J Am Board Fam Med
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Social needs screening and referral interventions are increasingly common in health care settings. Although remote screening offers a potentially more practical alternative to traditional in-person screening, there is concern that screening patients remotely could adversely affect patient engagement, including interest in accepting social needs navigation. ⋯ Among patients presenting with similar numbers of social needs, results indicate that type of screening mode may not adversely affect patients' willingness to accept health care-based navigation for social needs.
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Interpersonal primary care continuity or chronic condition continuity (CCC) is associated with improved health outcomes. Ambulatory care-sensitive conditions (ACSC) are best managed in a primary care setting, and chronic ACSC (CACSC) require management over time. However, current measures do not measure continuity for specific conditions or the impact of continuity for chronic conditions on health outcomes. The purpose of this study was to design a novel measure of CCC for CACSC in primary care and determine its association with health care utilization. ⋯ CCC for CACSCs was associated with fewer ED visits and hospitalizations in a nationally representative sample of Medicaid enrollees.
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The COVID-19 pandemic caused a disruption in the usual primary care services offered and received by patients. The objective of this study was to compare the impact of family medicine appointment cancellations on hospital utilization metrics both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic within a family medicine residency clinic. ⋯ Between the 2019 and 2020 cohorts, appointment cancellations were not associated with significant differences in likelihood of admission, readmission, or length of stay. A higher risk of readmission was associated with patients with a recent family medicine appointment cancellation.
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To create a model based on patients' characteristics that can predict the number of burdens reported using the ICAN Discussion Aid, to target use of this tool to patients likeliest to benefit. ⋯ The number of burdens a patient will report on the ICAN Discussion Aid can be approximated based on certain patient characteristics. Adults with major depression, a BMI of 26 or greater, and younger age may have greater reported burdens on ICAN, but this finding needs to be validated in independent samples.
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The COVID-19 pandemic caused potentially disruptive shocks to chronic condition care. We examined how diabetes medication adherence, related hospitalizations, and primary care use changed in high-risk veterans prepandemic and postpandemic. ⋯ Adherence to diabetes medications and primary care use remained high for most patients even though virtual care replaced in-person care. Black and nonelderly patients may require additional intervention to address lower adherence.