The American journal of managed care
-
To test the usefulness of the Diabetes Complications Severity Index (DCSI) without laboratory test results in predicting healthcare costs, for potential use in disease management programs. ⋯ The DCSI without laboratory data may be useful for stratifying individuals with diabetes into morbidity groups, which can be used for selection into disease management programs or for matching in observational research.
-
To identify the factors and strategies that were associated with successful implementation of hospital-based information technology (IT) systems in US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals, and how these might apply to other hospitals. ⋯ Overall IT implementation success in the VA depended on: (1) whether there was support for change from both leaders and staff, (2) development of a gradual and flexible implementation approach, (3) allocation of adequate resources for equipment and infrastructure, hands-on support, and deployment of additional staff, and (4) how the implementation team planned for setbacks, and continued the process to achieve success. Problems that developed in the early stages of implementation tended to become persistent, and poor implementation can lead to patient harm.
-
To estimate cost savings associated with ProvenHealth Navigator (PHN), which is an advanced model of patient-centered medical homes (PCMHs) developed by Geisinger Health System, and determine whether those savings increase over time. ⋯ Our finding suggests that PCMHs can lead to significant and sustainable cost savings over time.
-
To analyze whether types of providers and frequency of encounters are associated with higher quality of care within a coordinated dementia care management (CM) program for patients and caregivers. ⋯ HOCMs' interactions with dyads was essential for dementia care quality improvement. Additional coordinated interactions with primary care and community agency staff yielded even higher quality.
-
Comparative Study
Hospital readmission rates in Medicare Advantage plans.
To compute a benchmark for tracking readmission rates among patients enrolled in Medicare's private comprehensive Medicare Advantage (MA) plans and to develop preliminary comparisons with the fee-for-service (FFS) readmission rates. ⋯ We measured substantial differences in the risk-adjusted rates of hospital readmission among Medicare FFS and MA patients in our samples.