County Smoke-Free Laws and Asthma Discharges: Evidence from 17 US States.

BACKGROUND: Although approximately 82 percent of the US population was covered by some form of law that restricted smoking in public establishments as of 2014, most research examining the relationship between smoke-free laws and health has been focused at the state level. PURPOSE: To examine the effect of county workplace smoke-free laws over and above the effect of other (restaurant or bar) smoke-free laws on adult asthma. METHODS: The study estimated the effect of rates of adult asthma discharges before and after the implementation of county nonhospitality workplace smoke-free laws and county restaurant and bar smoke-free laws. Data were from 2002 to 2009, and all analyses were performed in 2011 through 2013. RESULTS: A statistically significant relationship (-5.43, p < .05) was found between county restaurant or bar smoke-free laws and reductions in working age adult asthma discharges. There was no statistically significant effect of nonhospitality workplace smoke-free laws over and above the effect of county restaurant or bar laws. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that further gains in preventable asthma-related hospitalizations in the US are more likely to be made by focusing on smoke-free laws in bars or restaurants rather than in nonhospitality workplaces.

Whether Health Departments Should Provide Clinical Services After the Implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

I have described a decision support tool that may facilitate local decisions regarding the provision and billing of clinical services. I created a 2 by 2 matrix of health professional shortage and Medicaid expansion availability as of July 2015. I found that health departments in 93% of US counties may still need to provide clinical services despite the institution of the Affordable Care Act. Local context and market conditions should guide health departments' decision to act as safety net providers.

An analysis of relationships among peer support, psychiatric hospitalization, and crisis stabilization.

This study's objective was to investigate how peer support relates to psychiatric hospitalization and crisis stabilization utilization outcomes. The likelihood of experiencing a psychiatric hospitalization or a crisis stabilization was modeled for consumers using peer support services and a control group of consumers using community mental health services but not peer support with 2003 and 2004 Georgia Medicaid claims data; 2003 and 2004 Mental Health, Developmental Disability, and Addictive Diseases (MHDDAD) Community Information System data; and 2003 and 2004 MHDDAD Hospital Information System data. Peer support was associated with an increased likelihood (odds = 1.345) of crisis stabilization, a decreased but statistically insignificant likelihood (odds = 0.871) of psychiatric hospitalization overall, and a decreased and statistically significant (odds = .766) likelihood of psychiatric hospitalization for those who did not have a crisis stabilization episode.

Hospital executive leadership: a critical component for improving care at the end of life.

End-of-life care and its planning by individuals, in concert with their families and professional healthcare givers, pose important social, legal, and ethical issues. The authors evaluate the results of a multi-year (1997-2001) collaborative effort among representatives of Georgia healthcare providers, healthcare payers, and the general public that was designed to (a) improve end-of-life care through a community-focused field effort to increase public awareness, execution, and institutional management of advance directives and (b) impact institutional and state government systems and policies around end-of-life care. The authors conclude that a proactive presence of senior management is integral in implementing systematic change in hospital-based end-of-life care and offer practical recommendations to hospital leaders to affect real change in their institutions.