Journal of general internal medicine
-
Cross-sectional studies have found that health-related quality of life and mental health are worse among food-insecure compared with food-secure individuals. However, how these outcomes change as food insecurity changes is unclear. ⋯ Improvement in food insecurity was associated with improvement in several patient-reported outcomes. Further work should investigate whether similar changes are seen in food insecurity interventions, and the most useful scales for assessing changes in health-related quality of life and mental health in food insecurity interventions.
-
Depression is often untreated or undertreated, particularly among underrepresented groups, such as racial and ethnic minorities, and individuals of lower socioeconomic status. Electronic health information exchange (HIE) is a recommended practice to improve care coordination and encourage patient engagement in services, but it remains underutilized in depression care. Understanding factors affecting acceptance and adoption of this technology among underrepresented patient populations is needed to increase dissemination of HIE within mental health treatment. ⋯ Respondents desire greater transparency in their depression care. While HIE was perceived to improve the overall quality of depression care, stigma associated with mental illness undermined more robust adoption of this technology among underserved populations.
-
Endocrine specialty clinics (SCs) are occupied by a high percentage of stable follow-up patients, limiting access to new patients with greater needs. ⋯ The innovation and feasibility of opening SC access through the use of a team-based graduation program to transfer stable diabetes patients back to their home clinic was demonstrated. This innovation has the potential to support health system triage of new patients to limited access specialty care.