Taking Stock at 2 Years - Continuing the Journey
The American Journal of ManagedCare
Journal
It has been 2 years since we accepted the positionsof co-editors of . One of the most common questions we areasked is whether anyone is interested in managed carethese days. Our belief is that despite the backlashagainst "managed care," the challenges of managing theefficient delivery of care to the population remain asstrong as ever. We take this broad view of managedcare to encompass all of the efforts undertaken toimprove care—at all levels of the healthcare system—and consider the , and the issues it addresses,more relevant than ever.
Despite the generally perceived demise of managedcare, the healthcare industry as a whole remains incrediblyentrepreneurial with advances in information systemsand managerial tools affecting all types of caredelivery, ranging from inpatient services to prescribedmedications. Barriers erected to contain costs continueto be developed at the same time initiatives are undertakento improve access to care. In contrast to perceptionsof the retreat of managed care, activities toimprove quality and safety and manage costs continue.Those activities require rigorous evaluations, which iswhere this journal comes in.
We strive to provide the information necessary tohelp decision makers manage in today's environment.Our objective is to disseminate research that willfacilitate the translation and integration of researchinto practice. Given our unique circulation to morethan 50 000 decision makers and our reputation forproviding credible, relevant research, we believe we arein an outstanding position to achieve this objective.
Journal
Central to this goal is high quality, peer-reviewedresearch. For example, our impact factor, which measuresthe number of times recent articles in the have been cited by other authors in the scientific literaturehas increased nearly 50% over 2 years. Several ofthe articles we've published have received awards. Thepaper by Emily Cox and colleagues in our December2003 issue,1 for example, was recognized by theInternational Society for Pharmacoeconomics andOutcomes Research with its 2004 "Excellence Awardfor Practical Application Excellence." An article by IanDuncan and colleagues2 was recognized by the DiseaseManagement Association of America as the "Best JournalArticle on Disease Management" for 2003. Moreover,we continue to receive high rankings in overall qualityand readership among the journals in our category, asjudged by the independent firm PERQ/HCI.
Evaluating Health PlanQuality
Cost Drivers in Healthcare
DiabetesMellitus
Cardiovascular Health
Journal
In addition to our 12 regular monthly issues, wehave published several special issues and theme issuesthat have been well received. In the past 2 years wehave published extra issues on ,2-8,9-13 ,14-22 and .23-29 Futurethemes will include coverage on the VA system, reducingracial disparities, Medicare and Medicaid, and diabetes.Full text of these issues, as well as online issuesof the , can be accessed on our re-designed website at www.ajmc.com.
AJMC
Working on these special issues has allowed us theopportunity to collaborate with research institutions andorganizations to expand our reach. When we acceptedthe Editor positions, one of our goals was to tap intoresearchers based in healthcare systems. We recognizethat much of the important research in our areas ofinterest is being conducted within healthcare systems,many of which have built outstanding and influentialresearch groups that compete successfully for federalfunding and publish in top journals (including ).
Journal's
In this spirit, we have reached out to the HMOResearch Network (HMORN), an alliance of researchersbased in health systems. We are proud that 3 of themembers of the HMO Research Network executiveboard serve on our editorial board (Jennifer Elston-Lafata, Andrew Nelson, and Deborah Shatin). This issuefeatures a contribution by Tom Vogt and other membersof the HMORN, who discuss, in general, the importanceof health systems—based research and, inparticular, the function of the HMORN.30 Additionally,we are highlighting selected abstracts from the 2004HMO Research Network Annual Meeting in this issue inan effort to present cutting edge research to a new,and hopefully appreciative, audience. The remainderof the abstracts from their annual meeting can beaccessed from our web site (www.ajmc.com), whereyou can also find a link to the HMO Research Networkweb site. Finally, we have expanded the circulationto members of the HMO Research Networkand hope to continue to work with this organization,and other health systems—based researchers, to disseminatethe research needed to achieve our collectivegoal of improving the effectiveness and efficiency of ourhealthcare system.
Am J Manag Care
1. Cox E, Motheral B, Mager D. Verification of a decision analytic modelassumption using real-world practice data: implications for the cost effectivenessof cyclo-oxygenase 2 inhibitors (COX-2s). . 2003;9:785-794.
Am J Manag Care.
2. Dove HG, Duncan I, Robb A. A prediction model for targeting low-cost, high-riskmembers of managed care organizations. 2003;9:381-389.
Am JManag Care
3. Gabel J, Fitzner K. New evidence to explain rising healthcare costs. . 2003;9:SP1-SP2.
Am J Manag Care
4. Goetghebeur MM, Forrest S, Hay JW. Understanding the underlying drivers ofinpatient cost growth: a literature review. . 2003;9:SP3-SP12.
AmJ Manag Care
5. Hay JW. Hospital cost drivers: an evaluation of 1998-2001 state-level data. . 2003;9:SP13-SP24.
Am J Manag Care
6. Hearle K, Koenig L, Rudowitz R, Siegel JM, Dobson A, Ho S. Drivers of expendituregrowth in outpatient care services. . 2003;9:SP25-SP33.
Am J Manag Care
7. Koenig L, Siegel JM, Dobson A, Hearle K, Ho S, Rudowitz R. Drivers of healthcareexpenditures associated with physician services. . 2003;9:SP34-SP42.
Am J Manag Care
8. Siegrist RB Jr, Kane NM. Exploring the relationship between inpatient hospitalcosts and quality of care. . 2003;9:SP43-SP49.
Am J Manag Care
9. Wholey DR, Christianson JB, Finch M, Knutson D, Rockwood T. Warrick L.Evaluating Health Plan Quality 1: a conceptual model. .2003;9:SP53-SP64.
Am J Manag Care
10. Wholey DR, Christianson JB, Finch M, Knutson D, Rockwood T. Warrick L.Evaluating Health Plan Quality 2: survey design principles for measuring healthplan quality. . 2003;9:SP65-SP75.
Am J ManagCare
11. Wholey DR, Finch M, Christianson JB, Knutson D, Rockwood T. Warrick L.Evaluating Health Plan Quality 3: survey measurement properties. . 2003;9:SP76-SP-87.
Am J Manag Care
12. Wholey DR, Christianson JB, Fossum Jones K, Finch M. What do physicianrecommendations of health plans mean? . 2003;9:SP88-SP99.
Am J Manag Care
13. Bindman AB, Wholey DR, Christianson JB. Physicians' reports of their experiencewith health plan care management practices. . 2003;9:SP100-SP110.
Am J Manag Care
14. Heisler M, Wagner EH. Improving diabetes treatment quality in managed careorganizations: some progress, many challenges. . 2004;10(part 2):115-117.
Am J Manag Care
15. Nau DP, Garber MC, Herman WH. The intensification of drug therapy fordiabetes and its complications: evidence from 2 HMOs. .2004;10(part 2):118-123.
Am JManag Care
16. Timpe EM, Amarshi N, Reed PJ. Evaluation of angiotensin-converting enzymeinhibitor use in patients with type 2 diabetes in a state managed care plan. . 2004;10(part 2):124-129.
Am J ManagCare
17. Fuke D, Hunt J, Siemienczuk J, et al. Cholesterol management of patientswith diabetes in a primary care practice-based research network. . 2004;10(part 2):130-136.
Am J Manag Care
18. Kim C, Williamson DF, Herman WF, et al. Referral Management and the careof patients with diabetes: the Translating Research Into Action for Diabetes(TRIAD) study. . 2004;10(part 2):137-143.
Am J Manag Care
19. Hepke KL, Martus MT, Share DA. Costs and utilization associated with pharmaceuticaladherence in a diabetic population. . 2004;10(part2):144-151.
Am J Manag Care
20. Piette JD, Richardson C, Valenstein M. Addressing the needs of patients withmultiple chronic illnesses: the case of diabetes and depression. .2004;10(part 2):152-162.
Am J Manag Care
21. Selby JV, Peng T, Karter AJ, et al. High rates of co-occurrence of hypertension,elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and diabetes mellitus in a largemanaged care population. . 2004;10(part 2):163-170.
Am J Manag Care
22. Pogach L, Charns MP, Wrobel JS. Impact of policies and performance measurementon development of organizational coordinating strategies for chronic caredelivery. . 2004;10(part 2):171-180.
Am J Manag Care
23. Mukherjee D, Eagle KA. Improving quality of cardiovascular care in the realworld: how can we remove the barriers? . 2004;10:471-472.
Am J Manag Care
24. Borzecki AM, Wong AT, Hickey EC, Ash AS, Berlowitz DR. Can we useautomated data to assess quality of hypertension care? . 2004;10:473-479.
Am J Manag Care
25. Andrade SE, Gurwitz JH, Field TS, et al. Hypertension management: the caregap between clinical guidelines and clinical practice. . 2004;10:481-486.
Am J Manag Care
26. Franciosa JA. The potential role of community-based registries to complementthe limited applicability of clinical trial results to the community setting: heart failureas an example. . 2004;10:487-492.
Am J Manag Care
27. Zukerman IH, Weiss SR, McNally D, Layne B, Mullins CD, Wang J. Impactof an educational intervention for secondary prevention of myocardial infarctionon medicaid drug use and cost. . 2004;10:493-500.
Am J ManagCare
28. Berthiaume JT, Tyler PA, Ng-Osorio J, LaBresh KA. Aligning financial incentiveswith "Get With The Guidelines" to improve cardiovascular care. . 2004;10:501-504.
Am J Manag Care
29. Volpp KG, Buckley E. The effect of increases in HMO penetration andchanges in payer mix on in-hospital mortality and treatment patterns for acutemyocardial infarction. . 2004;10:505-512.
Am J Manag Care
30. Vogt TM, Elston-LaFata J, Tolsma D, Greene SM. The role of research in integratedhealthcare systems: the HMO Research Network. .2004;10:643-648.
