J Am Board Fam Med
-
The role of family physicians (FPs) and college health professionals (CHPs) in stimulant treatment and nonmedical use of stimulants is not clear. ⋯ There is an opportunity to enhance safety and effectiveness of ADHD management in young adults. Additional resources and interventions are needed to improve medication management, reduce misuse, and ensure safe and appropriate use of stimulants.
-
Opioid use disorder (OUD) affects 2 million Americans, yet many patients do not receive treatment. Lack of team-based care is a common barrier for office-based opioid treatment (OBOT). In 2015, we started OBOT in a family medicine practice. Based on our experiences, we developed a financial model for hiring a team member to provide nonbillable OBOT services through revenue from increased patient volume. ⋯ In a fee-for-service model, the revenue generated from increased medical visits can offset the cost of hiring a team member to support nonbillable OBOT services.
-
Sickle-cell disease (SCD) causes significant morbidity, premature mortality, and high disease burden, resulting in frequent health care use. Comanagement may improve utilization and patient adherence with treatments such as Hydroxyurea. The purpose of this study was to describe acute-care utilization in Medicaid-enrolled patients with SCD, patient factors associated with comanagement, and adherence to Hydroxyurea. ⋯ Comanagement was a factor in predicting HUadherence, but further studies are needed to identify the frequency and components of comanagement needed to increase adherence and reduce acute care utilization.
-
Despite recommendations to screen adults for depression in primary care, little is known about how people across education levels decide to treat their depression and factors that influence their decision. ⋯ Those with less education were even less informed, had lower SDM Process scores and were less likely to think they made the right decision about antidepressants. There is a need to ensure patients are better informed about and involved in treatment for depression.
-
The United States is facing a widespread opioid epidemic that disproportionately affects the working-age population. In the clinical setting, new low back pain is one of the most common reasons for opioid prescriptions, despite national recommendations advising against their use until nonopioid treatments have been trialed. In this study, we aimed to examine national opioid prescribing practices among primary care physicians after the evaluation of low back pain in working-age patients. ⋯ We found that the overall frequency of opioid prescriptions for low back pain is decreasing nationally, which speaks favorably for future initiatives to change physician prescribing patterns. However, we identified that there is large variation in prescribing patterns among physicians in different states.