Medicare Advantage and Home Health Care: A Systematic Review.

OBJECTIVES: Home health care serves millions of Americans who are "Aging in Place," including the rapidly growing population of Medicare Advantage (MA) enrollees. This study systematically reviewed extant evidence illustrating home health care (HHC) services to MA enrollees. METHODS: A comprehensive literature search was conducted in 6 electronic databases to identify eligible studies, which resulted in 386 articles. Following 2 rounds of screening, 30 eligible articles were identified. Each study was also assessed independently for study quality using a validated quality assessment checklist. RESULTS: Of the 30 studies, nearly half (n=13) were recently published between January 1, 2017 - January 6, 2022. Among various issues related to HHC to MA enrollees examined, which were often compared with Traditional Medicare (TM) enrollees, the 2 most studied issues were HHC use rate (including access) and care dosage/intensity. Inconsistencies were common in findings across reviewed studies, with slight variations in the level of inconsistency by studied outcomes. Several critical issues, such as heterogeneity of MA plans, influence of MA-specific features, and program response to policy and quality improvement initiatives, were only examined by 1 or 2 studies. The depth and scope of scientific investigation were also limited by the scale and details available in MA data in addition to other methodological limits. CONCLUSIONS: Wild variations and conflicting findings on HHC to MA beneficiaries exist across studies. More research with rigorous designs and robust MA encounter data is warranted to determine home health care for MA enrollees and the relevant outcomes.

The impact of nursing on health outcomes of people receiving medication for opioid use disorder: An integrative review.

INTRODUCTION: This integrative review aimed to understand the impact of nursing on the health outcomes of people with opioid use disorder (OUD). METHODS: Whittemore and Knafl's (2005) integrative review methodology guided the review process. The authors searched PubMed, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), and OVID databases for peer-reviewed, English language articles describing nursing care for people receiving medications for OUD. The literature search followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. RESULTS: A total of 773 articles were identified through the database searches after duplicates were removed; 15 articles met inclusion criteria and were included in the final review from the United States, Canada, Ireland, England, and the Netherlands. Two themes emerged: (1) The effect of nurse-led care on patient outcomes and (2) Nursing roles and the environment of care. Studies emphasized the aspects of nursing care that promote patient-centeredness and patient satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: The importance of the registered nurse in providing quality care for people receiving medications for OUD is clear from the literature reviewed. The studies in the review highlighted important aspects of the registered nurses' role in affecting outcomes for people receiving medications for OUD including communication and care coordination. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: This review highlights the need for role delineation and further development of nurse-sensitive indicators in the OUD treatment setting.

"Caregiving is teamwork " Information sharing in home care for older adults with disabilities living in the community.

AIM: We examined information sharing between direct care workers, family caregivers, and clinicians involved in the care of older adults with disabilities. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews with N = 11 representatives of home care agencies ("residential service agencies" in Maryland). RESULTS: Work system and process characteristics relevant to information sharing included: (1) using electronic management systems and patient portals to communicate within agencies and with clinicians, (2) implementing tools to gather information about client goals, preferences, and routines, and (3) relying on family members for information about clients' needs. Participants did not report differences in dementia-related care coordination; however, dementia-related adaptations involved additional considerations for navigating relationships with family and standardizing processes to communicate with clinicians. CONCLUSION: Findings highlight care demands experienced by direct care workers and support calls to better coordinate information sharing between interdisciplinary care teams.

Factor analytic support for the EDE-Q7 among American Indian/Alaska Native undergraduate women.

OBJECTIVE: American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) people have historically been excluded from eating disorder research. Consequently, not much is known about the validity of eating disorder assessment measures in this group. The purpose of the current study was to examine the factor structure of a short measure for eating pathology, the seven-item Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q7), in AI/AN undergraduate women. Exploratory analyses examined the measurement invariance of the EDE-Q7 across AI/AN, White, and Latinx undergraduates. METHODS: A sample of 150 AI/AN undergraduate women completed the full EDE-Q (28 items) as part of two larger studies. The seven items comprising the EDE-Q7 were selected from the full measure to test the factor structure. Random samples of White and Latinx women of equal sample size were chosen from the larger studies to test measurement invariance. RESULTS: Confirmatory factor analyses found support for the EDE-Q7 factor structure in AI/AN undergraduate women, and scores were strongly positively correlated with the original EDE-Q global scale and disordered eating behaviors. Exploratory analyses found support for the measurement invariance of the EDE-Q7 across AI/AN, White, and Latinx women. One-way ANOVAs showed no significant racial and ethnic differences on the EDE-Q7. DISCUSSION: The current study found psychometric support for the EDE-Q7 in AI/AN undergraduate women and provided preliminary evidence that the EDE-Q7 can be meaningfully compared across AI/AN, White, and Latinx undergraduate women. Further research should continue to investigate the EDE-Q7 and other eating disorder measures in AI/AN and other historically excluded groups. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: V, cross-sectional descriptive study.

Evaluation of the relationships between dietary restraint, emotional eating, and intuitive eating moderated by sex.

Intuitive eating involves attention to feelings putatively related to hunger and satiety to guide eating choices. This adaptive eating style has been linked to a number of positive physical and psychological outcomes. Interestingly, women tend to report lower levels of intuitive eating compared to men. It has been hypothesized that sociocultural pressures or dieting could be contributing factors to this sex discrepancy. The current study aimed to explore whether sex moderates the relationship between either dietary restraint and intuitive eating, or between emotional eating and intuitive eating. Assessments were administered to a sample of college males and females (N = 478) as part of a larger study of eating behaviors. Moderation analyses indicated that higher dietary restraint was more strongly associated with lower levels of intuitive eating in women than in men. Emotional eating also had a stronger negative association with intuitive eating in women compared to men. Additionally, relationships between dietary restraint/emotional eating and a component of intuitive eating, "eating for physical rather than emotional reasons", was stronger for women compared to men. These findings suggest that dietary restraint and emotional eating may serve as barriers in the implementation of an intuitive eating style, especially for women. Prevention and intervention efforts should target those high in dietary restraint and emotional eating.

Body dissatisfaction and disordered eating in Native American, Hispanic, and White College Women.

PURPOSE: The sociocultural model of eating disorders asserts that societies which emphasize the thin-ideal have higher rates of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating. Recent research questions the related presumption that non-White cultures value a larger ideal female and thus have lower rates of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating. The limited research on these constructs in racial/ethnic minorities primarily has used non-validated instruments. The current study investigated rates of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating with validated, widely used measures. METHODS: Measures of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating were completed by 896 college women in the United States: 473 Hispanics, 341 non-Hispanic whites, and 82 Native Americans. RESULTS: Although Native Americans and Hispanics had higher body mass indices (and larger ideal shapes) than White women, the groups had similar body dissatisfaction scores. Native Americans reported somewhat less restricted eating compared to White women. When controlling for body mass index and age, group differences on body dissatisfaction emerged and the group differences in eating disorder symptoms became more pronounced, with White women showing more pathology. Reliability and validity across groups were good. CONCLUSIONS: This study offers some support for the sociocultural model of eating disorders and provides mean scores for Native American and Hispanic females on widely-used eating disorder measures. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level V, cross-sectional descriptive study.

Evaluating the effectiveness of ecological momentary assessment and intervention targeting body checking behaviors.

This study investigated the efficacy of using ecological momentary assessment and intervention (EMA/EMI) to target body checking behaviors. Body checking has been shown to increase body dissatisfaction and play a role in eating disorders, but few treatments specifically targeting body checking have been empirically evaluated. Forty-four female undergraduates who reported engaging in frequent body checking behaviors participated in a five-day study wherein they were assessed five times a day via smart phone. On the final two days of the study, intervention messages were sent containing cognitive-behavioral strategies for decreasing body checking. Body checking behaviors increased within each day, but decreased across the five day intervention period. Pretest to posttest analyses found healthy improvements in a number of body image related constructs. These results highlight that 1) body checking appears to increase throughout the day, and 2) targeting body checking behaviors through brief EMA/EMI may be a useful clinical tool.

What does self-reported "dieting" mean? Evidence from a daily diary study of behavior.

Dieting is often recommended as a means of weight loss, yet research consistently shows that self-reported dieting does not result in weight loss. Toward resolving this discrepancy, this study assessed the daily dietary intake and weight control strategies of people who self-identified as dieting. College women (N = 266) provided a report of their eating pattern (dieting, "watching what I eat," and/or "eating healthy") followed by three daily diaries (24-hour recalls of dietary intake and weight control strategies) elicited on randomly selected days during a one-month period. Dieters were expected to report fewer daily calories, more daily exercise, and more daily weight control strategies than non-dieters. At baseline, 122 participants (45.9%) endorsed both "watching" and "eating healthy" ("Concerned Eaters") while 55 (20.7%) endorsed current dieting along with "watching" and "eating healthy" ("Dieters"). Just 3 (1.1%) endorsed dieting only, and 31 (11.7%) endorsed no eating pattern ("Unconcerned Eaters"). Dieters' mean BMI was in the overweight range; the mean BMIs of other groups were in the normal weight range. Dieters did not consistently endorse dieting across diaries. Nevertheless, Dieters reported fewer daily calories, and more overall weight control strategies, including more healthy weight control strategies, than Concerned Eaters. Across groups, participants' weights did not change significantly during the study. Dieters appear to engage in weight control strategies which could result in weight loss; however, their reports of whether they are dieting vary across days, suggesting a need for more consistent behavior. These results have clinical and research implications in the area of weight loss.

Care Partner Perspectives on the Use of a Patient Portal Intervention to Promote Care Partner Identification in Dementia Care.

Care partners are crucial to supporting the complex health needs of older adults with dementia, but they are not systematically identified in care delivery. As part of a real-world implementation project in geriatric primary care, we adapted a portal-based agenda setting intervention, OurNotes, by incorporating items to help care partners self-identify. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with care partners (N = 15) who completed the adapted OurNotes to explore their perceptions of the tool (usability, benefits, and challenges) and recommendations for refinement. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Benefits included enhancing care partners' preparedness for the visit and opening a direct channel to express concerns about patients' cognition and memory loss to clinicians. Challenges pertained to clinician responsiveness; recommendations focused on enabling the submitted OurNotes responses to be edited and updated by multiple care partners. Such refinements may help to maximize the impact of adapted OurNotes' and potential for future implementation and dissemination.

Development and psychometric evaluation of an empirically-derived daily checklist of weight control: Consumption-reduction strategies and health-focused strategies in college students.

Objective: Many college women report engaging in weight control strategies, yet little is known about which strategies are used and how often. The current study's goal was to evaluate the factor structure of a comprehensive list of weight control behaviors used in the previous 24-hours. Participants: Undergraduate women (N = 286) were recruited from a southwestern university. Methods: Participants reported their weight control strategies for the previous 24 hours on a checklist compiled from previous studies. Results: Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses indicated that a 14-item, 2-factor ("Consumption-reduction", "Health-focused" Strategies) structure was a good fit of the data. Tests of longitudinal measurement invariance found support for using the checklist to make meaningful comparisons across time. Conclusions: This study developed a checklist of past 24-hour weight-control strategy usage, thereby providing a step toward developing an instrument that may be used for weight control or early intervention for disordered eating.

Racial Disparities in Post-Acute Home Health Care Referral and Utilization among Older Adults with Diabetes.

Racial and ethnic disparities exist in diabetes prevalence, health services utilization, and outcomes including disabling and life-threatening complications among patients with diabetes. Home health care may especially benefit older adults with diabetes through individualized education, advocacy, care coordination, and psychosocial support for patients and their caregivers. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between race/ethnicity and hospital discharge to home health care and subsequent utilization of home health care among a cohort of adults (age 50 and older) who experienced a diabetes-related hospitalization. The study was limited to patients who were continuously enrolled in Medicare for at least 12 months and in the United States. The cohort (n = 786,758) was followed for 14 days after their diabetes-related index hospitalization, using linked Medicare administrative, claims, and assessment data (2014-2016). Multivariate logistic regression models included patient demographics, comorbidities, hospital length of stay, geographic region, neighborhood deprivation, and rural/urban setting. In fully adjusted models, hospital discharge to home health care was significantly less likely among Hispanic (OR 0.8, 95% CI 0.8-0.8) and American Indian (OR 0.8, CI 0.8-0.8) patients compared to White patients. Among those discharged to home health care, all non-white racial/ethnic minority patients were less likely to receive services within 14-days. Future efforts to reduce racial/ethnic disparities in post-acute care outcomes among patients with a diabetes-related hospitalization should include policies and practice guidelines that address structural racism and systemic barriers to accessing home health care services.

Timing of Home Health Care Initiation and 30-Day Rehospitalizations among Medicare Beneficiaries with Diabetes by Race and Ethnicity.

Older adults with diabetes are at elevated risk of complications following hospitalization. Home health care services mitigate the risk of adverse events and facilitate a safe transition home. In the United States, when home health care services are prescribed, federal guidelines require they begin within two days of hospital discharge. This study examined the association between timing of home health care initiation and 30-day rehospitalization outcomes in a cohort of 786,734 Medicare beneficiaries following a diabetes-related index hospitalization admission during 2015. Of these patients, 26.6% were discharged to home health care. To evaluate the association between timing of home health care initiation and 30-day rehospitalizations, multivariate logistic regression models including patient demographics, clinical and geographic variables, and neighborhood socioeconomic variables were used. Inverse probability-weighted propensity scores were incorporated into the analysis to account for potential confounding between the timing of home health care initiation and the outcome in the cohort. Compared to the patients who received home health care within the recommended first two days, the patients who received delayed services (3-7 days after discharge) had higher odds of rehospitalization (OR, 1.28; 95% CI, 1.25-1.32). Among the patients who received late services (8-14 days after discharge), the odds of rehospitalization were four times greater than among the patients receiving services within two days (OR, 4.12; 95% CI, 3.97-4.28). Timely initiation of home health care following diabetes-related hospitalizations is one strategy to improve outcomes.

The Bulimia Test-Revised (BULIT-R): Psychometric properties in a non-clinical sample of White and Latina college women.

The Bulimia Test-Revised (BULIT-R) is a measure of bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder symptoms. While this measure can serve as a useful screening tool, the validity of the BULIT-R in White and Latina samples is uncertain. Previous research has proposed several different BULIT-R factor structures, but has yet to find consistent support for a measurement model or to test measurement invariance. To address this gap, the current study attempted to examine the factor structure and measurement invariance of the BULIT-R among 699 non-clinical White (40.9%) and Latina (59.1%) undergraduate women. Analyses indicated that none of the previously published factor structures in adult samples of the BULIT-R were an acceptable fit in either Latina or White undergraduates. These findings further underscore difficulties in replicating the BULIT-R factor structure, even when using similar sample characteristics to those in the literature. Given the lack of an adequate fitting measurement model, tests of measurement invariance were not conducted. In the absence of measurement invariance of the BULIT-R, there is uncertainty regarding group comparisons, such as whether group differences reflect true differences or are artifacts of measurement error. This study highlights the need for additional psychometric investigation of the BULIT-R. The focus should be on diverse groups as well as non-clinical samples, with the latter being less likely to endorse extreme eating behaviors. Special consideration should be given to the number of items included in the measurement model and the number of indicators per latent factor. Caution should be exercised when interpreting scores on this instrument.

The Relationship Between Past Experience, Empathy, and Attitudes Toward Poverty.

BACKGROUND: Nursing educators commonly place service-learning and simulation experiences in prelicensure public health nursing courses. These experiences have varying degrees of success in targeting gaps in students' knowledge and attitudes regarding vulnerable populations. This study sought to identify factors that are associated with attitudes toward poverty and empathy scores of senior-level prelicensure nursing students to improve pedagogy in public health nursing courses. METHOD: A cross-sectional comparison of senior-level nursing students from traditional and accelerated cohorts at a college of nursing was conducted. RESULTS: Students with prior volunteer experience reported lower empathy scores compared with students who did not have prior volunteer experience (t[102] = -1.9, p < .05). CONCLUSION: Nursing educators should engage students in identifying and evaluating their personal background related to poverty when beginning a public health nursing course to address bias and create shared knowledge. [J Nurs Educ. 2020;59(3):158-162.].

Psychometric evaluation of the power of food scale in a diverse college sample: Measurement invariance across gender, ethnicity, and weight status.

The Power of Food Scale (PFS) is an instrument designed to examine individual differences in the drive to eat for pleasure (as opposed to in response to physiological hunger) and the effect of living in an obesogenic environment. Previous research supports the validity and reliability of the PFS, however, it had yet to be validated in an ethnically diverse college sample. The purpose of the current study was to test the factor structure and measurement invariance of the PFS across gender, ethnicity, and weight status. A sample of 432 college students completed the PFS (males=113, females = 319; non-Hispanic white=181, Hispanic=251; non-overweight=302, overweight=130). Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test a second-order, 3-factor (food available, food present, food tasted) structure of the PFS in each group separately (males, females, Hispanic, non-Hispanic white, non-overweight, and overweight) and tests of measurement invariance were conducted to test the equivalency of the measure across gender, ethnicity, and weight status. Results supported the measure's original factor structure (second-order, 3-factor model) and indicated that the measure is equivalent across each of these groups, respectively. Although the small, unbalanced groups may impact the stability of the findings, the results nonetheless suggest that the PFS is a psychometrically valid measure in a diverse college sample, and that mean comparisons on this measure are meaningful across gender, ethnicity, and weight status. Given the measurement invariance of the PFS, there is support for use of the PFS among diverse college students in future work.

Outpatient treatment suite: a safe and cost-effective venue to perform myringotomy and tubes placement in children.

CONTEXT: Otitis media (OM) is the most common reason that a child undergoes a general anesthetic, with the total costs of treating this disease exceeding five billion dollars annually. Concerns regarding the development of antibiotic-resistant organisms in response to medical treatment for OM have fueled the demand for surgical intervention. However, reimbursements are decreasing. Non-traditional settings for children requiring bilateral myringotomy and tube (BMT) placement for ear disease have the potential to offer the same degree of patient safety and improved efficiency but at lower cost. OBJECTIVE: To develop a non-traditional setting for BMT surgery that is safe, cost effective, and well received by patients, families and staff. DESIGN: Prospective design of an outpatient treatment suite (OTS) for BMT placement; prospective evaluation of safety and family satisfaction; analysis of costs. SETTING: A 778 bed US urban area level one trauma center and teaching hospital, with a 2160 ft(2) electro-convulsive therapy suite that was underutilized and non-revenue generating on Tuesdays and Thursdays. PARTICIPANTS: A design task force of health care providers, administrators and operations personnel; 794 healthy children between the ages of 6 months to 16 years requiring BMT surgery; 100 families of patients. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Financial comparison was made between the traditional operating room (OR) setting, the outpatient surgery center (SC) and the OTS comparing overhead and indirect costs to run each site. A prospective survey was conducted of 100 consecutive patients undergoing surgery between November 2000 and June 2001. The survey was conducted at the 2 weeks postoperative check and was composed of 18 questions divided into five sections, with a 5-point rating scheme, with one being very poor, and five being very good. RESULTS: Designing a new treatment venue was successful because of teamwork and a willingness to think creatively. The OTS was found to be far more cost-effective than both the main OR and SC for BMTs. The contribution to margin for the SC was US$ 280 per case and for the main OR was US$ 2130 per case. By operating on 794 patients in OTS, the hospital was able to generate additional contribution to margin of US$ 197,100 when compared to the cost of performing these cases in the SC and US$ 1,499,500 when compared to performing all cases in the main OR. No adverse consequences were noted. Patient/Family satisfaction was also rated very high, with an overall rating of 4.85 and markedly reduced time in hospital. CONCLUSION: Operating rooms (ORs) today are busier than in years past, but revenues barely meet or in some cases fall below expenses due to insurers' decreased reimbursement. This innovative approach to BMT placement has been shown to be safe and results in excellent family satisfaction, with a substantial contribution to margin. As over one million BMT cases are performed annually in the US, adoption of this approach nationally has the potential to markedly reduce the treatment costs of this common disease.