Medical care
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Improving depression care for older, minority patients in primary care.
Few older minorities receive adequate treatment of depression in primary care. This study examines whether a collaborative care model for depression in primary care is as effective in older minorities as it is in nonminority elderly patients in improving depression treatment and outcomes. ⋯ Collaborative Care is significantly more effective than usual care for depressed older adults, regardless of their ethnicity. Intervention effects in ethnic minority participants were similar to those observed in whites.
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Low rates of technology utilization in hospitals with high proportions of black inpatients may be a remediable cause of healthcare disparities. ⋯ Blacks may be disadvantaged in access to new procedures by receiving care at hospitals that have both lower procedure rates and greater racial disparity. Policies designed to ameliorate racial disparities in health care must address hospital variation in the provision of care.
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Comparing the validity of different sources of information on emergency department visits: a latent class analysis.
Emergency department (ED) use in Quebec may be measured from varied sources, eg, patient's self-reports, hospital medical charts, and provincial health insurance claims databases. Determining the relative validity of each source is complicated because none is a gold standard. ⋯ The claims database is the most valid method of measuring ED use among seniors in Quebec compared with hospital medical charts and patient-reported use.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Quantitative and qualitative differences between handout and mailed patient satisfaction surveys.
Patient satisfaction surveys are widely used to measure patients' opinions of the quality of the health care they have received. There are a variety of methods for distributing patient satisfaction surveys. Different distribution methods may yield significantly different satisfaction ratings. ⋯ Both quantitative and qualitative differences between the 2 distribution methods were revealed. Attempts to compare data obtained from the 2 different distribution methods need to be approached with caution.
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Review Comparative Study
The national healthcare quality and disparities reports: an overview.
Congress directed the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to lead an effort for the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to develop 2 annual reports: a National Healthcare Quality Report (NHQR) and a National Healthcare Disparities Report (NHDR). ⋯ As these reports evolve for the 2004 version and beyond, they will be a vital step in the effort to improve healthcare quality for all populations in the United States.