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Biomedical subjects

C M Clancy

Publications and source records attributed to C M Clancy.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1998

Skepticism toward medical care and health care utilization.

OBJECTIVES: As health care moves toward systems that assume accountability for defined populations, there has been increasing emphasis on developing performance measures for those systems and their providers, with little attention given to patient demand or attitudinal factors. The impact of skepticism toward health care providers on health behavior and health care utilization was assessed using a cross-sectional analysis of data from the 1987 National Medical Expenditure Survey (NMES). METHODS: A nationally representative sample from the United States comprising 18,240 persons 25 years and older was surveyed. Skepticism, defined as doubts about the ability of conventional medical care to appreciably alter one's health status, was assessed through a 4-item scale. Outcome measures included health behavior, access (health care insurance, having a regular source of care, and physician type), utilization (annual number of physician or emergency department visits and hospitalizations), total annual health care expenditures, and preventive health care behavior (having had a Pap smear within 3 years or ever having had a mammogram). RESULTS: In multivariate analyses, skepticism was associated with younger age, white race, lower income, less education, and higher health perceptions. After adjusting for these variables, skepticism was associated with less healthy behavior, with not having health insurance, not having one's own physician, choice of a physician, fewer physician and emergency department visits, less frequent hospitalizations, lower annual health care expenditures, and less prevention compliance. CONCLUSIONS: Medical skepticism represents a relevant patient demand factor that demonstrates significant associations with a variety of health care access and utilization measures with important policy implications.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Changes in usual sources of medical care between 1987 and 1992.

This study is a secondary analysis of data from the 1987 and 1992 National Health Interview Surveys. Analyses compared adults who do not have a usual source of care and those who identified usual sources of care in 1987 and 1992. Between these years, the estimated number of adult Americans without a usual source of care rose from 29.7 to 39.4 million. Adults were 0.75 times less likely to identify a physician's office and 1.8 times more likely to identify an outpatient clinic as that source of care in 1992 than they were in 1987. These changes were observed among Americans of all demographic and socioeconomic backgrounds. Increasing numbers of adult Americans without a usual source of care and shifts in care from physicians' offices to outpatient clinics may reflect deteriorating access to care. This may affect quality and costs of medical care, demanding continued surveillance of sources and access to care.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Emergency medicine in population-based systems of care.

EDs and emergency physicians play a critical role in health care delivery--providing care to those with life-threatening conditions, as well as serving as provider of last resort to those without options for primary care. This diversity of functions provides unique opportunities for identifying important unmet community needs and developing solutions to address these needs. Future challenges for emergency medicine include assessing and improving the quality of care provided within the ED and identifying the role of the ED in systems of care. Health services research can help define the optimal functions of emergency medicine in enhancing population health.

Community Health Planning↗
PubMed1997

Defining primary care. Empirical analysis of the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey.

OBJECTIVES: Efforts to contain health care costs have increased interest in defining which specialties provide primary care and in developing tools to assess the delivery of primary care services. METHODS: Using data from the 1985-1991 National Ambulatory Medical Care Surveys, the authors examined the activities of 29 physician specialty groups to determine whether the recent Institute of Medicine definition of primary care could be operationalized. Ten elements were identified that addressed comprehensiveness (first-contact care, a Herfindahl Index, previous contact for other problems, prevention, and care through the life cycle), coordination (referrals), continuity (any previous contact), and accessibility (care provided to black patients, those on Medicaid, and patients in rural areas). RESULTS: Principal component and factor analyses suggested that each element, except care through the life cycle, contributed to the construct of primary care. Principal component analysis enabled ordering of specialties according to their "primary careness," suggesting that specialties other than family/general practice, pediatrics, and internal medicine make significant contributions to primary care. Factor analysis suggested that two factors related to process and content underlie the definition of primary care and emphasize the importance of integration of services provided. This analysis provides a basis for further empirical work to develop measures of primary care performance. CONCLUSIONS: National surveys need to be modified to provide a more comprehensive assessment of primary care in the United States.

Ambulatory Care↗
PubMed1997

Referrals of adult patients from primary care: demographic disparities and their relationship to HMO insurance.

BACKGROUND: Increasing enrollment in managed care organizations and dissatisfaction with policies to restrict direct access to specialists have intensified interest in referrals from primary care physicians to specialists. We examined the associations of demographic factors and insurance with referrals of adult patients by primary care physicians. METHODS: Office visits of adult patients to primary care physicians (general practitioners, family physicians, and internists) reported in the National Ambulatory Care Survey for the years 1985 through 1992 were used to examine referrals by primary care physicians. Regression analyses were adjusted for patient factors (age, sex, race, insurance, case mix, diagnostic category, new problem or not, new patient or not, and visit length), physician factors (age, sex, specialty, and degree of specialization), and practice factors (proportion of HMO patients, rural location, region, and study year). RESULTS: Overall, 4.5% of patients were referred compared with 7.5% of patients with HMO insurance. After adjustment, an increased likelihood of referral was associated with being a male patient, having fewer medications prescribed, not being seen before for the presenting problem, a longer visit, less physician specialization, seeing a female physician, seeing an internist, and seeing a physician with a greater proportion of patients with HMO insurance. Among patients with HMO insurance, no gender disparity in referral rate was observed, and patients who also had Medicaid or Medicare insurance were more likely to be referred. CONCLUSIONS: Male patients are more likely to be referred. HMO insurance may reduce this gender disparity and increase the access of patients with Medicaid and Medicare to specialty care.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Utilization of specialty and primary care: the impact of HMO insurance and patient-related factors.

BACKGROUND: Appropriate utilization of primary and specialty care has stimulated substantial debate, but the portion of the discussion focused on policies that restrict or discourage direct access to specialists has been largely uninformed by empirical analysis. Using data from the National Ambulatory Care Survey (1985 to 1992 surveys), we examined the associations of patient and physician demographics and health maintenance organization (HMO) insurance status with the utilization of primary compared with specialty care. METHODS: Office visits for adult patients seen by primary care physicians and specialists were analyzed for: (1) patient-initiated utilization of specialists (patient self-referral) compared with that of primary care physicians; and (2) utilization of specialists compared with that of primary care physicians, stratified by HMO insurance status. RESULTS: After multivariate adjustment, patient self-referral was less likely among black patients (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 0.67; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.59 to 0.76), self-pay (AOR = 0.81; 95% CI = 0.74 to 0.88), or patients with Medicaid (AOR = 0.51; 95% CI = 0.43 to 0.61). The proportion of non-HMO patients seeing specialists remained stable (44.9%). For HMO patients, the proportion of total visits made to specialists increased from 27.6% in 1985 to 41.3% in 1991, then dropped to 33.2% in 1992. Disparities in utilization of specialists by women, blacks, and patients with Medicaid observed among non-HMO patients were not found in the HMO population. Specialists were more likely to see HMO patients for follow-up of a known problem, whereas non-HMO patients were more likely to have specialist follow-up visits for new problems. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest greater utilization of specialists by male, white, and privately insured patients. The findings may partially account for disparities in specialty procedure use, and suggest that HMO insurance may reduce some of these disparities. The less frequent and more selective use of specialists among HMO patients suggests an evolving role for specialists in managed care.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Outcomes and effectiveness research in Alzheimer disease.

"Outcomes and effectiveness research" is a relatively new clinical area, although the principles involved are not new. Outcomes and effectiveness research has grown in importance for several reasons. Changes in disease prevalence in the United States have led to more people with chronic disease, for which traditional treatment "success" measures such as cure or death are not relevant, and new measures of effectiveness are needed. In addition, results of clinical trials are not always generalizable, and information is needed about what can be expected in usual treatment circumstances. National interests, such as the desire to control costs, increase patient autonomy, and assure accountability, also are incentives for the outcomes and effectiveness movement. Important characteristics of outcomes and effectiveness research include selection of best measures and relevant domains and matching measures to those who would use the results.

Alzheimer Disease↗
PubMed1996

Cost differences among women's primary care physicians.

A secondary analysis of data from the 1987 National Medical Expenditure Survey revealed that women with distinct demographic and socio-economic characteristics identify different physician specialty groups as their usual source of care. The use of certain physician groups for primary care resulted in higher rates of use and expenditures, particularly for younger women. Identifying an internist, rather than a family/general practitioner or an obstetrician/gynecologist, as a usual source of care placed one at higher odds of making more visits and incurring higher total outpatient costs.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Use of care and subsequent mortality: the importance of gender.

OBJECTIVE: In light of recent discussions on access that have emphasized the need to relate access measures to outcomes, we examined the relationship between three self-reported utilization and access to care measures and the risk of subsequent mortality. DATA SOURCES AND DESIGN: A nationally representative sample from the first National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey that included adults 25-64 years of age without publicly funded health insurance was followed prospectively from initial interview in 1971 through 1975. DATA COLLECTION: Complete baseline and follow-up information was obtained on 4,491 persons (90 percent). Baseline access and use was assessed with answers to three questions: having a usual source of care, obtaining a general checkup, and not obtaining needed care (or forgone care). The relationships between the access and use measures and mortality by 1987 in men and women were examined using survival analyses. The analyses adjusted for race, and for baseline age, education, income, residence, insurance status, employment status, the presence of morbidity on examination, self-rated health, smoking status, leisure exercise, alcohol consumption, and obesity. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: After adjusting for all other baseline variables, not obtaining a general checkup was associated with higher mortality in women (hazard ratio = 1.64 [95% confidence interval = 1.16, 2.32]), but not in men (hazard ratio = 1.07 [95% confidence interval = 0.80, 1.42]). Reporting a usual source of care and forgone care were not related to subsequent mortality in either women or men. CONCLUSIONS: Reporting a general checkup is an outcome-related utilization measure in women only. Further development of access and use indicators should address gender differences in health care use.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

The use of hospital emergency departments for nonurgent health problems: a national perspective.

The use of the hospital emergency department (ED) for nonurgent health problems has been a subject of considerable controversy, in part because there is no widely accepted definition of "nonurgent." Elimination or substantial reduction in nonurgent ED use is frequently offered as a strategy for reducing health expenditures. Previous studies, often limited to individual hospitals or communities, have limited generalizability and do not permit examination of multiple factors likely to influence nonurgent ED utilization or examination of ED use for nonurgent problems in the context of overall outpatient utilization. This analysis of the 1987 National Medical Expenditure Survey (NMES) provides a nationally representative examination of nonurgent ED utilization that describes the frequency of ED use for nonurgent problems, characteristics of individuals that are associated with an increased likelihood of nonurgent ED use, the use of other outpatient physician services, and expenditures associated with nonurgent ED visits.

Cost Control↗
PubMed1993

Health insurance and mortality. Evidence from a national cohort.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between lacking health insurance and the risk of subsequent mortality. DESIGN: Adults older than 25 years who reported they were uninsured or privately insured in the first National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a representative cohort of the US population, were followed prospectively from initial interview in 1971 through 1975 until 1987. PARTICIPANTS: Complete baseline and follow-up information was obtained on 4694 (91%) persons of the 5161 who reported not receiving publicly funded insurance at baseline. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: The relationship between insurance status and subsequent mortality was examined using Cox proportional hazards survival analysis. The analysis adjusted for gender, race, and baseline age, education, income, employment status, the presence of morbidity on examination, self-rated health, smoking status, leisure exercise, alcohol consumption, and obesity. The effects of interactions between insurance and all other baseline variables were also examined. RESULTS: By the end of the follow-up period, 9.6% of the insured and 18.4% of the uninsured had died. After adjustment for all other baseline variables, the hazard ratio for lacking insurance was 1.25 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.00 to 1.55). The effect of insurance on mortality was comparable to that of education, income, and self-rated health. There were no statistically significant (P < .05) interactions. CONCLUSIONS: Lacking health insurance is associated with an increased risk of subsequent mortality, an effect that is evident in all sociodemographic health insurance and mortality groups examined.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Physician gender bias in clinical decisionmaking: screening for cancer in primary care.

There has been increasing interest in gender disparities in clinical decisionmaking. Few studies have examined this issue in nationally representative samples or focussed on primary care. In addition, few of the studies have examined the role of physician gender. The 1987 National Medical Expenditure Survey was used to examine the relationship between physician gender and screening deficiency in women for three gender-sensitive tests (breast examinations, Papanicolaou tests, and mammograms) and one gender-neutral test (blood pressure checks). Women reporting a female physician as their usual provider compared with those reporting a male physician were less likely to be deficient for Papanicolaou tests and mammograms. There was a smaller, but nonsignificant similar trend for breast examinations. No gender bias was evident for blood pressure checks. These results persisted after multivariate adjustment for patient age, race, education, income, insurance status, subjective health status, other health behaviors, and attitude toward health care and health insurance. The results confirm the existence of physician gender bias in clinical decision making and represent one area for quality improvement.

Adult↗