Population health management
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An estimated 425 million people globally have diabetes, accounting for 12% of the world's health expenditures, and yet 1 in 2 persons remain undiagnosed and untreated. Applications of artificial intelligence (AI) and cognitive computing offer promise in diabetes care. The purpose of this article is to better understand what AI advances may be relevant today to persons with diabetes (PWDs), their clinicians, family, and caregivers. ⋯ Many of these new AI-powered retinal imaging systems, predictive modeling programs, glucose sensors, insulin pumps, smartphone applications, and other decision-support aids are on the market today with more on the way. AI applications have the potential to transform diabetes care and help millions of PWDs to achieve better blood glucose control, reduce hypoglycemic episodes, and reduce diabetes comorbidities and complications. AI applications offer greater accuracy, efficiency, ease of use, and satisfaction for PWDs, their clinicians, family, and caregivers.
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Emergency medical services (EMS) in the United States are frequently used for nonurgent medical needs. Use of 911 and the emergency department (ED) for primary care-treatable conditions is expensive, inefficient, and undesirable for patients and providers. The objective is to describe the outcomes from community paramedicine (CP) and mobile integrated health care (MIH) interventions related to the Quadruple Aim. ⋯ Most cost savings from reduced utilization will be to insurance companies and patients, but more efficient use of EMS agencies' resources could lead to cost savings that could offset intervention implementation costs. The other 3 aims (health, patient satisfaction, and provider satisfaction) were reported inconsistently in these studies and need to be addressed further. Given the small number of heterogeneous studies reviewed, the potential for CP-MIH interventions to comprehensively address the Quadruple Aim is still unclear, and more research on these programs is needed.
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Socioeconomic disparities in access to care coordination have been noted among children with special health care needs (CSHCN). Following recent policy developments and technological innovation, care coordination has become more widespread, possibly leading to reduced disparity in care coordination access. This study investigates whether child and household characteristics remain associated with unmet need for care coordination among CSHCN. ⋯ After multivariable adjustment, race/ethnicity, income, family structure, insurance coverage, place of birth, and use of English in the home were not associated with having unmet rather than met needs for care coordination. Among CSHCN, the latest data from NSCH reveal no evidence of previously described socioeconomic disparities in access to care coordination. Nevertheless, unmet needs for care coordination remain prevalent, especially among children with mental health conditions.
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Reporting primary care quality measures is an essential component of value-based care delivery and is part of the strategy to bend the health care cost curve. As primary care physicians are increasingly pressed for time, incorporating ancillary staff screening into pre-visit workflows can increase screening rates, but can pose a challenge in large practice settings. The objective was to improve screening rates for depression and falls risk at a large, urban primary care practice. ⋯ The average monthly depression screening rate changed from 1.41% pre intervention to 49.77% post intervention (z = -100.65; P < .001). The average monthly falls screening rate changed from 19.23% pre intervention to 61.33% post intervention (z = -77.97, P < .001). This workflow redesign, training model, and implementation was successful at increasing screening rates for depression and falls risk, and may benefit other practices that hope to accomplish similar quality measure improvements.
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The article entitled, "Using the Healthy Days Measure to Assess Factors Associated with Poor Health-Related Quality of Life for Patients with Metastatic Breast, Lung, or Colorectal Cancer Enrolled in a Medicare Advantage Health Plan," by Casebeer AW et al, which published online ahead of print in Population Health Management [doi: 10.1089/pop.2018.0024], is being retracted by the authors so that they can remove references to the 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8) and republish the article without such references. Dr. Casebeer's team obtained a license to use the MMAS-8 scale from Dr. ⋯ The retraction serves to remove the published version of the article that contains the MMAS-8 scale and a revised version that does not contain the tool or any references to it will be published. The elimination of the scale does not alter the results or conclusions of the study. Population Health Management is committed to upholding the highest standards of peer review and the community it serves.