Journal of general internal medicine
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Despite rising hospitalizations for opioid use disorder (OUD), rates of inpatient medications for OUD (MOUD) initiation are low. Addiction consult services (ACSs) facilitate inpatient MOUD initiation and linkage to post-discharge MOUD, but few studies have rigorously examined ACS OUD outcomes. ⋯ There was a strong association between ACS consultation and inpatient MOUD initiation and linkage to post-discharge MOUD. ACSs promote the delivery of evidence-based care for patients with OUD.
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The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affected people from structurally vulnerable communities. There was a need to improve COVID-19 testing in these communities to reduce viral spread and connect to treatment. ⋯ Providing low-barrier walk-up clinics partnering with trusted CBOs was observed to be helpful in reaching structurally vulnerable populations for COVID-19 testing.
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Disparities in hypertension control across race, ethnicity, and language have been a long-standing problem in the United States. ⋯ Utilizing data on disparities in quality outcome measures in routine clinical practice augmented by clinical support provided by PHCs and CHWs led to modest, but statistically significant, improvement in hypertension control among BIPOC, Hispanic, and LEP patients.
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The pandemic rapidly expanded telemedicine, which has persisted as a widely available primary care modality. The uptake of telemedicine among people with dementia specifically in the primary care setting, who have more complex care needs but also benefit from more accessible primary care, is unknown. ⋯ Telemedicine use is high for people with dementia in the primary care setting in the post-pandemic period. Those with longer drives to clinic and the oldest patients were most likely to use telemedicine, likely due to challenges traveling to appointments. Still, not all people with dementia used telemedicine equally-particularly those with limited English proficiency.
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In recent years, organizational leaders have faced growing pressure to respond to social and political issues. Although previous research has examined the experiences of corporate CEOs engaging in these issues, less is known about the perspectives of healthcare leaders. ⋯ In this qualitative study, healthcare CEOs described mixed perspectives on their role engaging in social and political issues and identified several factors impacting engagement. CEOs cited few strategies to measure the success of their engagement. Given that healthcare leaders are increasingly asked to address policy debates, more work is needed to examine the role and impact of healthcare CEOs engaging in health-related social and political issues.