Journal of general internal medicine
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Multicenter Study
Differences in Primary Care Follow-up After Acute Care Discharge Within and Across Health Systems: a Retrospective Cohort Study.
Timely primary care follow-up after acute care discharge may improve outcomes. ⋯ Patients discharged from a hospital closely affiliated with their primary care clinic were more likely to receive timely follow-up than those discharged from other hospitals within and outside their health system. Improving care transitions requires coordination across both care settings and health systems.
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Treatment-seeking people with opioid use disorder (OUD) who are capable of pregnancy need accurate information about the potential impact of medication to treat OUD (MOUD) on fertility to make informed choices about treatment that are consistent with their reproductive wishes. There is a dearth of research on fertility associated with MOUD receipt in birthing people with OUD. ⋯ The association between MOUD and odds of conception among birthing people varied by type of MOUD, with extended-release naltrexone associated with higher odds of conceiving compared to no treatment. Clinical studies are urgently needed to investigate these findings further.
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Little evidence exists to guide continuation of screening beyond the recommended ages of national guidelines for breast, cervical, and colorectal cancers, although increasing age and comorbidity burden is likely to reduce the screening benefit of lower mortality. ⋯ The odds of screening past guideline-based age decreased with comorbidity burden for breast and cervical cancer screening but not for colorectal. These findings suggest the need to evaluate shared decision tools to help patients understand whether screening is appropriate and to generate more evidence in older populations.
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Checkup visits (i.e., general health checks) can increase preventive service completion and lead to improved treatment of new chronic illnesses. After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, preventive service completion decreased in many groups that receive care in safety net settings. ⋯ In this large FQHC cohort, checkup completion markedly decreased during the pandemic. Checkup completion was associated with preventive service completion, chronic illness detection, and initiation of chronic illness treatment.