The American journal of managed care
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To examine characteristics of Medicare Advantage (MA) enrollees who use their plan's customer service to help plans understand how to better meet members' needs. ⋯ MA customer service supports a less healthy, higher-need population with greater-than-average barriers to health care, and so should be designed and staffed to effectively serve medically complex, high-need patients. Commercial plan evidence suggests that continuity in customer service support for a member or a given issue may be helpful. Customer service is an important mechanism for improving quality and addressing health equity.
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To discuss the social, psychological, and access barriers that inhibit weight loss, and to propose steps and initiatives for addressing the growing obesity epidemic. ⋯ Addressing the obesity epidemic will require a multifaceted approach that focuses on prevention, treatment, and reducing the impact of stigma. Continued advocacy and education efforts are necessary to make progress and improve the health and well-being of individuals affected by obesity.
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A machine learning technology for addressing medication-related risk in older, multimorbid patients.
To evaluate the FeelBetter machine learning system's ability to accurately identify older patients with multimorbidity at Brigham and Women's Hospital at highest risk of medication-associated emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalizations, and to assess the system's ability to provide accurate medication recommendations for these patients. ⋯ The FeelBetter system effectively stratifies older patients with multimorbidity at risk of ED use and hospitalizations. Medication recommendations provided by the system are largely accurate and can potentially be beneficial for patient care.
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Adherence to medications is important for the management of chronic diseases. Although the proportion of days covered (PDC) is a common metric for measuring adherence, it may be insufficient to distinguish relevant differences in medication-taking behavior. Group-based trajectory models (GBTMs) have been used to better represent adherence over time. This study aims to examine adherence patterns 1 year after initiation among users of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors using GBTMs and evaluate the ability of baseline characteristics to predict adherence trajectory. ⋯ We found wide variation in adherence patterns among SGLT2 inhibitor users in a national cohort. Predictors from a health care claims database were unable to accurately predict adherence trajectory.
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To determine the geographic variability of Medicaid acceptance among allergists in the US. ⋯ A barrier to accessing allergy-related health care is finding a provider who accepts a patient's insurance, which is largely variable by state. Lack of access to allergy care likely affects health outcomes for children with prevalent atopic conditions such as food allergy.