J Am Board Fam Med
-
Health Care Utilization and Pain Outcomes Following Early Imaging for Low Back Pain in Older Adults.
Professional societies have provided inconsistent guidance regarding whether older patients should receive early imaging for low back pain, in the absence of clinical indications. The study assesses the implications of early imaging by evaluating its association with downstream utilization in an elderly population. ⋯ Early imaging for low back pain in older individuals was common, and was associated with greater utilization of downstream services and persistent pain.
-
Primary care clinics need sustainable, population-based approaches to engage patients in advance care planning (ACP). Patient portal-based ACP tools may provide an option for patient engagement. ⋯ Brief motivational messages about ACP via a patient portal is feasible and may increase ACP outcomes for older adults in primary care. Future studies should evaluate population-based portal outreach strategies in combination with team-based workflows to enhance patient engagement in ACP.
-
Observational Study
Prevalence and Characterization of Yoga Mentions in the Electronic Health Record.
There is a growing patient population using yoga as a therapeutic intervention, but little is known about how yoga interfaces with health care in clinical settings. ⋯ There is a widespread and growing trend to include yoga as part of the clinical record. In practice, clinicians are recommending yoga as a nonpharmacological intervention for a subset of common chronic diseases.
-
Comparative Study
Prevalence of Pre-existing Conditions Among Community Health Center Patients Before and After the Affordable Care Act.
To assess the prevalence of pre-existing conditions for community health center (CHC) patients who gained insurance coverage post-Affordable Care Act (ACA). ⋯ This study emphasizes the high prevalence of pre-existing conditions among CHC patients and the large increase in the proportion of patients with at least 1 of these diagnoses post-ACA. Given how common these conditions are, repealing pre-existing condition protections could be extremely harmful to millions of patients and would likely exacerbate health care and health disparities.
-
Observational Study
The Association Between Neighborhood Socioeconomic and Housing Characteristics with Hospitalization: Results of a National Study of Veterans.
Social determinants of health (SDOH) have an inextricable impact on health. If remained unaddressed, poor SDOH can contribute to increased health care utilization and costs. We aimed to determine if geographically derived neighborhood level SDOH had an impact on hospitalization rates of patients receiving care at the Veterans Health Administration's (VHA) primary care clinics. ⋯ Our results present the impact of neighborhood characteristics such as NSES and lack of proper heating system on the likelihood of hospitalization. The application of placed-based data at the geographic level is a powerful tool for identification of patients at high risk of health care utilization.