A Semantic Framework for Logical Cross-Validation, Evaluation and Impact Analyses of Population Health Interventions.

Most chronic diseases are a result of a complex web of causative and correlated factors. As a result, effective public health or clinical interventions that intend to generate a sustainable change in these diseases most often use a combination of strategies or programs. To optimize comparative effectiveness evaluations and select the most efficient intervention(s), stakeholders (i.e. public health institutions, policy-makers and advocacy groups, practitioners, insurers, clinicians, and researchers) need access to reliable assessment methods. Building on the theory of Evidence-Based Public Health (EBPH) we introduce a knowledge-based framework for evaluating the consistency and effectiveness of public health programs, interventions, and policies. We use a semantic inference model that assists decision-makers in finding inconsistencies, identifying selection and information biases, and with identifying confounding and hidden dependencies in different public health programs and interventions. The use of formal ontologies for automatic evaluation and assessment of public health programs improves program transparency to stakeholders and decision makers, which in turn increases buy-in and acceptance of methods, connects multiple evaluation activities, and strengthens cost analysis.

Pediatric drug development programs for type 2 diabetes: A review.

Considerable progress has been made in pediatric drug development. Despite these gains there remain certain therapeutic areas where a high percentage of drugs approved for use in adults do not gain approval for use in children. Lack of sufficient US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved labeling correlates with diminished therapeutic efficacy and increased risk for adverse drug reactions. Despite the increasing prevalence and important clinical challenge with pediatric type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), only 1 drug (metformin) of the first 4 T2DM drugs to complete testing in children gained FDA approval. This analysis reviews 4 pediatric drug development programs for orally administered antidiabetic agents that have undergone FDA review and discusses factors influencing failure to meet specified end points for approval. Recommendations to guide future study are also provided.

Real-time support of pediatric diabetes self-care by a transport team.

OBJECTIVE The study seeks to improve access for underserved patients via novel integration of Pedi-Flite (a critical care transport team) and to validate whether this safely enhances diabetes care and effectively expands the endocrine workforce. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS The study retrospectively analyzed pager service use in a cohort of established diabetic patients (n = 979) after inception of Pedi-Flite support. Outcomes included incidence and severity of recurrent diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) and cost savings generated from reduced referrals to the emergency department (ED) and on-call endocrinologist. We generated descriptive statistics to characterize the study population and ED visits for DKA and constructed logistic regression models to examine associations of pager use and likelihood of ED visitation and nonelective inpatient admission from an ED for DKA. RESULTS Pager users comprised 30% of the patient population. They were younger but had more established diabetes than nonusers. While pager users were 2.75 times more likely than nonusers to visit the ED for DKA (P < 0.0001), their visits were less likely to lead to inpatient admissions (odds ratio 0.58; P < 0.02). More than half (n = 587) of all calls to the pager were resolved without need for further referral. Estimates suggest that 439 ED visits and 115 admissions were avoided at a potential cost savings exceeding 760,000 USD. CONCLUSIONS Integration of a transport service provides a novel, cost-effective approach to reduce disparities in diabetes care. Advantages include scalability, applicability to other disease areas and settings, and low added costs. These findings enrich an emerging evidence base for telephonic care-management models supported by allied health personnel.

Pharmacoeconomic analysis of the diabetes initiative program: a pharmacist-physician collaborative care model.

BACKGROUND: Diabetes treatment cost increased 41% from 2007 to 2011. Pharmacists have provided collaborative diabetes management for decades with improvement in disease-related end points. Few have reported economic benefits of pharmacist management of type 2 diabetes. OBJECTIVE: The purpose was to determine if cost savings associated with hemoglobin A1c (A1C) and systolic blood pressure (SBP) change outweighed programmatic pharmacist-physician collaborative care model costs. METHODS: This cost analysis of a 12 month, prospective, multicenter, observational study included English-speaking adults, 18 years or older, with type 2 diabetes mellitus, a life expectancy >1 year, and either a A1C >7%, SBP >130 mm Hg, diastolic blood pressure >80 mm Hg, or low-density lipoprotein concentration >100 mg/dL. Pregnant patients were excluded. Primary analysis outcome was average cost per outcome, ratio of net cost (numerator) and percentage achieving outcomes (denominator). Assessment outcomes included A1C reduction by at least 1% and SBP reduction by at least 5.6 mm Hg. RESULTS: 206 patients were seen by pharmacists during 1612 encounters (mean = 7.8 encounters/patient). Pharmacists spent 983 hours caring for type 2 diabetes patients (mean 3.8 hours/patient). Base case net labor and program costs per patient were -$66.77 and $106.81, respectively. Improvement in A1C and SBP yielded $421.01 in cost savings per patient. Labor and program average costs per patient for each outcome achieved were -$100.40 and $160.61, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This multisite pharmacist-physician collaboration in diabetes management showed cost savings when assessing pharmacist labor costs alone. Total program costs, including overhead, slightly increased cost of care.

Incremental direct medical expenditures associated with anxiety disorders for the U.S. adult population: evidence from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey.

Data from the 2009 and 2010 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) were used to estimate the annual incremental healthcare expenditures associated with anxiety disorders, for the ambulatory adult population of the U.S. Individuals 18 years and older, who reported a diagnosis of, or had a medical event associated with anxiety disorder(s), were classified as anxiety population. Multivariate regression analyses, using generalized linear models, were conducted to calculate incremental costs associated with anxiety disorders. 8.74% of adult respondents reported being diagnosed with anxiety disorder(s). The annual overall healthcare expenditure associated with anxiety disorders was estimated at $1657.52 per person (SE: $238.83; p<0.001). Inpatient visits, prescription medications, and office-based visits together accounted for almost 93% of the overall cost. Given the prevalence of self-reported anxiety disorders in MEPS, their total direct medical expenditure is estimated at approximately $33.71 billion in 2013 US dollars, meaning this category of mental illnesses absorbs a significant portion of the U.S. healthcare resources.