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Biomedical subjects

N McCall

Publications and source records attributed to N McCall.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1987

Evaluation of Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, 1984-85.

In this article, we describe the evaluation of the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS), Arizona's alternative to the acute care portion of Medicaid. We provide an assessment of implementation of the program's innovative features during its second 18 months of operation, from April 1984 through September 1985. Included in the evaluation are assessments of the administration of the program, provider relations, eligibility, enrollment and marketing, information systems, quality assurance and member satisfaction activities, the relationship of the county governments to AHCCCS, the competitive bidding process, and the plans and their financial status.

Arizona↗
PubMed1986

Consumer knowledge of Medicare and supplemental health insurance benefits.

In this article, data from a recent study funded by the Health Care Financing Administration are used to examine the level of knowledge about health care insurance coverage among Medicare beneficiaries. Two related categories of this knowledge are analyzed: knowledge of the Medicare program itself and knowledge of supplemental health insurance policies owned by program beneficiaries. The results indicate that Medicare beneficiaries typically do not have high levels of knowledge either about Medicare or about their supplemental health insurance. Also analyzed are the factors that affect knowledge levels.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1985

Cardiac prognosis in noncardiac geriatric surgery.

Predictors of perioperative complications, including cardiac death, ventricular tachycardia or fibrillation, and heart failure or myocardial infarction, were assessed in an initial study of 100 patients aged 65 years or older scheduled for elective abdominal or noncardiac thoracic surgery. Preoperative history, results of physical examination, chest roentgenogram, electrocardiogram, laboratory data, Dripps (American Society of Anesthesiologists) class, and Goldman cardiac risk index were compared with rest and exercise radionuclide ventriculograms. Thirteen patients had perioperative cardiac complications, and 6 died. Multivariate analysis showed that an inability to do 2 minutes of bicycle exercise in the supine position to raise the heart rate above 99 beats/min (sensitivity 85%, specificity 64%) gave predictive information not available from clinical or radionuclide data. On prospective testing involving 55 additional geriatric patients, inability to exercise was the only independent predictor of perioperative complications (p less than 0.05). Data from rest and exercise radionuclide ventriculography added little information for predicting perioperative cardiac risk.

Abdomen↗
PubMed1985

Evaluation of the Arizona health care cost-containment system.

This article evaluates Arizona's alternative to the acute portion of Medicaid, the Arizona Health Care Cost-Containment System (AHCCCS), during its first 18 months of operation from October 1982 through March 1984. It focuses on the program's implementation and describes and evaluates the program's innovative features. The features of the program outlined in the original AHCCCS legislation included: Competitive bidding, prepaid capitation of providers, capitation of the State by the Health Care Financing Administration, assignment of gatekeepers, beneficiary copayment, private administration, inclusion of private and public employees and county financed long-term care. An assessment of implementation during the second 18 months of the program reporting on more recent developments and is now being prepared by SRI International.

Arizona↗
PubMed1985

The extent of ownership and the characteristics of Medicare supplemental policies.

Whether Medicare beneficiaries own private health insurance to supplement Medicare, and the characteristics of the policies they do own, are of interest both to public policy makers and to insurers. In this analysis of responses to a random survey of Medicare beneficiaries and of copies of the private insurance policies owned by these beneficiaries, the following variables were found to be important determinants of policy ownership: income, education, race, and self-perceived health status. It was also found that although most policies provide comprehensive coverage for Medicare copayments, few provide coverage for the many services and products needed by the elderly that are not covered by Medicare.

Aged↗
PubMed1984

Utilization and costs of Medicare services by beneficiaries in their last year of life.

This study examines Medicare utilization in the last year of life by over 10,000 beneficiaries who died in the state of Colorado in 1978. Overall, Medicare use averaged over $6,000 in 1978, compared with use by a random sample of survivors of less than $1,000. Eighty-nine percent of the charges during the last year of life were for services received in a hospital. Average charges vary by entitlement status, with the aged using, on the average, $5,955, the disabled $7,771, and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) beneficiaries an average of $44,400 in their last year. These charges are more than six times greater than yearly charges for aged and disabled survivors and more than three times greater than the yearly charges for ESRD survivors. The distributions of data for the groups who died is highly skewed, but not as skewed as that for the survivors. The top 1% of the survivors consumed 21% of the total charges, compared with less than 9% total charges consumed by the top 1% of those who died. When the data are examined by date of service divided into quarterly periods in the last year, more than 60% of the expenditures are in the last quarter just before death, with more hospital days and more intensive hospital ancillary service use during this period.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

An analysis of the use of Medicare services by the continuously enrolled aged.

This article discusses the utilization patterns of the Medicare aged who were continuously enrolled in the program for over a 4-year period. Data used for this study were compiled from a random sample of Medicare beneficiaries in Colorado who were continuously enrolled from October 1974 through December 1978. Five utilization variables: medical office visits, medical relative value units (RVUs), surgical RVUs, inpatient days, and covered dollars were examined in the article. Results from this study are consistent with previous longitudinal analyses. Consistent high users of services who consume substantial proportions of total expenditures and consistent nonusers having no or few services were found. During an average year of the 4-year period, it was observed that 18 per cent of the beneficiaries accounted for 88 per cent of the cost of services delivered. Because these high users tend to remain high users over time--more than one third of the high users in a given year continue to be high users during the following year--the findings here suggest that cost-containment strategies targeted to these high users may have a strong impact on overall Medicare program costs. Multivariate analysis is also conducted in this article so that the determinants of utilization patterns over time could be examined. Of particular interest is the finding that seasonal and trend variables play an important role in determining utilization over time.

Aged↗
PubMed1983

Utilization of Medicare services by beneficiaries having partial Medicare coverage.

With the rapid increases in Medicare expenditures, policymakers are constantly reevaluating the use of and the need for services provided. One approach to better understand these issues is to identify major subgroups of the Medicare population for more detailed evaluation. A disaggregation of the data can pinpoint critical high expenditure areas for further study and may suggest potential cost containment strategies. With funding from the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), a series of investigations were designed to study utilization of services by particular types of Medicare beneficiaries. These include: Those who are continuously enrolled in the program over time. Those who died. Those who recently joined Medicare. Those who have one part of Medicare without the other part. This article discusses findings concerning beneficiaries who have only partial Medicare coverage (such as those who are enrolled under one part of Medicare without the other part).

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1983

Factors influencing physician assignment decisions under Medicare.

The factors that influence physician assignment decisions under Medicare are of major importance to Medicare patients, physicians, and the federal government. This study used a unique data base gathered in Colorado during 1979 to examine these factors. The data base coupled information from Medicare claims with detailed survey information on beneficiaries who received the services. Multiple regression analysis was applied to a sample of approximately 6,500 services. It showed that a variety of physician, beneficiary, and service characteristics are statistically significant determinants of whether a Medicare service is provided on assignment.

Colorado↗
PubMed1982

Changes in Medicare reimbursement in Colorado: impact on physicians' economic behavior.

In 1976 there was a change in Medicare reimbursement policy in the State of Colorado. This study analyzes the impact of that change on physicians' economic behavior. Through 1976, prevailing charges (one of the determinants of the level of physician reimbursement under Medicare) were computed separately within each of 10 regions of Colorado. Since then, they have been computed for the State as a whole, and thus, physicians in like specialties have had equal prevailing charges throughout the State. This change in reimbursement policy led to a relative increase in prevailing charges for physicians in small urban and nonurban areas of the State, and a relative decrease for physicians in the major urban areas. In this paper we analyze the impact of this change on several aspects of physician behavior. We found that physicians whose reimbursement rates declined as a result of the change--primarily those in the Denver/Boulder area--provided more-intensive medical services, had lower assignment rates, and charged lower prices than they would have in the absence of the change.

Colorado↗
PubMed1981

Out-of-plan use under two prepaid plans.

This analysis of out-of-plan use of physician and paramedical services under a Kaiser plan and under a prepaid option offered by a predominantly fee-for-service group practice (Clinic plan) deals primarily with services that members could have obtained from plan providers ("covered services"). The extent and pattern of out-of-plan use were found to be similar. While 16-20 per cent of plan members used some out-of-plan covered services and the mean number of such services was about one half visit per member per year, most out-of-plan user were occasional user, 10-12 per cent of user (or 2 per cent of plan members) accounting for 50 per cent of all out-of-plan covered services. The principal members characteristics associated with out-of-plan use were dissatisfaction, health status and having other insurance. The literature on out-of-plan use is also reviewed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

Use of hospital services under two prepaid plans.

This study compares the use of hospital services under two prepaid plans offered to Stanford University employees and their families. One is a Kaiser plan while under the other (Clinic plan), physician services are provided by the Palo Alto Medical Clinic, a multispecialty, largely fee-for-service group practice, and hospital services are covered by a Blue Cross policy. Using age- and sex-adjusted data, the hospital admission rate excluding deliveries is higher under the Clinic plan (44.2 admissions per 1,000 personyears compared with 38.2 under the Kaiser plan), but hospital days per 1,000 personyears are almost identical (249.8 days under the Kaiser plan, 250.7 under the Clinic plan). The difference in the admission rates is due to the higher surgical admission rate under the Clinic plan (32.4 admissions per 1,000 personyears compared to 25.0 under the Kaiser plan). However, when surgical procedures performed in the hospital on a nonadmission basis are added to surgical admissions, the surgical rates under the two plans become very close (35.7 admissions and procedures per 1,000 personyears under the Kaiser plan and 37.6 under the Clinic plan). This lends some support to the hypothesis that the lower hospital surgery rates found under prepaid group practice plans may be due as much to the group practice form of their organization as to their prepaid feature. The authors offer some possible reasons why surgeons in fee-for-service group practices may have relatively low surgery rates even though they do not have the incentive to hold down costs which surgeons in prepaid group practices have.

Ambulatory Surgical Procedures↗
PubMed1979

Use of physician services under two prepaid plans.

Use of physician services under two prepaid plans offered to Stanford University staff is analyzed and compared. One is a Kaiser plan; under the other (Clinic plan), physician and outpatient ancillary services are provided by a predominantly fee-for-service group practice and hospital services are covered by a Blue Cross policy. The two plans provide much the same benefits but, in addition to the difference in their organization, they differ in their financial provisions. While the Kaiser plan has only a token copayment for office and home visits, the Clinic plan has a 25 per cent coinsurance provision applying to all physician and outpatient ancillary services. Despite these differences, the mean number of physician visits per year is the same for the two groups after account is taken of differences in age composition, socioeconomic status, health status, attitudes toward seeking care, length of plan membership, family size and satisfaction with the plan. However, when adjustment is also made for differences in physician affiliation, the Kaiser rate becomes half a visit higher than the Clinic rate. This is because under both plans, members who have a specific plan physician as regular source of care use more services than those without one, and because only 42 per cent of Kaiser members compared with 87 per cent of Clinic members stated that they had a specific plan physician.

Age Factors↗