The American journal of managed care
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Our purposes were: (1) to describe how 14 multi-stakeholder alliances participating in the Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q) initiative approached the charge of improving healthcare delivery at the community level between 2006 and 2010; and (2) to offer insights to policy makers and program planners seeking to promote or establish community-wide quality improvement (QI). ⋯ Policy makers and program planners seeking to promote community-wide QI should consider developing clear expectations, offering technical assistance at the start of the program, providing information on the evidence base for QI activities, and highlighting additional funding opportunities that could support QI activities. Alliances may need a stronger push to move beyond coordinated, organizational-level activities to more community-focused, cross-organizational QI activities.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Impact of a managed controlled-opioid prescription monitoring program on care coordination.
Inappropriate opioid medication utilization has grown tremendously in recent years. Managed care organizations have the opportunity to identify potential opioid misuse and implement care coordination interventions. ⋯ This intervention provided action-able information to prescribers regarding member opioid utilization, in addition to available managed care resources. It resulted in significantly greater reductions in the number of prescribers, pharmacies, and prescriptions compared with a general information letter notifying prescribers of available managed care resources. Implementation of this intervention has the potential to enhance coordination of care for members potentially at risk for poor health outcomes.
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The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's (RWJF's) Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q) initiative is the largest privately funded community-based quality improvement initiative to date, providing funds and technical assistance (TA) to 16 multi-stakeholder alliances located throughout the United States. The objectives of this article are to describe the AF4Q initiative's underlying theory of change, its evolution over time, and the key activities undertaken by alliances. ⋯ The AF4Q initiative is an ambitious program affecting multiple leverage points in the healthcare system. AF4Q alliances were provided a similar set of expectations and given access to substantial TA. While participating alliances have made progress in addressing the AF4Q programmatic areas, given differences in the alliances' composition, market structure, and history, there is considerable variation in program implementation.
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This study provides insight into the potential of local community health information websites to cultivate and support consumer engagement through website positioning and content choices. ⋯ Although alliances have been experimenting with a wide array of website approaches, their promise as a tool to improve consumer engagement is still uncertain. Further research that addresses the comparative value of different website approaches is needed.
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As the population ages, the financial amount spent on cancer care is expected to increase substantially. In this study, we projected cancer-related medical costs by state from 2010 through 2020. ⋯ The number of people treated for cancer and the costs of their cancer-related medical care are projected to increase substantially for each state. Effective prevention and early detection strategies are needed to limit the growing burden of cancer.