Differences in Healthcare Expenditures, Visits, and Prescriptions by Race for Common Benign Urologic Conditions.

OBJECTIVE: To identify differences in healthcare expenditures and utilization by race in patients treated for common benign urologic conditions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective secondary data analysis was conducted of patients with common benign urologic conditions using 2016-2018 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data. Benign conditions included urolithiasis, cystitis, erectile dysfunction (ED), pelvic organ prolapse (POP), urinary incontinence (UI), and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Generalized linear models were used to evaluate the relationship between total healthcare expenditures and utilization and race for each condition. Adjusted analyses accounted for age, sex, number of chronic conditions, poverty status, self-reported health status, marital status, highest degree of educational attainment, and insurance status. RESULTS: The weighted analysis sample consisted of 27,110,416 patients, of whom 80.9% were Non-Hispanic white, 6.9% Non-Hispanic black, and 12.2% other minority races. After adjustment, total healthcare expenditures were significantly lower for Non-Hispanic blacks (incidence rate ratio [IRR] = 0.19, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.06-0.61) and other minority races (IRR = 0.30, 95% CI: 0.10-0.88) compared to Non-Hispanic whites treated for ED. Similarly, compared to Non-Hispanic whites, healthcare expenditures were significantly lower for Non-Hispanic blacks treated for UI (IRR = 0.56, 95% CI: 0.35-0.90). CONCLUSION: Healthcare expenditures are significantly lower for Non-Hispanic black patients treated for ED and UI in the US Future research is needed to determine if these differences represent an inequality in the delivery of urologic care for patients with these conditions.

A Review of Economic Evaluations of Erectile Dysfunction Therapies.

INTRODUCTION: Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a common and costly urologic condition with increasing prevalence as men age. Cost-effectiveness of ED therapies and whether cost-effectiveness varies for different populations of men remains underexplored. AIM: To review and summarize available published data on the economic evaluation of ED therapies and to identify gaps in the literature that still need to be addressed. METHODS: All relevant peer-reviewed publications and conference abstracts were reviewed and incorporated. RESULTS: There are a number of medical and surgical treatment options available for ED. The economic evaluation of phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors, particularly sildenafil, has been well described. However, minimal research has been conducted to assess the cost-effectiveness of intracavernosal injections, intraurethral suppositories, penile prosthesis surgery, vacuum erection devices, and other emerging therapies in men with different causes of ED. CONCLUSION: Available economic evaluations of ED therapies are dated, do not reflect present-day physician, pharmaceutical, and device costs, fail to account for patient comorbidities, and may not be generalizable to today's ED patients. Substantial research is needed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of ED treatments across different patient populations, countries, and reimbursement systems. Rezaee ME, Ward CE, Brandes ER, et al. A Review of Economic Evaluations of Erectile Dysfunction Therapies. Sex Med Rev 2019;8:497-503.

Cost-effectiveness of a nurse-delivered, inpatient smoking cessation intervention.

Randomized controlled trials have shown that inpatient tobacco cessation interventions are highly efficacious and cost-effective. However, the degree to which smoking interventions implemented in nonrandomized, real-world practice settings are effective, and consequently, cost-effective, remains unclear. This study evaluated the cost-effectiveness of a nurse-delivered, inpatient smoking cessation intervention, Tobacco Tactics, compared with usual care within the context of an observational, real-world study design. In this quasi-experimental study, five Michigan hospitals (N = 1,370 patients) were assigned to implement either Tobacco Tactics or usual care during October 2011-May 2013. Statistical analysis was conducted during January 2017-February 2018. Controlling for confounding using stabilized inverse probability of treatment weights, incremental cost-effectiveness ratios were calculated and cost-effectiveness acceptability curves were generated. The per person cost of tobacco cessation services in the intervention group exceeded that of usual care ($175.52 vs. $67.80; p < .001). The intervention group had a higher propensity-adjusted self-reported quit rate compared to the control group (15.7% vs. 7.0%; p < .0001). The propensity-adjusted incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was $1,325 per quit (95% confidence interval: $751-$2,462), with 99.9% probability of being cost-effective at a willingness to pay of $5,000 per quit. The Tobacco Tactics intervention was found to be cost-effective and well within the range of incremental cost-per-quit findings from other studies of tobacco cessation interventions, which range from $918 to $23,200, adjusted for inflation.

Comparative assessment of content overlap between written documentation and verbal communication: an observational study of resident sign-outs.

OBJECTIVE: Effective sign-outs involve verbal communication supported by written or electronic documentation. We investigated the clinical content overlap between sign-out documentation and face-to-face verbal sign-out communication. METHODS: We audio-recorded resident verbal sign-out communication and collected electronically completed ("written") sign-out documentation on 44 sign-outs in a General Medicine service. A content analysis framework with nine sign-out elements was used to qualitatively code both written and verbal sign-out content. A content overlap framework based on the comparative analysis between written and verbal sign-out content characterized how much written content was verbally communicated. Using this framework, we computed the full, partial, and no overlap between written and verbal content. RESULTS: We found high a high degree of full overlap on patient identifying information [name (present in 100% of sign-outs), age (96%), and gender (87%)], past medical history [hematology (100%), renal (100%), cardiology (79%), and GI (67%)], and tasks to-do (97%); lesser degree of overlap for active problems (46%), anticipatory guidance (46%), medications/treatments (15%), pending labs/studies/procedures (7%); and no overlap for code status (<1%), allergies (0%) and medical record number (0%). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Three core functions of sign-outs are transfer of information, responsibility, and accountability. The overlap-highlighting what written content was communicated-characterizes how these functions manifest during sign-outs. Transfer of information varied with patient identifying information being explicitly communicated and remaining content being inconsistently communicated. Transfer of responsibility was explicit, with all pending and future tasks being communicated. Transfer of accountability was limited, with limited discussion of written contingency plans.