Scope-of-Practice for Nurse Practitioners and Adherence to Medications for Chronic Illness in Primary Care.

BACKGROUND: Nonadherence to medications is costly and improving adherence is difficult, requiring multifactorial solutions, including policy solutions. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of one policy strategy on medication adherence. Specifically, we examine the effect on adherence of expanding scope-of-practice regulations for nurse practitioners (NPs) to practice and prescribe without physician supervision. DESIGN: We conducted three difference-in-difference multivariable analyses of commercial insurance claims. PARTICIPANTS: Patients who filled at least two prescriptions in one of three chronic therapeutic medications: anti-diabetics (n = 514,255), renin angiotensin system antagonists (RASA) (n = 1,679,957), and anti-lipidemics (n = 1,613,692). MAIN MEASURES: Medication adherence was measured as the proportion of days covered (PDC). We used one continuous (PDC 0-1) and one binary outcome (PDC of > .8), the latter indicating good adherence. KEY RESULTS: Patients taking anti-diabetic medications had a 1.9 percentage point higher medication adherence rate (p < 0.05) and a 2.7 percentage point higher probability of good adherence (p < 0.001) in states that expanded NP scope-of-practice. Medication adherence for patients taking RASA was higher by 2.3 percentage points (p < 0.001) and 3.4 percentage points (p < 0.01) for both measures, respectively. Patients taking anti-lipidemics saw a smaller, but statistically insignificant, improvement in adherence. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate that scope-of-practice regulations that allow NPs to practice and prescribe without physician oversight are associated with improved medication adherence. We postulate that the mechanism for this effect is increased access to health care services, which in turn increases access to prescriptions. Our results suggest that policies allowing NPs to maximally use their skills can be beneficial to patients.

The effect of early child care attendance on childhood asthma and wheezing: A meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Research evidence offers mixed results regarding the relationship between early child care attendance and childhood asthma and wheezing. A meta-analysis was conducted to synthesize the current research evidence of the association between early child care attendance and the risk of childhood asthma and wheezing. METHOD: Peer reviewed studies published from 1964-January 2017 were identified in MEDLINE, CINAL, and EMBASE using MeSH headings relevant to child care and asthma. Two investigators independently reviewed the selected articles from this search. All relevant articles that met our inclusion criteria were selected for further analysis. Data were extracted from studies that had sufficient data to analyze the odds of asthma or wheezing among children who attended child care. RESULTS: The meta-analysis of 32 studies found that (1) early child care attendance is protective against asthma in children 3-5 years of age but not for children with asthma 6 years of age or older. (2) Early child care attendance increases the risk of wheezing among children 2 years of age or younger, but not the risk of wheezing for children over 2 years of age. CONCLUSIONS: This meta-analysis shows that early child care attendance is not significantly associated with the risk of asthma or wheeze in children 6 years of age or older.

The State of State Biomarker Testing Insurance Coverage Laws.

This Viewpoint discusses laws mandating insurance coverage of biomarker testing to broaden access to care for patients with cancer.

Patient reminder systems and asthma medication adherence: a systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: One of the most common reasons for medication non-adherence for asthma patients is forgetfulness. Daily medication reminder system interventions in the form of text messages, automated phone calls and audiovisual reminder devices can potentially address this problem. The aim of this review was to assess the effectiveness of reminder systems on patient daily asthma medication adherence. METHODS: We conducted a systematic review of the literature to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) which assessed the effect of reminder systems on daily asthma medication adherence. We searched all English-language articles in Pub Med (MEDLINE), CINAHL, EMBASE, PsychINFO and the Cochrane Library through May 2013. We abstracted data on the year of study publication, location, inclusion and exclusion criteria, patient characteristics, reminder system characteristics, effect on patient adherence rate and other outcomes measured. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the characteristics and results of the studies. RESULTS: Five RCTs and one pragmatic RCT were included in the analysis. Median follow-up time was 16 weeks. All of the six studies suggested that the reminder system intervention was associated with greater levels of participant asthma medication adherence compared to those participants in the control group. None of the studies documented a change in asthma-related quality of life or clinical asthma outcomes. CONCLUSION: All studies in our analysis suggest that reminder systems increase patient medication adherence, but none documented improved clinical outcomes. Further studies with longer intervention durations are needed to assess effects on clinical outcomes, as well as the sustainability of effects on patient adherence.

Disparities in pre-health advising across California's public universities.

BACKGROUND: The Supreme Court's decision in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc., v. Harvard College is likely to result in the matriculation of fewer students from historically excluded racial/ethnic groups at more selective colleges and universities and matriculation of more students at less selective colleges and universities. Because of this, it is important to understand how resources for pre-health advising, a modifiable factor that can help increase the diversity of the health workforce, vary across institutions with differing levels of selectivity. Colleges are known to vary in resources, structure, and investment in pre-health advising but data are lacking and there is no estimate of any pre-health advising resource gap. PURPOSE: To quantify availability of advising resources and identify perceived challenges in pre-health advising in California's highly diverse public and select private undergraduate institutions. METHODS: Structured 60-minute Zoom interviews from June 2022 -October 2022 at 18/23 CSU (California State Universities), 9/9 University of California (UC) institutions and 6 select private institutions with varying levels of selectivity. Two investigators independently analyzed interviews using a Grounded Theory Approach. The full study team reviewed transcripts and themes. KEY RESULTS: Pre-health advisor capacity varied greatly across the three types of institutions. CSU: mean = 1 FTE advisor: 24,620 graduates (range: 1: 1,059-1: 150,520); UC mean = 1 FTE advisor: 4,526 graduates (range: 1: 1,912-1: 10,920); private institutions mean = 1 FTE advisor:1,794 graduates (range: 1: 722-1: 5,300). Participants reported common challenges: advising capacity, lack of advisor training, advisor turnover, and student difficulties in accessing clinical opportunities and required coursework. CSU and UC participants noted that these had greatest impact for first generation and racially/ethnically underrepresented students for whom lack of informal professional networks, lack of other mentors, and financial responsibilities complicate college navigation and professional school application. CONCLUSIONS: Students at CSU campuses had 5 times less access to pre-health advising per graduate than UC students, and 13 times less than students at private institutions. Much greater investment is needed in California's public institutions, particularly CSUs, to increase equity in access to advising for pre-health professional students. Research should examine pre-health advising resource capacity in other states, especially those that are now facing race-neutral admissions policies at undergraduate institutions and health professions schools.

Policy Considerations for Routine Screening for Adverse Childhood Events (ACEs).

In October of 2021, California enacted SB 428, the ACEs Equity Act, which mandates commercial insurance coverage of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) screening in addition to ACEs screening already covered for the state's Medicaid enrollees. California is the first state to expand ACEs screening coverage, but it is possible other states may follow similar paths given the increasing interest in policy action to address ACEs. Increase in stress and trauma among Americans and evidence of the disproportionate impact ACEs have on historically marginalized and disadvantaged communities has increased the urgency with which policy makers, clinicians and researchers have sought to address ACEs and encourage trauma-informed care delivery to better meet the needs of patients. Family practice and other primary care providers are at the core of prevention and are arguably the largest group of stakeholders at the forefront of movements toward increasing ACEs screenings. However, debate persists among policy makers, clinicians, and researchers on whether the ACEs screening approach improves outcomes and avoids harms. In this health policy article, we describe key issues under debate with regards to ACEs screening and estimate potential change in screening utilization and expenditures due to the new ACEs legislation in California. The lessons being learned in California are applicable to other states and the US as a whole.

Financial impact of California's new law to increase HIV screening by mandating insurance coverage.

To increase HIV testing, in 2008 California's governor signed the first piece of legislation in the USA to require private health plans to cover the cost of HIV testing regardless of whether testing is related to a primary diagnosis. This study assesses the impacts of the bill on coverage, testing rate, and cost for 22,190,000 Californians. All targeted individuals had some form of coverage for HIV testing before the mandate. If minimum expansion of coverage occurs, overall expenditures on HIV testing are projected to increase by US$554,000 in the year following the adoption of the law. If testing broadens to comply with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) testing guidelines, annual expenditures are projected to increase by US$10,151,000. This policy change could serve as a step toward making HIV testing a routine screening test. However, the impact of this mandate largely depends on people's awareness and willingness to adopt the CDC guidelines.

Translating medical effectiveness research into policy: lessons from the California Health Benefits Review Program.

CONTEXT: Legislatures and executive branch agencies in the United States and other nations are increasingly using reviews of the medical literature to inform health policy decisions. To clarify these efforts to give policymakers evidence of medical effectiveness, this article discusses the California Health Benefits Review Program (CHBRP). This program, based at the University of California, analyzes the medical effectiveness of health insurance benefit mandate bills for the California legislature, as well as their impact on cost and public health. METHODS: This article is based on the authors' experience reviewing benefit mandate bills for CHBRP and findings from evaluations of the program. General observations are illustrated with examples from CHBRP's reports. Information about efforts to incorporate evidence into health policymaking in other states and nations was obtained through a review of published literature. FINDINGS: CHBRP produces reports that California legislators, legislative staff, and other major stakeholders value and use routinely in deliberations about benefit mandate bills. Where available, the program relies on previously published meta-analyses and systematic reviews to streamline the review of the medical literature. Faculty and staff responsible for the medical effectiveness sections of CHBRP's reports have learned four major lessons over the course of the program's six-year history: the need to (1) recognize the limitations of the medical literature, (2) anticipate the need to inform legislators about the complexity of evidence, (3) have realistic expectations regarding the impact of medical effectiveness reviews, and (4) understand the consequences of the reactive nature of mandated benefit reviews. CONCLUSIONS: CHBRP has demonstrated that it is possible to produce useful reviews of the medical literature within the tight time constraints of the legislative process. The program's reports have provided state legislators with independent analyses that allow them to move beyond sifting through conflicting information from proponents and opponents to consider difficult policy choices and their implications.

Physician communication regarding cost when prescribing asthma medication to children.

Children with asthma require multiple medications, and cost may be a barrier to care. The purpose of this study was to determine how often physicians ask about cost when prescribing new asthma medication and to identify factors influencing queries. We surveyed pediatricians and family physicians and asked whether they asked about cost when prescribing new asthma medication and if cost was a barrier to prescribing. One third of physicians (35%) reported that concern for cost to the family was a barrier to prescribing. Half reported not asking their patients about drug costs. Pediatricians were less likely to ask about cost (odds ratio [OR] = 0.43; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.20-0.92) when compared with family physicians. For every 10% increase in the number of privately insured patients, a physician was less likely to ask about cost (OR = 0.83; 95% CI = 0.74-0.94). Communication about medication costs should be included in childhood asthma management.

Language-Concordant Primary Care Physicians for a Diverse Population: The View from California.

Purpose: The population with limited English proficiency (LEP) in California is growing. We sought to determine whether enough primary care physicians (PCPs) have the language skills to meet patient needs. Methods: The authors determined the number of PCPs who self-report proficiency in the five most common non-English languages spoken in California (Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, Tagalog, and Vietnamese) using Medical Board of California data from 2013 to 2015. The authors estimated LEP populations during 2011-2015 using Census data. They calculated PCP supply (the ratio of PCPs/100,000 LEP individuals) compared to a federal standard to judge adequacy. They performed a sensitivity analysis adjusting the percentage of LEP patients in a bilingual physicians' practice from 100% to the percentage of LEP individuals in California who spoke that language. Results: Of 19,310 PCPs in California, 15,933 (83%) provided information about languages they speak. There were 5,203 (33%) Spanish-, 486 (3%) Cantonese-, 986 (6%) Mandarin-, 956 (6%) Tagalog-, and 671 (4%) Vietnamese-speaking PCPs. PCP supply, compared to a federal standard, was adequate if we assumed that bilingual PCPs only care for LEP patients. However, if one assumes the number of LEP patients in a PCP's practice reflects the percentage in the general population, there is a large PCP undersupply for all languages. Conclusion: Estimates of access to language-concordant PCPs for LEP individuals are sensitive to assumptions about the percentage of LEP patients in a PCP's panel. Ensuring language-concordant access will require deliberate effort to match LEP patients with bilingual PCPs.

The Current State Of Telehealth Evidence: A Rapid Review.

Policy makers and practitioners show a continued interest in telehealth's potential to increase efficiency and reach patients facing access barriers. However, telehealth encompasses many applications for varied conditions and populations. It is therefore difficult to draw broad conclusions about telehealth's efficacy. This rapid review examines recent evidence both about telehealth's efficacy by clinical area and about telehealth's impact on utilization. We searched for systematic reviews and meta-analyses of the use of telehealth services by patients of any age for any condition published in English in the period January 2004-May 2018. Twenty systematic reviews and associated meta-analyses are included in this review, covering clinical areas such as mental health and rehabilitation. Broadly, telehealth interventions appear generally equivalent to in-person care. However, telehealth's impact on the use of other services is unclear. Many factors should be carefully considered when weighing the evidence of telehealth's efficacy, including modality, evidence quality, population demographics, and point-in-time measurement of outcomes.

Social networks and their relationship to mental health service use and expenditures among Medicaid beneficiaries.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the relationship between social networks and mental health services utilization and expenditures. METHODS: A sample of 522 Medicaid mental health consumers was randomly selected from the administrative records of Colorado's Department of Health Care Policy and Financing. The administrative records contain information on utilization of services and expenditures of Medicaid beneficiaries within Colorado's Mental Health Services. In addition to the administrative records, social network and psychosocial data were gathered through longitudinal survey interviews. The interviews were conducted at six-month intervals between 1994 and 1997. Measures used in the regression analysis included demographic characteristics, clinical diagnoses, the social network index, expenditures, and utilization variables. RESULTS: The social network index was positively associated with utilization of and expenditures for inpatient services in local hospitals but negatively associated with expenditures for inpatient services in state hospitals or outpatient services. Relationships with family were negatively related to expenditures for outpatient services. Relationships with friends were positively associated with utilization of and expenditures for psychiatric inpatient services in local hospitals. CONCLUSIONS: Consumers who had higher social network index scores utilized more inpatient psychiatric services in local hospitals and had higher expenditures than those who had lower scores. Consumers who had higher social network index scores also had lower expenditures for inpatient services in state hospitals and outpatient services than those who have lower scores. Findings suggest that social network is associated with mental health utilization and expenditures in various ways, associations that need to be researched further.

Do physicians always flee from HMOs? New results using dynamic panel estimation methods.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of changes in relative health maintenance organization (HMO) penetration on changes in the physician-to-population ratio in California counties when changes in the economic conditions in California counties relative to the U.S. average are taken into account. DATA SOURCES: Data on physicians who practiced in California at any time from 1988 to 1998 were obtained from the AMA Masterfile. The analysis was restricted to active, patient care physicians, excluding medical residents. Data on other covariates in the model were obtained from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, InterStudy, the Area Resource File, and the California state government. Data were merged using county FIPS codes. STUDY DESIGN: Changes in the physician-to-population ratio in California counties include the effects of both intrastate migration and interstate migration. A reduced-form model was estimated using the Arellano-Bond dynamic panel estimator. Economic conditions in California relative to the U.S. were measured as the ratio of county-level real per capita income to national-level real per capita income. Relative HMO penetration in California was measured as the ratio of county-level HMO penetration to HMO penetration in the U.S. relative HMO penetration was instrumented using five identifying variables to address potential endogeneity. Omitted-variable bias was controlled for by first differencing the model. The model also incorporated eight other covariates that may be associated with the demand for physicians: the percentage of the population enrolled in Medicaid, beds in short-term hospitals per 100,000 population, the percentage of the population that is black, the percentage of the population that is Hispanic, the percentage of the population that is Asian, the percentage of the population that is below age 18, the percentage of the population that is aged 65 and older, and the percentage of the population that are new legal immigrants in a given year. All of the above variables were lagged one period. The lagged physician-to-population ratio was also included to control for the supply of physicians. Separate equations were estimated for primary care physicians and specialist physicians. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Changes in lagged relative HMO penetration are negatively associated with changes in specialist physicians per 100,000 population. However, this effect of HMO penetration is attenuated and at times reversed in areas where the magnitude of the difference in relative economic conditions is sufficiently large. We did not find any statistically significant effects for primary care physicians. CONCLUSIONS: Consistent with prior studies, we find that changes in physician supply are associated with changes in relative HMO penetration. Relative economic conditions are an important moderator of the effect of changes in relative HMO penetration on physician migration.

Testing the Validity of Primary Care Physicians' Self-Reported Acceptance of New Patients by Insurance Status.

OBJECTIVE: To compare physicians' self-reported willingness to provide new patient appointments with the experience of research assistants posing as either a Medicaid beneficiary or privately insured person seeking a new patient appointment. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING: Survey administered to California physicians and telephone calls placed to a subsample of respondents. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional comparison. DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION METHODS: All physicians whose California licenses were due for renewal in June or July 2013 were mailed a survey, which included questions about acceptance of new Medicaid and new privately insured patients. Subsequently, research assistants using a script called the practices of a stratified random sample of 209 primary care physician respondents in an attempt to obtain a new patient appointment. By design, half of the physicians selected for the telephone validation reported on the survey that they accepted new Medicaid patients and half indicated that they did not. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The percentage of callers posing as Medicaid patients who could schedule new patient appointments was 18 percentage points lower than the percentage of physicians who self-reported on the survey that they accept new Medicaid patients. Callers were also less likely to obtain appointments when they posed as patients with private insurance. CONCLUSIONS: Physicians overestimate the extent to which their practices are accepting new patients, regardless of insurance status.

The impact of hospitalists on the cost and quality of inpatient care in the United States: a research synthesis.

There is substantial disagreement regarding the impact of hospitalists on costs, quality, and satisfaction with inpatient care. The authors reviewed 21 evaluations of the use of hospitalists in U.S. hospitals. Most evaluations found that patients managed by hospitalists had lower total costs or charges than patients in comparison groups and that these savings were achieved primarily by reducing length of stay. Most evaluations found no statistically significant differences in quality of care or satisfaction. However, lack of random assignment limits the ability to draw causal inferences from many of the evaluations. All randomized studies were conducted in teaching hospitals, raising questions as to the generalizability of findings to nonteaching hospitals. Further research is needed to better identify the mechanisms by which hospitalists reduce length of stay and to ascertain which types of hospitalist programs are most effective and which patients are most likely to benefit.

The impact of capitated financing on psychiatric emergency services.

OBJECTIVE: Studies of capitated financing of mental health services have generally focused on the cost and utilization of services. Relatively little research has addressed whether capitation has an impact on the effectiveness of the mental health system as a whole. This study examined the impact of capitation on hospital emergency department visits, a widely cited indicator of the effectiveness of the other components of the system. METHODS: In 1995 Colorado's Medicaid program instituted capitation for mental health services in two areas of the state, one in which reimbursement of not-for-profit providers was directly capitated and another in which not-for-profit providers partnered with a for-profit managed behavioral health organization. The analysis examined variation over time in the number of emergency department visits by adults who had a primary mental or substance use disorder. Using interrupted time-series methods, visits in areas where reimbursement was capitated were compared with visits in areas where providers continued to be reimbursed on a fee-for-service basis. A total of 105 weeks for each area was examined; capitation was implemented at week 53. RESULTS: The number of psychiatric emergencies treated in capitated areas declined by 814 (28 percent) below the 2,908 psychiatric emergencies expected from trends, cycles, and levels in fee-for-service areas. Findings were similar for for-profit and not-for-profit areas. The decrease persisted through the end of the first year after capitation. CONCLUSIONS: In Colorado the implementation of capitation was associated with a sustained decrease in utilization of psychiatric emergency services provided by hospital emergency departments. Our findings suggest that capitation does not necessarily reduce the quality of care provided to clients.

Future Demand For Long-Term Care Workers Will Be Influenced By Demographic And Utilization Changes.

A looming question for policy makers is how growing diversity of the US elderly population and greater use of home and community-based services will affect demand for long-term care workers. We used national surveys to analyze current use and staffing of long-term care, project demand for long-term care services and workers through 2030, and assess how projections varied if we changed assumptions about utilization patterns. If current trends continue, the occupations anticipated to grow the most over the period are counselors and social workers (94 percent), community and social services workers (93 percent), and home health and personal care aides (88 percent). Alternative projections were computed for scenarios that assumed changing racial and ethnic patterns of long-term care use or shifts toward noninstitutional care. For instance, if Hispanics used services at the same rate as non-Hispanic blacks, the projected demand for long-term care workers would be 5 percent higher than if current trends continued. If 20 percent of nursing home care were shifted to home health services, total employment growth would be about 12 percent lower. Demographic and utilization changes would have little effect on projections of robust long-term care employment growth between now and 2030. Policy makers and educators should redouble efforts to create and sustainably fund programs to recruit, train, and retain long-term care workers.

Minimum nurse-to-patient ratios in acute care hospitals in California.

Many registered nurses believe that nurse staffing in acute care hospitals is inadequate. In 1999 California became the first state to mandate minimum nurse-to-patient ratios in hospitals. State officials announced draft ratios in January 2002 and expect to implement the legislation by July 2003. We estimate that the direct costs of compliance will be small. However, mandatory ratios could generate opportunity costs that are not easily measured and that may outweigh their benefits. Policymakers elsewhere should consider other strategies to address nurses' concerns, because other approaches may be less costly and produce greater benefits to nurses and patients.