Improving Interorganizational Coordination Between Primary Care and Oncology: Adapting a Chronic Care Management Model for Patients With Cancer.

The objective of this study was to explore the implementation of a payment and delivery system innovation to improve coordination and communication between primary care and oncology. We employed a qualitative case study approach, conducting interviews (n = 18), and reviewing archival materials. Chronic care coordinators and the cancer center social worker acted as boundary spanners. The chronic care coordinator role built on medical home infrastructure, applying the chronic care model to cancer care. Coordination from primary care to oncology became more routinized, with information sharing prompted by specific events. These new boundary spanner roles enabled greater coordination around uncertain and interdependent tasks. Recommendations for scaling up include the following: establish systematic approaches to learning from implementation, leverage existing capacity for scalability, and attend to the content and purpose of information sharing.

Embryo donation: Survey of in-vitro fertilization (IVF) patients and randomized trial of complimentary counseling.

DESIGN: This study surveyed patients with stored frozen embryos and developed and tested an intervention through a randomized trial to support subjects to consider embryo disposition options (EDOs), especially donation for family building. METHODS: Based on a review of literature on EDOs, the authors developed and mailed a 2-page anonymous survey to 1,053 patients in Massachusetts (USA) to elicit their feelings about their stored embryos. Target patients had embryos cryopreserved for ≥1 year and had not indicated an EDO. Survey respondents were next randomized between usual care (control arm) or an offer of complimentary counseling and educational support regarding EDOs. These counseling sessions were conducted by a licensed mental health professional specializing in infertility treatment. RESULTS: Despite telephone reminders, only 21.3% of patients responded, likely reflecting most patients' reluctance to address EDOs. Respondents endorsed an average of 2 of the 5 EDOs, with the following percentages supporting each option: store for future attempts (82%), continue storage (79%), donate to research (29%), discard (14%), and donate for family building (13%). When asked their opinions towards embryo donation to another couple, 78% of patients agreed that donation is a way to help another couple, 48% would consider embryo donation to another family if they had a better understanding of the process, and 38% would be willing to consider donation if they were not going to use the embryos themselves, but 73% expressed discomfort with donation. In the randomized trial, 7.8% of intervention subjects (n = 8) obtained counseling sessions compared to 0.0% (none) of usual care subjects (p = 0.0069). Counseling participants valued not only discussing EDOs, but also assistance in expressing their feelings and differences with their partners. CONCLUSION: Improvement in counseling rates over the control arm suggests that free professional counseling is a small, but likely effective, step towards deciding on an EDO. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01883934 (Frozen embryo donation study).

Use of cardiac rehabilitation by Medicare beneficiaries after myocardial infarction or coronary bypass surgery.

BACKGROUND: Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is effective in prolonging survival and reducing disability in patients with coronary heart disease. However, national use patterns and predictors of CR use have not been evaluated thoroughly. METHODS AND RESULTS: Using Medicare claims, we analyzed outpatient (phase II) CR use after hospitalizations for acute myocardial infarctions or coronary artery bypass graft surgery in 267,427 fee-for-service beneficiaries aged > or = 65 years who survived for at least 30 days after hospital discharge. We used multivariable analyses to identify predictors of CR use and to quantify geographic variations in its use. We obtained unadjusted, adjusted-smoothed, and standardized rates of CR use by state. Overall, CR was used in 13.9% of patients hospitalized for acute myocardial infarction and 31.0% of patients who underwent coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Older individuals, women, nonwhites, and patients with comorbidities (including congestive heart failure, previous stroke, diabetes mellitus, or cancer) were significantly less likely to receive CR. Coronary artery bypass graft surgery during the index hospitalization, higher median household income, higher level of education, and shorter distance to the nearest CR facility were important predictors of higher CR use. Adjusted CR use varied 9-fold among states, ranging from 6.6% in Idaho to 53.5% in Nebraska. The highest CR use rates were clustered in the north central states of the United States. CONCLUSIONS: CR use is relatively low among Medicare beneficiaries despite convincing evidence of its benefits and recommendations for its use by professional organizations. Use is higher after coronary artery bypass graft surgery than with acute myocardial infarctions not treated with revascularization procedures and varies dramatically by state and region of the United States.

Use of forensic DNA evidence in prosecutors'offices.

This article reports on a survey of DNA-related practices and procedures within District Attorneys' offices to obtain preliminary information about actual prosecutorial practices. The data obtained is preliminary but supportive of further study of areas targeted by the survey.

Effects of Expanded Coverage for Chiropractic Services on Medicare Costs in a CMS Demonstration.

BACKGROUND: Moderately convincing evidence supports the benefits of chiropractic manipulations for low back pain. Its effectiveness in other applications is less well documented, and its cost-effectiveness is not known. These questions led the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) to conduct a two-year demonstration of expanded Medicare coverage for chiropractic services in the treatment of beneficiaries with neuromusculoskeletal (NMS) conditions affecting the back, limbs, neck, or head. METHODS: The demonstration was conducted in 2005-2007 in selected counties of Illinois, Iowa, and Virginia and the entire states of Maine and New Mexico. Medicare claims were compiled for the preceding year and two demonstration years for the demonstration areas and matched comparison areas. The impact of the demonstration was analyzed through multivariate regression analysis with a difference-in-difference framework. RESULTS: Expanded coverage increased Medicare expenditures by $50 million or 28.5% in users of chiropractic services and by $114 million or 10.4% in all patients treated for NMS conditions in demonstration areas during the two-year period. Results varied widely among demonstration areas ranging from increased costs per user of $485 in Northern Illinois and Chicago counties to decreases in costs per user of $59 in New Mexico and $178 in Scott County, Iowa. CONCLUSION: The demonstration did not assess possible decreases in costs to other insurers, out-of-pocket payments by patients, the need for and costs of pain medications, or longer term clinical benefits such as avoidance of orthopedic surgical procedures beyond the two-year period of the demonstration. It is possible that other payers or beneficiaries saved money during the demonstration while costs to Medicare were increased.

Research to practice: a national consensus conference.

PURPOSE: To gain consensus on aspects of the process of gaining consent for organ donation that should be mainstream daily practice. METHODS: A 3-day consensus conference of transplant professionals that provided a forum for research and innovative ideas about gaining consent for organ donation. Four work groups were assembled to address issues of gaining consent from organ and tissue donors: (1) demystifying first-person consent (donor authorization): is it a matter of law?, (2) recovery coordinators: getting from green to great, (3) maximizing the process: old views and new, and (4) donor family support: mother or smother? RESULTS: Participants reached a consensus about major consent-related practices, identified areas of practice variance, and defined topics in need of further research. CONCLUSIONS: The conference participants agreed that (1) the primary role of the organ procurement organization is to recover organs for transplantation from deceased donors and to facilitate distribution of those organs to the appropriate recipients; (2) early referral of potential donors from the hospital to the organ procurement organization is desirable; (3) a score less than 5 on the Glasgow Coma Scale should initiate end-of-life discussions with family members; a procurement coordinator from the organ procurement organization who is physically housed within the hospital is the most successful model for accommodating early referral of potential donors and optimizing family support practices; and (3) a decedent's right to donate should take precedence in the donation process and such designation by the donor before death is irrevocable and does not require the consent or concurrence of any person after the donor's death.

Financial incentives for cadaver organ donation: an ethical reappraisal.

A panel of ethicists, organ procurement organization executives, physicians, and surgeons was convened by the sponsorship of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons to determine whether an ethically acceptable pilot trial could be proposed to provide a financial incentive for a family to consent to the donation of organs from a deceased relative. An ethical methodology was developed that could be applied to any proposal for monetary compensation to elucidate its ethical acceptability. An inverse relationship between financial incentives for increasing the families' consent for cadaver donation that clearly would be ethically acceptable (e.g., a contribution to a charity chosen by the family or a reimbursement for funeral expenses) and those approaches that would more likely increase the rate of donation (e.g., direct payment or tax incentive) was evident. The panel was unanimously opposed to the exchange of money for cadaver donor organs because either a direct payment or tax incentive would violate the ideal standard of altruism in organ donation and unacceptably commercialize the value of human life by commodifying donated organs. However, a majority of the panel members supported reimbursement for funeral expenses or a charitable contribution as an ethically permissible approach. The panel concluded that the concept of the organ as a gift could be sustained by a funeral reimbursement or charitable contribution that conveyed the appreciation of society to the family for their donation. Depending on the amount of reimbursement provided for funeral expenses, this approach could be ethically distinguished from a direct payment, by their intrusion into the realm of altruism and voluntariness. We suggest that a pilot project be conducted to determine whether this kind of a financial incentive would be acceptable to the public and successful in increasing organ donation.

Managing care for patients with substance abuse disorders at community health centers.

Coordinating medical and substance use disorder (SUD) services is associated with good health and treatment outcomes but it is not widely practiced. This may be due to a lack of real-world models for coordinating care. This study examined the operational practices associated with a sample of community health centers (CHCs) identified as effectively coordinating SUD services relative to other CHCs. Case studies were used to describe the process of identifying patient need and linking patients with SA treatment services, and to generate propositions about operational approaches for effectively coordinating care. Integrating behavioral health staff within the primary care team was identified as especially critical for facilitating key care transitions. Additional operational approaches that aim to improve care transitions within and across care settings were identified. Future study will be needed to understand the significance of these approaches in terms of health and treatment outcomes. On-going coordination activities among primary care and SUD provided for shared patients remained a challenge for all sites.

System-level factors and use of cardiac rehabilitation.

PURPOSE: Despite well-established benefits, only 10% to 20% of eligible candidates in the United States currently use formal cardiac rehabilitation (CR) services. Existing studies identify both patient- and provider-level barriers to physician referral and patient uptake. This study, which was driven by new evidence indicating that utilization rates vary enormously from state to state, within states, and from hospital to hospital, explores the relationship between system-level factors and CR use. METHODS: Using a qualitative design with semistructured questions, we telephone-interviewed both directors of CR facility programs and presidents of CR state associations operating in states with high and low rates of CR use. We explored the political and cultural environment in which CR facilities operate and the technical capacity to secure referrals and convert referrals to enrollment. RESULTS: We identified 4 system-level factors that may help explain regional variation in CR use. These included the degree of automation and assertiveness around securing CR referrals, level of integration of CR within the hospital setting and physician community, relationship to other CR facilities, and capacity constraints. CONCLUSIONS: As some of the identified system-level factors can be altered by public and hospital-level policy, study results suggest opportunities for interventions and directions for future research that could increase the use of CR.