Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

L V Rubenstein

Publications and source records attributed to L V Rubenstein.

54 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1990

Measuring quality of care with explicit process criteria before and after implementation of the DRG-based prospective payment system.

We developed explicit process criteria and scales for Medicare patients hospitalized with congestive heart failure, myocardial infarction, pneumonia, cerebrovascular accident, and hip fracture. We applied the process scales to a nationally representative sample of 14,012 patients hospitalized before and after the implementation of the diagnosis related group-based prospective payment system. For the four medical diseases, a better process of care resulted in lower mortality rates 30 days after admission. Patients in the upper quartile of process scores had a 30-day mortality rate 5% lower than that of patients in the lower quartile. The process of care improved after the introduction of the prospective payment system; eg, better nursing care after the introduction of the prospective payment system was associated with an expected decrease in 30-day mortality rates in pneumonia patients of 0.8 percentage points, and better physician cognitive performance was associated with an expected decrease in 30-day mortality rates of 0.4 percentage points. Overall, process improvements across all four medical conditions were associated with a 1 percentage point reduction in 30-day mortality rates after the introduction of the prospective payment system.

Aged↗
PubMed1990

Comparing outcomes of care before and after implementation of the DRG-based prospective payment system.

We compared patient outcomes before and after the introduction of the diagnosis related groups (DRG)-based prospective payment system (PPS) in a nationally representative sample of 14,012 Medicare patients hospitalized in 1981 through 1982 and 1985 through 1986 with one of five diseases. For the five diseases combined; length of stay dropped 24% and in-hospital mortality declined from 16.1% to 12.6% after the PPS was introduced (P less than .05). Thirty-day mortality adjusted for sickness at admission was 1.1% lower than before (16.5% pre-PPS, 15.4% post-PPS; P less than .05), and 180-day adjusted mortality was essentially unchanged at 29.6% pre-vs 29.0% post-PPS (P less than .05). For patients admitted to the hospital from home, 4% more patients were not discharged home post-PPS than pre-PPS (P less than .05), and an additional 1% of patients had prolonged nursing home stays (P less than .05). The introduction of the PPS was not associated with a worsening of outcome for hospitalized Medicare patients. However, because our post-PPS data are from 1985 and 1986, we recommend that clinical monitoring be maintained to ensure that changes in prospective payment do not negatively affect patient outcome.

Diagnosis-Related Groups↗
PubMed1990

Quality of care before and after implementation of the DRG-based prospective payment system. A summary of effects.

In this series we have described changes in the quality of care that have occurred in the treatment of hospitalized elderly Medicare patients with one of five conditions between 1981-1982 and 1985-1986. In this article we report on a mortality analysis, patient and hospital subgroup comparisons, and time series studies we have conducted in an attempt to determine whether changes in quality of care can be linked causally to the introduction of the prospective payment system. Based on these analyses we conclude that (1) mortality following hospitalization has been unaffected by the introduction of the prospective payment system, and improvements in in-hospital processes of care that began prior to the prospective payment system have continued after its introduction, but (2) the prospective payment system has increased the likelihood that a patient will be discharged home in an unstable condition. We recommend that efforts to correct this problem be intensified and that clinical monitoring of the impact of the prospective payment system continue as hospital cost-containment pressures intensify.

Continuity of Patient Care↗
PubMed1990

Changes in quality of care for five diseases measured by implicit review, 1981 to 1986.

We measured quality of care before and after implementation of the prospective payment system. We developed a structured implicit review form and applied it to a sample of 1366 Medicare patients with congestive heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, pneumonia, cerebrovascular accident, or hip fracture who were hospitalized in 1981-1982 or 1985-1986. Very poor quality of care was associated with increased death rates 30 days after admission (17% with very good care died vs 30% with very poor care). The quality of medical care improved between 1981-1982 and 1985-1986 (from 25% receiving poor or very poor care to 12%), although more patients were judged to have been discharged too soon and in unstable condition (7% vs 4%). Except for discharge planning processes, the quality of hospital care has continued to improve for Medicare patients despite, or because of, the introduction of the prospective payment system with its accompanying professional review organization review.

Aged↗
PubMed1990

Prospective payment system and impairment at discharge. The 'quicker-and-sicker' story revisited.

Since the introduction of the prospective payment system (PPS), anecdotal evidence has accumulated that patients are leaving the hospital "quicker and sicker." We developed valid measures of discharge impairment and measured these levels in a nationally representative sample of patients with one of five conditions prior to and following the PPS implementation. Instability at discharge (important clinical problems usually first occurring prior to discharge) predicted the likelihood of postdischarge deaths. At 90 days postdischarge, 16% of patients discharged unstable were dead vs 10% of patients discharged stable. After the PPS introduction, instability increased primarily among patients discharged home. Prior to the PPS, 10% of patients discharged home were unstable; after the PPS was implemented, 15% were discharged unstable, a 43% relative change. Efforts to monitor the effect of this increase in discharge instability on health should be implemented.

Aged↗
PubMed1989

Improving patient function: a randomized trial of functional disability screening.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: To test whether a 34-item functional status questionnaire measuring physical, psychological, and social function can be used by physicians in practice to help improve their patients' outcomes. DESIGN: Prospective randomized trial. SETTING: Community internal medicine practices. PATIENTS: Five hundred and ten continuing patients with functional disabilities who saw their physicians at least four times a year. PHYSICIANS: Seventy-six UCLA clinical volunteer faculty who are internists in community office practices. INTERVENTIONS: Physicians and their patients were randomly assigned to the experimental or the control group. Experimental group physicians attended a 2-hour multimedia educational session and received four functional status reports on each of their study patients over a 1-year period. Control group physicians received no education and no functional status feedback. Control group and experimental group patients were tested for functional status with the functional status questionnaire every 4 months for 1 year. Both groups also completed monthly diaries that measured use of health services. Experimental group physicians answered an anonymous evaluation questionnaire at 6 months after study entry. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Forty-three percent of experimental group physicians reported that they had used the functional status questionnaire to change therapy. Ninety-five percent reported that it was useful and accurate. Patient diaries did not show any difference between experimental group patients and control group patients in number of medications used, visits to physicians or other health professionals, equipment purchased, diet, or exercise programs. There were no significant differences between experimental and control group patients at exit from the study on any functional status or health outcome measure. CONCLUSION: A more powerful intervention than a 2-hour educational session and the regular provision of functional status information is needed to help office-based internists improve patient outcomes.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1988

Participation of volunteer faculty members in education research projects.

Physicians in private practice who are also volunteer clinical faculty members are a recognized resource for teaching and patient care at teaching hospitals. Clinical faculty members have seldom been included in education research despite the frequent complaint from community practitioners that the results from studies at teaching hospitals are not applicable to community practice. The authors report on a study involving volunteer clinical faculty members in a randomized education trial to improve patients' everyday functioning. Seventy-six clinical faculty physicians in office practice of internal medicine participated. At the end of the study the physician participants were asked to complete an evaluation questionnaire concerning the appropriateness of clinical faculty members' participation in such research projects. Ninety-five percent said the experiment was appropriate, and 88 percent would participate again.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1983

Who is the primary physician?

Several studies have concluded that specialists form a hidden system for primary-care delivery. However, these studies assume that a specialist who provides the majority of care is the primary-care physician. Using data for a one-year period from 2752 people enrolled in the Rand Health Insurance Experiment, we examined the validity of this conclusion. We compared the effects of three different definitions of a primary-care physician on identification of the primary-care provider: the physician who delivered the "majority of care" (34 per cent were specialists), the physician designated by the patient to receive the results of a multiphasic-screening examination (12 per cent were specialists), and the physician who treated common problems (9 per cent were specialists). Use of the "majority-of-care" criterion to define primary care overestimated by threefold the contribution specialists make to this activity. Definitions of a primary-care physician must be more specific and should include the tasks frequently associated with primary care, as well as patients' perceptions of the physician who provides their primary care.

Appointments and Schedules↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Quality of care for primary care patients with depression in managed care.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the process and quality of care for primary care patients with depression under managed care organizations. METHOD: Surveys of 1204 outpatients with depression at the time of and after a visit to 1 of 181 primary care clinicians from 46 primary care clinics in 7 managed care organizations. Patients had depressive symptoms in the previous 30 days, with or without a 12-month depressive disorder by diagnostic interview. Process indicators were depression counseling, mental health referral, or psychotropic medication management at index visit and the use of appropriate antidepressant medication during the last 6 months. RESULTS: Of patients with depressive disorder and recent symptoms, 29% to 43% reported a depression-specific process of care in the index visit, and 35% to 42% used antidepressant medication in appropriate dosages in the prior 6 months. Patients with depressive disorders rather than symptoms only and those with comorbid anxiety had higher rates of depression-specific processes and quality of care (P < .005). Recurrent depression, suicidal ideation, and alcohol abuse were not uniquely associated with such rates. Patients visiting for old problems or checkups received more depression-specific care than those with new problems or unscheduled visits. The 7 managed care organizations varied by a factor of 2-fold in rates of depression counseling and appropriate anti-depressant use. CONCLUSIONS: Rates of process and quality of care for depression as reported by patients are moderate to low in managed primary care practices. Such rates are higher for patients with more severe forms of depression or with comorbid anxiety, but not for those with severe but "silent" symptoms like suicide ideation. Visit context factors, such as whether the visit is scheduled, affect rates of depression-specific care. Rates of care for depression are highly variable among managed care organizations, emphasizing the need for process monitoring and quality improvement for depression at the organizational level.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

In pursuit of the abnormal serum alkaline phosphatase: a clinical dilemma.

The serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) is often included among the tests used for case-finding among ambulatory patients. To determine the positive predictive value of the ALP, test results for all adults screened by a health maintenance organization between March and December 1969 were obtained by computer. The authors reviewed the charts of all 661 patients with abnormal tests whose primary source of medical care was at this facility. Complete two-year follow-up data were available for 91% of these patients. There were 56 patients (9%) with a diagnosis that could have explained an abnormal ALP. Of those cases in which ALP would have been clinically useful all but one could have been diagnosed by a simple, noninvasive workup, and in that one case, no management change would have occurred. The authors conclude that in the absence of a small number of specific indications, extensive testing need not be performed to evaluate an isolated abnormal ALP obtained from a screening examination.

Alcoholism↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The Functional Status Questionnaire: reliability and validity when used in primary care.

A comprehensive functional assessment requires thorough and careful inquiry, which is difficult to accomplish in most busy clinical practices. This paper examines the reliability and validity of the Functional Status Questionnaire (FSQ), a brief, standardized, self-administered questionnaire designed to provide a comprehensive and feasible assessment of physical, psychological, social and role function in ambulatory patients. The FSQ can be completed and computer-scored in minutes to produce a one-page report which includes six summated-rating scale scores and six single-item scores. The clinician can use this report both to screen for and to monitor patients' functional status. In this study, the FSQ was administered to 497 regular users of Boston's Beth Israel Hospital's Healthcare Associates and 656 regular users of 76 internal medicine practices in Los Angeles. The data demonstrate that the FSQ produces reliable sub-scales with construct validity. The authors believe the FSQ addresses many of the problems behind the slow diffusion into primary care of systematic functional assessment.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The Quality Improvement for Depression collaboration: general analytic strategies for a coordinated study of quality improvement in depression care.

It is difficult to evaluate the promise of primary care quality-improvement interventions for depression because published studies have evaluated diverse interventions by using different research designs in dissimilar populations. Preplanned meta-analysis provides an alternative to derive more precise and generalizable estimates of intervention effects; however, this approach requires the resolution of analytic challenges resulting from design differences that threaten internal and external validity. This paper describes the four-project Quality Improvement for Depression (QID) collaboration specifically designed for preplanned meta-analysis of intervention effects on outcomes. This paper summarizes the interventions the four projects tested, characterizes commonalities and heterogeneity in the research designs used to evaluate these interventions, and discusses the implications of this heterogeneity for preplanned meta-analysis.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Evidence-based care for depression in managed primary care practices.

This paper evaluates whether externally designed, evidence-based interventions for improving care for depression can be locally implemented in managed care organizations. The interventions were carried out as part of a randomized trial involving forty-six practices within six diverse, nonacademic managed care plans. Based on evaluation of adherence to the intervention protocol, we determined that local practice leaders are able to implement predesigned interventions for improving depression care. Adherence rates for most key intervention activities were above 70 percent, and many were near 100 percent. Three intervention activities fell short of the goal of 70 percent implementation and should be targets for future improvement.

Depressive Disorder↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Anatomy of an outpatient visit. An evaluation of clinic efficiency in general and subspecialty clinics.

The time spent in outpatient visits to a Veteran's Administration medical center was measured to determine clinic efficiency. Patient flow through the outpatient department of the medical center was studied to: 1) evaluate how time is spent in VA outpatient settings as compared to non-VA outpatient settings, including waiting time, checking of vital signs, seeing the doctor, etc., 2) develop a baseline to gauge the comparison of the effects of management changes; and 3) develop a mechanism for collecting clinic activity efficiency.

Appointments and Schedules↗