Bmc Health Serv Res
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Bmc Health Serv Res · Nov 2019
Cost-utility analysis of adjuvant trastuzumab therapy for HER2-positive early-stage breast cancer in the Philippines.
Breast cancer is the leading malignancy among Filipino women, with about 23.50% of cases characterized by human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2) overexpression. Trastuzumab, in addition to standard chemotherapy, is currently recommended as primary treatment for HER2-positive early-stage breast cancer (EBC) in the adjuvant settings, and has been listed in the Philippine National Formulary (PNF) since 2008, but with no current evidence yet on its value for money, to date. Hence, despite several policy enablers, its accessibility remains to be limited in the Philippines. We performed an economic evaluation to assess the cost-effectiveness and budget impact of adjuvant trastuzumab therapy for HER2-positive EBC in the Philippines, using healthcare system and societal perspectives, in aid of guiding coverage decisions. ⋯ At its current cost, 1 year of adjuvant trastuzumab therapy compared to standard chemotherapy alone for HER2-positive EBC does not represent value for money in the Philippines. Its current cost will have to significantly lower down by one-half to achieve cost-effectiveness.
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Bmc Health Serv Res · Nov 2019
Development and validation of a predictive model for American Society of Anesthesiologists Physical Status.
The American Society of Anesthesiologists Physical Status (ASA-PS) classification system was developed to categorize the fitness of patients before surgery. Increasingly, the ASA-PS has been applied to other uses including justification of inpatient admission. Our objectives were to develop and cross-validate a statistical model for predicting ASA-PS; and 2) assess the concurrent and predictive validity of the model by assessing associations between model-derived ASA-PS, observed ASA-PS, and a diverse set of 30-day outcomes. ⋯ Of the 566,797 elective procedures in the final analytic dataset, 8.9% were ASA-PS 1, 48.9% were ASA-PS 2, 39.1% were ASA-PS 3, and 3.2% were ASA-PS 4. The accuracy of the 21-variable model to predict ASA-PS was C = 0.77 +/- 0.0025. The model-derived ASA-PS had stronger association with key indicators of preoperative status including comorbidities and higher BMI (concurrent validity) compared to observed ASA-PS, but less strong associations with postoperative complications (predictive validity). The online ASA-PS calculator may be accessed at https://s-spire-clintools.shinyapps.io/ASA_PS_Estimator/ CONCLUSIONS: Model-derived ASA-PS better tracked key indicators of preoperative status compared to observed ASA-PS. The ability to have an electronically derived measure of ASA-PS can potentially be useful in research, quality measurement, and clinical applications.
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Bmc Health Serv Res · Nov 2019
Determinants of efficiency growth of county-level public hospitals-evidence from Chongqing, China.
The reform of county-level public hospitals is a breakthrough in the new era of healthcare reform in China and has attracted considerable attention since 2012. Continuous and efficient operations of hospital are primary concerns of this reform. To ensure the effectiveness of county-based intervention reform measures in Chongqing, it is significant to understand how hospital and county characteristics are associated with county-level public hospital efficiency due to significant development differences between counties. This study identifies the trajectory of hospital efficiency over time and determinants. It will also provide preliminary references for advancing reform. ⋯ This study identifies determinants that contribute to efficiency changes in public county-hospitals over time by using a three-level growth model. The differences in efficiency are associated with intra-hospital, inter-hospital, and inter-county characteristics in Chongqing, which provides useful insight into government decision-making and the progress of reform. The stability and reasonable increase in the number of healthcare technicians in a county are the key factors that improve the efficiency. Further reform should focus on maternal and child healthcare hospitals for increasing investment and implementing government compensation.
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Bmc Health Serv Res · Nov 2019
A time motion study of community mental health workers in rural India.
Community Health Workers (CHWs) are critical to providing healthcare services in countries such as India which face a severe shortage of skilled healthcare personnel especially in rural areas. The aim of this study is to understand the work flow of CHWs in a rural Community Mental Health Project (CMHP) in India and identify inefficiencies which impede their service delivery. This will aid in formulating a targeted policy approach, improving efficiency and supporting appropriate work allocation as the roles and responsibilities of the CHWs evolve. ⋯ The CHW's are "dedicated" mental health workers as opposed to being "generalists" and their activities involve a significant investment of their time due to the specialized nature of the services offered such as counselling, screening and home visits. The CHWs are stretched beyond their standard work hours. Non-value added but necessary activities consumed a significant proportion of their time at the expense of value-added activities. Work flow redesign and implementation of Health Management Information Systems (HMIS) can mitigate inefficiencies.
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Bmc Health Serv Res · Nov 2019
Randomized Controlled TrialProcesses for engaging and retaining women who are experiencing adversity in longitudinal health services research.
Women and families experiencing socioeconomic and psychosocial adversity are the least likely to access health care but most likely to benefit. For health services to effectively meet the needs of individuals experiencing adversity, research involving the health services must be truly representative. However, individuals experiencing adversity are typically excluded from or underrepresented in health services research. This paper reports on the implementation of a quality improvement approach designed to support recruitment and retention of pregnant women experiencing adversity in a longitudinal, health services randomized controlled trial ("right@home"). ⋯ By taking a quality improvement approach, supported by sufficient resourcing and flexible research processes, it is possible to recruit and retain a large cohort of women experiencing adversity who are typically missed or lost from longitudinal research.