Difficulty Obtaining Behavioral Health Services for Children: A National Survey of Multiphysician Practices.

PURPOSE: In the United States, primary care practices rely on scarce resources to deliver evidence-based care for children with behavioral health disorders such as depression, anxiety, other mental illness, or substance use disorders. We estimated the proportion of practices that have difficulty accessing these resources and whether practices owned by a health system or participating in Medicaid accountable care organizations (ACOs) report less difficulty. METHODS: This national cross-sectional study examined how difficult it is for practices to obtain pediatric (1) medication advice, (2) evidence-based psychotherapy, and (3) family-based therapy. We used the National Survey of Healthcare Organizations and Systems 2017-2018 (46.9% response rate), which sampled multiphysician primary and multispecialty care practices including 1,410 practices that care for children. We characterized practices' experience as "difficult" relative to "not at all difficult" using a 4-point ordinal scale. We used mixed-effects generalized linear models to estimate differences comparing system-owned vs independent practices and Medicaid ACO participants vs nonparticipants, adjusting for practice attributes. RESULTS: More than 85% of practices found it difficult to obtain help with evidence-based elements of pediatric behavioral health care. Adjusting for practice attributes, the percent experiencing difficulty was similar between system-owned and independent practices but was less for Medicaid ACO participants for medication advice (81% vs 89%; P = .021) and evidence-based psychotherapy (81% vs 90%; P = .006); differences were not significant for family-based treatment (85% vs 91%; P = .107). CONCLUSIONS: Most multiphysician practices struggle to obtain advice and services for child behavioral health needs, which are increasing nationally. Future studies should investigate the source of observed associations.

Exploring system features of primary care practices that promote better providers' clinical work satisfaction: A qualitative comparative analysis.

BACKGROUND: Health care delivery system features can have a profound effect on how frontline physicians and other clinical personnel in primary care practices (primary care providers [PCPs]) view the quality and safety of what they deliver and, ultimately, their clinical work satisfaction. PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to investigate the combinations of system features (i.e., team dynamics, provider-perceived safety culture, and patient care coordination between PCPs) that are most conducive to positively enhancing PCPs' clinical work satisfaction. APPROACH: Nineteen Harvard-affiliated primary care practice sites participated in the Academic Innovations Collaborative 2012-2016, which aimed to establish team-based care and improve patient safety. An All-Staff Survey was administered to 854 PCPs in 2015. The survey measured provider experience of team dynamics, provider-perceived safety culture, patient care coordination between PCPs, and providers' clinical work satisfaction. We performed a qualitative comparative analysis to identify "recipes," that is, combinations of conditions necessary and sufficient for enhancing PCPs' clinical work satisfaction. RESULTS: Strong provider-perceived safety culture and effective team dynamics constitute sufficient conditions that, when present in practices, could best support PCPs to achieve greater clinical work satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest the importance of creating and sustaining a strong safety culture and of establishing and implementing highly functioning teams in primary care practices for enhancing PCPs' clinical work satisfaction. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Conducting the qualitative comparative analysis provides a new perspective for informing primary care and encouraging primary care practices to pursue strategic priorities for enhancing PCPs' clinical work satisfaction and providing safe, high-quality care.

Physician and facility drivers of spending variation in locoregional prostate cancer.

BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer is the most common male cancer, with a wide range of treatment options. Payment reform to reduce unnecessary spending variation is an important strategy for reducing waste, but its magnitude and drivers within prostate cancer are unknown. METHODS: In total, 38,971 men aged ≥66 years with localized prostate cancer who were enrolled in Medicare fee-for-service and were included in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results-Medicare database from 2009 to 2014 were included. Multilevel linear regression with physician and facility random effects was used to examine the contributions of urologists, radiation oncologists, and their affiliated facilities to variation in total patient spending in the year after diagnosis within geographic region. The authors assessed whether spending variation was driven by patient characteristics, disease risk, or treatments. Physicians and facilities were sorted into quintiles of adjusted patient-level spending, and differences between those that were high-spending and low-spending were examined. RESULTS: Substantial variation in spending was driven by physician and facility factors. Differences in cancer treatment modalities drove more variation across physicians than differences in patient and disease characteristics (72% vs 2% for urologists, 20% vs 18% for radiation oncologists). The highest spending physicians spent 46% more than the lowest and had more imaging tests, inpatient care, and radiotherapy spending. There were no differences across spending quintiles in the use of robotic surgery by urologists or the use of brachytherapy by radiation oncologists. CONCLUSIONS: Significant differences were observed for patients with similar demographics and disease characteristics. This variation across both physicians and facilities suggests that efforts to reduce unnecessary spending must address decision making at both levels.

Working around hierarchy: Resident and medical assistant teaming.

BACKGROUND: In health care, hierarchy can facilitate getting work done efficiently. It can also hinder performance by suppressing valuable contributions from lower-positioned individuals. Team-based care could mitigate negative effects by creating space for all team members to contribute their unique expertise. PURPOSE: This article sought to understand how resident-medical assistant (MA) dyads interacted before and after primary care clinics transitioned to team-based care. We also studied how they negotiated changes in interpersonal dynamics given the challenge these changes presented to hierarchical norms. METHODOLOGY: We conducted two qualitative interview studies, with 37 residents and 30 MAs at primary care clinics transitioning to team-based care. Interviews were transcribed, coded, and analyzed together using a thematic networks approach and focused coding. RESULTS: An intervention that promoted teamwork prompted resident-MA dyads to change their interactions to counter traditional hierarchy. Residents increasingly asked MAs questions about patient care, and MAs initiated interactions and volunteered ideas more frequently. We also found that MAs and residents expressed some discomfort with the hierarchical ambiguity that their new interactions produced and used alternate scripts to buffer this discomfort and to collaborate as teammates despite formal hierarchy. CONCLUSION: Among resident-MA dyads, a team-based care intervention changed interpersonal dynamics by blurring hierarchical lines and shifting traditional boundaries in ways that were uncomfortable for both groups. They were able to work around discomfort by using new scripts that downplayed the threat to hierarchy. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Organizational structures that encourage greater interprofessional collaboration may neutralize barriers that formal hierarchy in medicine can pose for effective teamwork, but this process can also bring social discomfort. Our findings suggest that health care professionals may use microlevel strategies, such as alternative scripts, to overcome formal hierarchies without openly engaging them. Together, new organizational structures and interaction techniques can help professionals work around hierarchy and improve team performance.

Comparing Diagnostic Evaluations for Rectal Bleeding and Breast Lumps in Primary Care: a Retrospective Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: Inadequate diagnostic evaluations of breast lumps and rectal bleeding in primary care are an important source of medical errors. Delays appear particularly common in evaluation of rectal bleeding. Comparing pursuit and completion of diagnostic testing for these two conditions within the same practice settings could help highlight barriers and inform interventions. OBJECTIVES: To examine processes undertaken for diagnostic evaluations of breast lumps and rectal bleeding within the same practices and to compare them with regard to (a) the likelihood that diagnostic tests are ordered according to guidelines and (b) the timeliness of order placement and completion. DESIGN: A retrospective cohort study using explicit chart abstraction methods. PARTICIPANTS: Three hundred women aged 30-80 presenting with breast lumps and 300 men and women aged 40-80 years presenting with rectal bleeding to 15 academically affiliated primary care practices, 2012-2016. MAIN MEASURES: Rates and timing of test ordering and completion and patterns of visits and communications. KEY RESULTS: At initial presentation, physicians ordered recommended imaging or procedures at higher rates for patients with breast lumps compared to those with rectal bleeding (97% vs. 86% of patients recommended to receive imaging or endoscopy; p < 0.01). Most (90%) patients with breast lumps completed recommended diagnostic testing within 1 month, versus 31% of patients with rectal bleeding (p < 0.01). By 1 year, 7% of patients with breast lumps had not completed indicated imaging, versus 27% of those with rectal bleeding. Patients with breast lumps had fewer subsequent primary care visits related or unrelated to their symptom and had fewer related communications with specialists. LIMITATIONS: The study relied on documented care, and findings may be most generalizable to academically affiliated institutions. CONCLUSIONS: Diagnostic processes for rectal bleeding were less frequently guideline-concordant and timely than those for breast lumps. The largest discrepancies occurred in initial ordering of indicated tests and the timeliness of test completion.

Adult-Oriented Health Reform and Children's Insurance and Access to Care: Evidence from Massachusetts Health Reform.

Objective A national debate is underway about the value of key provisions within the adult-oriented Affordable Care Act (ACA)-the individual mandate, expansion of Medicaid eligibility, and essential benefits. How these provisions affect child health insurance and access to care may help us anticipate how children may be affected if the ACA is repealed. We study Massachusetts health reform because it enacted these key provisions statewide in 2006. Methods We used a difference-in-differences (DD) approach to assess the impact of Massachusetts health reform on uninsurance and access to care among children 0-17 years in Massachusetts compared to children in other New England states. The National Survey of Children's Health provided the pre-reform year and two post-reform years (1 and 5 years post-reform). We analyzed outcomes for children overall and children previously and newly-eligible for Medicaid under Massachusetts health reform, adjusting for age, sex, race/ethnicity, non-English language, and having special health care needs. Results Compared to other New England states, Massachusetts's enactment of the individual mandate, Medicaid expansion, and essential benefits was associated with trends at 5 years post-reform toward lower uninsurance for children overall (DD = - 1.1, p-for-DD = 0.05), increased access to specialty care (DD = 7.7, p-for-DD = 0.06), but also with a decrease in access to preventive care (DD=-3.4, p-for-DD = 0.004). At 1 year post-reform, access to specialty care improved for children newly-Medicaid-eligible (DD = 18.3, p-for-DD = 0.03). Conclusions for Practice Adult-oriented health reforms may have reduced uninsurance and improved access to some types of care for children in Massachusetts. Repealing the ACA may produce modest detriments for children.

A Cost Analysis of Universal versus Targeted Cholesterol Screening in Pediatrics.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the number of children needed to screen to identify a case of childhood dyslipidemia and estimate costs under universal vs targeted screening approaches. STUDY DESIGN: We constructed a decision-analytic model comparing the health system costs of universal vs targeted screening for hyperlipidemia in US children aged 10 years over a 1-year time horizon. Targeted screening was defined by family history: dyslipidemia in a parent and/or early cardiovascular disease in a first-degree relative. Prevalence of any hyperlipidemia (low-density lipoprotein [LDL] ≥130 mg/dL) and severe hyperlipidemia (LDL ≥190 mg/dL or LDL ≥160 mg/dL with family history) were obtained from published estimates. Costs were estimated from the 2016 Maryland Medicaid fee schedule. We performed sensitivity analyses to evaluate the influence of key variables on the incremental cost per case detected. RESULTS: For universal screening, the number needed to screen to identify 1 case was 12 for any hyperlipidemia and 111 for severe hyperlipidemia. For targeted screening, the number needed to screen was 7 for any hyperlipidemia and 49 for severe hyperlipidemia. The incremental cost per case detected for universal compared with targeted screening was $1980 for any hyperlipidemia and $32 170 for severe hyperlipidemia. CONCLUSIONS: Our model suggests that universal cholesterol screening detects hyperlipidemia at a low cost per case, but may not be the most cost-efficient way to identify children with severe hyperlipidemia who are most likely to benefit from treatment.

Diagnostic Evaluation of Patients Presenting to Primary Care with Rectal Bleeding.

BACKGROUND: Rectal bleeding is a common, frequently benign problem that can also be an early sign of colorectal cancer. Diagnostic evaluation for rectal bleeding is complex, and clinical practice may deviate from available guidelines. OBJECTIVE: To assess the degree to which primary care physicians document risk factors for colorectal cancer among patients with rectal bleeding and order colonoscopies when indicated, and the likelihood of physicians ordering and patients receiving recommended colonoscopies based on demographic characteristics, visit patterns, and clinical presentations. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study using explicit chart abstraction methods. PARTICIPANTS: Three hundred adults, 40-80 years of age, presenting with rectal bleeding to 15 academically affiliated primary care practices between 2012 and 2016. MAIN MEASURES: 1) The frequency at which colorectal cancer risk factors were documented in patients' charts, 2) the frequency at which physicians ordered colonoscopies and patients received them, and 3) the odds of ordering and patients receiving recommended colonoscopies based on patient demographic characteristics, visit patterns, and clinical presentations. KEY RESULTS: Risk factors for colorectal cancer were documented between 9% and 66% of the time. Most patients (89%) with rectal bleeding needed a colonoscopy according to a clinical guideline. Physicians placed colonoscopy orders for 74% of these patients, and 56% completed the colonoscopy within a year (36% within 60 days). The odds of physicians ordering recommended colonoscopies were significantly higher in patients aged 50-64 years of age than in those aged 40-50 years (OR = 2.23, 95% CI: 1.04, 4.80), and for patients whose most recent colonoscopy was 5 or more years ago (OR = 4.04, 95% CI: 1.50, 10.83). The odds of physicians ordering and patients receiving recommended colonoscopies were significantly lower for each primary care visit unrelated to rectal bleeding (OR = 0.85, 95% CI: 0.75, 0.96). CONCLUSIONS: Diagnostic evaluation of patients presenting to primary care with rectal bleeding may be suboptimal because of inadequate risk factor assessment and prioritization of patients' other concurrent medical problems.

Relationship among team dynamics, care coordination and perception of safety culture in primary care.

Background: There remains a need to improve patient safety in primary care settings. Studies have demonstrated that creating high-performing teams can improve patient safety and encourage a safety culture within hospital settings, but little is known about this relationship in primary care. Objective: To examine how team dynamics relate to perceptions of safety culture in primary care and whether care coordination plays an intermediating role. Research Design: This is a cross-sectional survey study with 63% response (n = 1082). Subjects: The study participants were attending clinicians, resident physicians and other staff who interacted with patients from 19 primary care practices affiliated with Harvard Medical School. Main Measures: Three domains corresponding with our main measures: team dynamics, care coordination and safety culture. All items were measured on a 5-point Likert scale. We used linear regression clustered by practice site to assess the relationship between team dynamics and perceptions of safety culture. We also performed a mediation analysis to determine the extent to which care coordination explains the relationship between perceptions of team dynamics and of safety culture. Results: For every 1-point increase in overall team dynamics, there was a 0.76-point increase in perception of safety culture [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.70-0.82, P < 0.001]. Care coordination mediated the relationship between team dynamics and the perception of safety culture. Conclusion: Our findings suggest there is a relationship between team dynamics, care coordination and perceptions of patient safety in a primary care setting. To make patients safer, we may need to pay more attention to how primary care providers work together to coordinate care.

Racial disparities in fifth-grade sun protection: Evidence from the Healthy Passages study.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Despite rising skin cancer rates in children, multiple studies reveal inadequate youth sun-protective behavior (eg, sunscreen use). Using Healthy Passages data for fifth-graders, we set out to determine sunscreen adherence in these children and investigated factors related to sunscreen performance. METHODS: Survey data were collected from 5119 fifth-graders and their primary caregivers. Logistic regression was used to assess associations between sunscreen adherence and performance of other preventive health behaviors (eg, flossing, helmet use) and examine predictors of sunscreen adherence. Analyses were repeated in non-Hispanic black, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic white subgroups. RESULTS: Five thousand one hundred nineteen (23.4%) children almost always used sunscreen, 5.9% of non-Hispanic blacks (n = 1748), 23.7% of Hispanics (n = 1802), and 44.8% of non-Hispanic whites (n = 1249). Performing other preventive health behaviors was associated with higher odds of sunscreen adherence (all P < .001), with the greatest association with flossing teeth (odds ratio = 2.41, 95% confidence interval = 1.86-3.13, P < .001). Factors for lower odds of sunscreen adherence included being male and non-Hispanic black or Hispanic and having lower socioeconomic status. School-based sun-safety education and involvement in team sports were not significant factors. CONCLUSION: Our data confirm low use of sun protection among fifth-graders. Future research should explore how public health success in increasing prevalence of other preventive health behaviors may be applied to enhance sun protection messages. Identifying risk factors for poor adherence enables providers to target patients who need more education. Improving educational policies and content in schools may be an effective way to address sun safety.

Feeling inadequate: Residents' stress and learning at primary care clinics in the United States.

BACKGROUND: Educators hope that residents' experiences in primary care continuity clinics will influence more trainees to enter primary care careers. Unfortunately, evidence shows that outpatient primary care training in the United States is stressful and fails to promote primary care careers. We conducted qualitative interviews with residents to understand the source of stress and to explain this failure. METHODS: In-person individual interviews were conducted with 37 primary care residents training at outpatient clinics in the US. Analysis used the constant comparative method and included open and focused coding, allowing themes to emerge inductively from the data. RESULTS: 73% of residents interviewed reported negative emotions about clinic. Beyond stress, residents reported feeling inadequate as primary care physicians at clinic. Four factors contributed: mental distractions, unfamiliarity with primary care medicine, management of outpatients, and relationships with patients. Residents' comparisons of hospital-based and outpatient experiences favored the former in relation to the four factors. CONCLUSIONS: Residents feel unprepared for primary care and inadequate as primary care physicians, and these feelings discourage them from practicing primary care. This phenomenon must be studied within the entire context of residency, as residents' attitudes about their outpatient experiences were shaped in relation to their inpatient experiences.

Team-based primary care: The medical assistant perspective.

BACKGROUND: Team-based care has the potential to improve primary care quality and efficiency. In this model, medical assistants (MAs) take a more central role in patient care and population health management. MAs' traditionally low status may give them a unique view on changing organizational dynamics and teamwork. However, little empirical work exists on how team-based organizational designs affect the experiences of low-status health care workers like MAs. PURPOSES: The aim of this study was to describe how team-based primary care affects the experiences of MAs. A secondary aim was to explore variation in these experiences. METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: In late 2014, the authors interviewed 30 MAs from nine primary care practices transitioning to team-based care. Interviews addressed job responsibilities, teamwork, implementation, job satisfaction, and learning. Data were analyzed using a thematic networks approach. Interviews also included closed-ended questions about workload and job satisfaction. RESULTS: Most MAs reported both a higher workload (73%) and a greater job satisfaction (86%) under team-based primary care. Interview data surfaced four mechanisms for these results, which suggested more fulfilling work and greater respect for the MA role: (a) relationships with colleagues, (b) involvement with patients, (c) sense of control, and (d) sense of efficacy. Facilitators and barriers to these positive changes also emerged. CONCLUSION: Team-based care can provide low-status health care workers with more fulfilling work and strengthen relationships across status lines. The extent of this positive impact may depend on supporting factors at the organization, team, and individual worker levels. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: To maximize the benefits of team-based care, primary care leaders should recognize the larger role that MAs play under this model and support them as increasingly valuable team members. Contingent on organizational conditions, practices may find MAs who are willing to manage the increased workload that often accompanies team-based care.

How Primary Care Physicians Integrate Price Information into Clinical Decision-Making.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about how primary care physicians (PCPs) in routine outpatient practice use paid price information (i.e., the amount that insurers finally pay providers) in daily clinical practice. OBJECTIVE: To describe the experiences of PCPs who have had paid price information on tests and procedures for at least 1 year. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study using semi-structured interviews and the constant comparative method of qualitative analysis. PARTICIPANTS: Forty-six PCPs within an accountable care organization. INTERVENTION: Via the ordering screen of their electronic health record, PCPs were presented with the median paid price for commonly ordered tests and procedures (e.g., blood tests, x-rays, CTs, MRIs). APPROACH: We asked PCPs for (a) their "gut reaction" to having paid price information, (b) the situations in which they used price information in clinical decision-making separate from or jointly with patients, (c) their thoughts on who bore the chief responsibility for discussing price information with patients, and (d) suggestions for improving physician-targeted price information interventions. KEY RESULTS: Among "gut reactions" that ranged from positive to negative, all PCPs were more interested in having patient-specific price information than paid prices from the practice perspective. PCPs described that when patients' out-of-pocket spending concerns were revealed, price information helped them engage patients in conversations about how to alter treatment plans to make them more affordable. PCPs stated that having price information only slightly altered their test-ordering patterns and that they avoided mentioning prices when advising patients against unnecessary testing. Most PCPs asserted that physicians bear the chief responsibility for discussing prices with patients because of their clinical knowledge and relationships with patients. They wished for help from patients, practices, health plans, and society in order to support price transparency in healthcare. CONCLUSIONS: Physician-targeted price transparency efforts may provide PCPs with the information they need to respond to patients' concerns regarding out-of-pocket affordability rather than that needed to change test-ordering habits.

A Randomized Trial of Displaying Paid Price Information on Imaging Study and Procedure Ordering Rates.

BACKGROUND: Prior studies have demonstrated how price transparency lowers the test-ordering rates of trainees in hospitals, and physician-targeted price transparency efforts have been viewed as a promising cost-controlling strategy. OBJECTIVE: To examine the effect of displaying paid-price information on test-ordering rates for common imaging studies and procedures within an accountable care organization (ACO). DESIGN: Block randomized controlled trial for 1 year. SUBJECTS: A total of 1205 fully licensed clinicians (728 primary care, 477 specialists). INTERVENTION: Starting January 2014, clinicians in the Control arm received no price display; those in the intervention arms received Single or Paired Internal/External Median Prices in the test-ordering screen of their electronic health record. Internal prices were the amounts paid by insurers for the ACO's services; external paid prices were the amounts paid by insurers for the same services when delivered by unaffiliated providers. MAIN MEASURES: Ordering rates (orders per 100 face-to-face encounters with adult patients): overall, designated to be completed internally within the ACO, considered "inappropriate" (e.g., MRI for simple headache), and thought to be "appropriate" (e.g., screening colonoscopy). KEY RESULTS: We found no significant difference in overall ordering rates across the Control, Single Median Price, or Paired Internal/External Median Prices study arms. For every 100 encounters, clinicians in the Control arm ordered 15.0 (SD 31.1) tests, those in the Single Median Price arm ordered 15.0 (SD 16.2) tests, and those in the Paired Prices arms ordered 15.7 (SD 20.5) tests (one-way ANOVA p-value 0.88). There was no difference in ordering rates for tests designated to be completed internally or considered to be inappropriate or appropriate. CONCLUSIONS: Displaying paid-price information did not alter how frequently primary care and specialist clinicians ordered imaging studies and procedures within an ACO. Those with a particular interest in removing waste from the health care system may want to consider a variety of contextual factors that can affect physician-targeted price transparency.

Team dynamics, clinical work satisfaction, and patient care coordination between primary care providers: A mixed methods study.

BACKGROUND: Team-based care is essential for delivering high-quality, comprehensive, and coordinated care. Despite considerable research about the effects of team-based care on patient outcomes, few studies have examined how team dynamics relate to provider outcomes. PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to examine relationships among team dynamics, primary care provider (PCP) clinical work satisfaction, and patient care coordination between PCPs in 18 Harvard-affiliated primary care practices participating in Harvard's Academic Innovations Collaborative. METHODOLOGY: First, we administered a cross-sectional survey to all 548 PCPs (267 attending clinicians, 281 resident physicians) working at participating practices; 65% responded. We assessed the relationship of team dynamics with PCPs' clinical work satisfaction and perception of patient care coordination between PCPs, respectively, and the potential mediating effect of patient care coordination on the relationship between team dynamics and work satisfaction. In addition, we embedded a qualitative evaluation within the quantitative evaluation to achieve a convergent mixed methods design to help us better understand our findings and illuminate relationships among key variables. FINDINGS: Better team dynamics were positively associated with clinical work satisfaction and quality of patient care coordination between PCPs. Coordination partially mediated the relationship between team dynamics and satisfaction for attending clinicians, suggesting that higher satisfaction depends, in part, on better teamwork, yielding more coordinated patient care. We found no mediating effects for resident physicians. Qualitative results suggest that sources of satisfaction from positive team dynamics for PCPs may be most relevant to attending clinicians. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Improving primary care team dynamics could improve clinical work satisfaction among PCPs and patient care coordination between PCPs. In addition to improving outcomes that directly concern health care providers, efforts to improve aspects of team dynamics may also help resolve critical challenges in workforce planning in primary care.

Diabetes-Focused Health Care Utilization Among Adolescents and Young Adults With Type 1 Diabetes.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the current rates of health services use with various types of providers among adolescents and young adults (AYA) with type 1 diabetes (T1D) and evaluate which patient factors are associated with rates of service use from different provider types. METHODS: Using 2012-16 claims data from a national commercial insurer, we identified 18,927 person-years of AYA with T1D aged 13 to 26 years and evaluated the frequency at which: 1) AYA skipped diabetes care for a year despite being insured; 2) received care from pediatric or non-pediatric generalists or endocrinologists if care was sought; and 3) received annual hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) testing as recommended for AYA. We used descriptive statistics and multivariable regression to examine patient, insurance, and physician characteristics associated with utilization and quality outcomes. RESULTS: Between ages 13 and 26, the percentage of AYA with: any diabetes-focused visits declined from 95.3% to 90.3%; the mean annual number of diabetes-focused visits, if any, decreased from 3.5 to 3.0; receipt of ≥2 HbA1c tests annually decreased from 82.3% to 60.6%. Endocrinologists were the majority providers of diabetes care across ages, yet the relative proportion of AYA whose diabetes care was endocrinologist-dominated decreased from 67.3% to 52.7% while diabetes care dominated by primary care providers increased from 19.9% to 38.2%. The strongest predictors of diabetes care utilization were younger age and use of diabetes technology (pumps and continuous glucose monitors). CONCLUSIONS: Several provider types are involved in the care of AYA with T1D, though predominate provider type and care quality changes substantially across age in a commercially-insured population.

Enabling System Functionalities of Primary Care Practices for Team Dynamics in Transformation to Team-Based Care: A Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA).

Team-based primary care has been shown to be an important initiative for transforming primary care to achieve whole-person care, enhance health equity, and reduce provider burnout. Organizational approaches have been explored to better implement team-based care but a thorough understanding of the role of system functions is lacking. We aimed to identify the combinations of system functionalities in primary care practices that most enable effective teamwork. We used a novel method, qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), to identify cross-case patterns in 19 primary care practices in the Harvard Academic Innovations Collaborative (AIC), an initiative for transforming primary care practices by establishing teams and implementing team-based care. QCA findings identified that primary care practices with strong team dynamics exhibited strengths in three operational care process functionalities, including management of abnormal test results, cancer screening and medication management for high-priority patients, care transitions, and in health information technology (HIT) functionality. HIT functionality alone was not sufficient to achieve the desired outcomes. System functionalities in a primary care practice that support physicians and their teams in identifying patients with urgent and complex acute illnesses requiring immediate response and care and overcoming barriers to collaboration within and across institutional settings, may be essential for sustaining strong team-based primary care.

Value-Based Purchasing Design And Effect: A Systematic Review And Analysis.

During the past two decades in the United States, all major payer types-commercial, Medicare, Medicaid, and multipayer coalitions-have introduced value-based purchasing (VBP) contracts to reward providers for improving health care quality while reducing spending. This systematic review qualitatively characterized the financial and nonfinancial features of VBP programs and examined how such features combine to create a level of program intensity that relates to desired quality and spending outcomes. Higher-intensity VBP programs are more frequently associated with desired quality processes, utilization measures, and spending reductions than lower-intensity programs. Thus, although there may be reasons for payers and providers to opt for lower-intensity programs (for example, to increase voluntary participation), these choices apparently have consequences for spending and quality outcomes.