JAMA network open
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Efforts to reduce low-value tests and treatments in primary care are often ineffective. These efforts typically target physicians broadly, most of whom order low-value care infrequently. ⋯ This study identified a group of primary care physicians who frequently ordered low-value screening tests. Tailoring future interventions to these generalized frequent users might be an effective approach to reducing low-value care.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Effect of the Head Computed Tomography Choice Decision Aid in Parents of Children With Minor Head Trauma: A Cluster Randomized Trial.
The Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network prediction rules for minor head trauma identify children at very low, intermediate, and high risk of clinically important traumatic brain injuries (ciTBIs) and recommend no computed tomography (CT) for those at very low risk. However, the prediction rules provide little guidance in the choice of home observation or CT in children at intermediate risk for ciTBI. ⋯ Use of a decision aid in parents of children at intermediate risk of ciTBI increased parent knowledge, decreased decisional conflict, and increased involvement in decision-making. The intervention did not significantly reduce the ED CT rate but safely decreased health care utilization 7 days after injury.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Effect of Long-term Nicotine Replacement Therapy vs Standard Smoking Cessation for Smokers With Chronic Lung Disease: A Randomized Clinical Trial.
Smokers with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have particular difficulty quitting. Long-term nicotine replacement therapy (LT-NRT) might offer a strategy for reducing harm from cigarettes and provide a pathway for later cessation. ⋯ Similar rates of cessation and similar reductions in exposure to tobacco smoke resulted with LT-NRT and SSC. Among continuing smokers, ongoing use of NRT was not associated with reductions in smoke exposure.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Cost-effectiveness of Financial Incentives for Patients and Physicians to Manage Low-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol Levels.
Financial incentives shared between physicians and patients were shown to significantly reduce low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels in a randomized clinical trial, but it is not known whether these health benefits are worth the added incentive and utilization costs required to achieve them. ⋯ This study suggests that the financial incentives shared between patients and physicians for LDL-C level control meet conventional standards of cost-effectiveness, but these results appeared to be sensitive to assumptions about the durations of LDL-C level reductions and years of intervention costs included, as well as to the choice of time horizon.