The American journal of managed care
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To identify inefficiencies in drug and medical service utilization related to pain management in patients with osteoarthritis and chronic low back pain. ⋯ Pain management inefficiencies are common and costly among Humana Medicare members with osteoarthritis and/or chronic low back pain. Further work by providers and payers is needed to determine benefits of member identification and early intervention for these inefficiencies.
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Although large differences by race/ethnicity in breast cancer survival are well established, it is unknown whether disparities in nodal surgery utilization explain the racial/ethnic disparities in survival among women with micrometastasis and macrometastasis in sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs). ⋯ The disparities in survival among African American and Hispanic women with breast cancer are not explained by nodal surgery utilization among women with micrometastasis and macrometastasis in SLNs.
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The concept of the physician assistant (PA) was developed by US physicians in the 1960s as a workforce strategy to improve the delivery of medical services. Then as now there is an anticipated shortage of physicians, particularly in primary care. Use of PAs is viewed as 1 possible strategy to mitigate this growing gap in provider services. ⋯ Optimal organizational efficiency and cost savings in health services delivery will depend on how well the PA can be utilized.
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To provide national estimates of physician capability to electronically share clinical information with other providers and to describe variation in exchange capability across states and electronic health record (EHR) vendors using the 2011 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey Electronic Medical Record Supplement. ⋯ In 2011, a majority of office-based physicians could exchange lab and medication data, and approximately one-third could exchange clinical summaries with patients or other providers. EHRs serve as a key mechanism by which physicians can exchange clinical data, though physicians' capability to exchange varies by vendor and by state.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Testimonials do not convert patients from brand to generic medication.
To assess whether the addition of a peer testimonial to an informational mailing increases conversion rates from brand name prescription medications to lower-cost therapeutic equivalents, and whether the testimonial's efficacy increases when information is added about an affiliation the quoted individual shares with the recipient. ⋯ Short peer testimonials do not increase the impact of a mailed communication on conversion rates to lower-cost, therapeutically equivalent medications, even when the testimonial is presented as coming from a more socially proximate peer