthcare. Disparities can have a strong influence on diabetes care. This manuscript explores the source of such disparities.

August 23, 2012

This study shows how cardiovascular prevention would be much more efficient if risk were used in treatment decisions, but that currently it plays no role.

August 23, 2012

This article reports a unique statewide initiative in Minnesota to improve orders for high-tech diagnostic imaging tests while reducing their overall frequency and costs.

August 23, 2012

This retrospective study measures primary nonadherence rates for 10 drug groups and identifies important factors of primary nonadherence for chronic and acute medications.

August 23, 2012

This framework suggests new meaningful use measures and guidance for prioritizing implementation of different health information technology functionalities, based on their expected financial effects.

August 23, 2012

Patients who often change medical groups have the highest healthcare costs. The improved coordination of an accountable care organization may reduce those costs.

August 24, 2012

This study examines the association between cost-sharing and initiation of disease-modifying therapies among privately insured patients with multiple sclerosis.

August 24, 2012

Recognizing shared features of 2 Medicare payment reform strategies, premium support and global payment, may help us focus on, and resolve, the differences.