The American journal of managed care
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Observational Study
Health insurance design and conservative therapy for low back pain.
To determine the association of health insurance benefit design features with choice of early conservative therapy for patients with new-onset low back pain (LBP). ⋯ Modification of health insurance benefit designs offers an opportunity for creating greater value in treatment of new-onset LBP by encouraging patients to choose noninvasive conservative management that will result in long-term economic and social benefits.
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To be effective, healthcare quality measures must communicate clear, evidence-based standards to promote improved quality of care and outcomes. When the evidentiary foundation for measures changes, revisions must be made quickly and communicated clearly; otherwise, measures can confuse providers who are trying to reconcile the evidence-based care they deliver with outdated measure specifications. Outdated measures can also affect clinical decision making, potentially harming patients if the measures promote care that is not the best treatment for their condition according to the most recent evidence. ⋯ The timing of new evidence releases and guidelines for the condition, service, or product being measured will always vary regardless of the measure update cycle for any one program. Changes to measure maintenance processes cannot totally negate these underlying challenges but can mitigate their impact. This case study calls for a national conversation to address opportunities for measure update process improvements.
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Historical Article
Immunoglobulin use in immune deficiency and autoimmune disease states.
Although immunoglobulin (Ig) has been available since the 1950s for replacement therapy in primary immune deficiency, many other effective uses of this class of biologics have been investigated and evolved over recent decades. Ig administration has become common practice in the treatment of the immunocompromised patient and has recently expanded into the treatment of those patients with an inflammatory disease and autoimmune neuropathies per established clinical guidelines. As research into the genetic basis of disease advances, clinicians should better assess complex data surrounding safe and effective uses of Ig to treat patients who present with B-cell and T-cell deficiencies, along with those harboring gene deletions or genetic anomalies who may potentially benefit from Ig therapy. ⋯ A review of all autoimmune conditions for which Ig has been used is beyond the scope of this article and newer treatments are available for many of these disorders. Here the focus will be on selected conditions in which Ig has clear benefit. Because there is a limited supply of Ig and a need for further research into optimal use, it is important for healthcare professionals to better understand current and developing indications and data/levels of evidence to support Ig therapy as its role continues to evolve.
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Medicare's star rating system for Medicare Advantage health plans is a powerful tool for driving plan behavior and, beginning in 2019, CMS is providing new weight to patient access and experience measures. As the shift begins, a recent analysis of person-centered care measures in the star rating system conducted by the Center for Consumer Engagement in Health Innovation found ample room for improving both plan performance and how the ratings measure patient-centeredness. Although from 2010 to 2017, plans performed better on person-centered measures compared with the other measures in the star rating set (3.4 vs 3.0), our analysis also shows that performance on patient-centered measures has not comparatively budged appreciably over time. ⋯ At the same time, we need a more comprehensive assessment of person-centeredness. The CMS star measures classified as person-centered are limited in scope and do not constitute a comprehensive view of what it actually means to be person-centered. The new weighting of patient access and experience measures in the CMS star rating system will press plans to refocus their managerial attention, allocate internal assets, and improve their performance, but we also need new measures that are more closely aligned with the domains that describe person-centered care.