The American journal of managed care
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Editorial Comment
Baffled by NAFLD: the horse might be out of the barn but should not take us for a ride.
As awareness of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) rises, it is essential to develop and implement a rigorously determined approach to identify patients who will, or will not, benefit from diagnostic evaluation.
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Reducing hospital admissions in patients with multiple complex chronic conditions is both a quality indicator and cost-effective to health care systems. This study assesses and compares utilization rates and cost of encounters between patients referred and seen in an outpatient critical care transition clinic (Healthy Transitions Clinic [HTC]) and those referred and not seen. ⋯ In patients with complex chronic medical conditions with recent hospital admissions, the HTC model appears to reduce both admissions and encounter costs. Further community/regional studies are needed to better define this observation on a longitudinal basis.
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Whether and how the COVID-19 pandemic affected utilization of routine medical care in areas with low infection risk, such as Taiwan, has not been widely addressed. We aimed to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on access to medical care. ⋯ The COVID-19 pandemic prevented some individuals from keeping regular medical appointments even in an area with a low infection risk. Our findings imply that more research is required to mitigate the effects of delayed medical care for patients who infrequently utilized medical care during and after the long-lasting pandemic period.
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Observational Study
Association of the MedWise Risk Score with health care outcomes.
Older patients are especially vulnerable to drug-related problems due to multiple prescription drugs, which increases their risk of drug-drug interactions and adverse drug events (ADEs). This study aimed to examine outcomes associated with the MedWise Risk Score (MRS) in a Medicare Part D population, including total medical expenditures, ADEs, falls, mortality, emergency department (ED) visits, hospital admissions, and length of stay (LOS). ⋯ This study shows that MRS was associated with health outcomes and therefore could be used to identify patients at increased risk of negative outcomes based primarily on their medication regimens.
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Knowing which patient-centered medical home (PCMH) care delivery changes and quality improvement (QI) practices further PCMH implementation is essential. ⋯ Practices undertake a wide variety of care delivery changes and QI practices simultaneously to meet PCMH requirements. The patient experience-specific QI practices and PCMH care delivery changes that practices make to improve patient-centeredness differ by years of PCMH recognition.