Biomedical subjects

Richard T Meenan

Publications and source records attributed to Richard T Meenan.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Prevalence of prostatitis-like symptoms in a managed care population.

PURPOSE: We calculated the prevalence of symptoms typically associated with chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome in men in a managed care population in the Pacific Northwest. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A questionnaire mailing to 5,000 male enrollees 25 to 80 years old in the Kaiser Permanente Northwest (Portland, Oregon) health plan was performed. The questionnaires included screening questions about the presence, duration and severity of pelvic pain, and the National Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index. Chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome symptoms were defined in 2 ways: 1) presence of any of the following for a duration of 3 or more months: pain in the perineum, testicles, tip of penis, pubic or bladder area, dysuria, ejaculatory pain; and 2) perineal and/or ejaculatory pain, and a National Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index total pain score of 4 or more. Prevalence estimates were age adjusted to the total Kaiser Permanente Northwest male population. RESULTS: A total of 1,550 questionnaires were returned. The prevalence of chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome symptoms was 7.5% for definition 1 and 5.9% for definition 2. Mean National Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index scores were 17 for definitions 1 and 2. Of those with prostatitis-like symptoms, 30% met criteria for having both definitions present. The prevalence of prostatitis-like symptoms using either of the 2 diagnoses was 11.2%. CONCLUSIONS: This population based study indicates that approximately 1 in 9 men have prostatitis-like symptoms. Application of 2 different definitions for prostatitis-like symptoms identified unique groups of men, with limited overlap in the groups.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Is a family equal to the sum of its parts? Estimating family-level well-being for cost-effectiveness analysis.

Cost-effectiveness (CEA) analysis of health interventions focuses primarily on individual-level costs and benefits. However, health interventions intended for individuals often have implications for other members of an individual's family and the overall functioning of the family. While researchers have assessed the effects of health interventions on multiple family members, CEA has not routinely incorporated measures of effectiveness or costs from multiple family members. We could imagine, however, that CEA might over- or under-estimate the effects of health interventions if they are limited to individuals targeted by the intervention. Family-level CEA would consider the well-being of and costs borne by multiple family members in response to an individual-level intervention, and potentially lead to more appropriate resource allocation. Using the health plan as a working frame of reference, we explore conceptual issues related to estimating effectiveness at the level of the family for use in CEA.

Cost of Illness↗

PubMed2005

Prevalence and incidence of interstitial cystitis in a managed care population.

PURPOSE: We calculated the prevalence and incidence of physician diagnosed interstitial cystitis (IC) in men and women in a managed care population in the Pacific Northwest. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A computer search of the Kaiser Permanente Northwest (Portland, Oregon) database was performed for January 1998 to May 2002. The prevalence of IC in patients 25 to 80 years old was calculated using the 4 definitions of 1) patients assigned a diagnosis of IC, 2) patients assigned a diagnosis of IC without any of the consensus IC exclusion criteria, 3) patients who had also had undergone cystoscopy and 4) patients who had specifically undergone cystoscopy with hydrodistention for IC. A second database search was performed 1 year later (May 2003) to identify incident cases of IC. RESULTS: The prevalence of IC was 197 per 100,000 women and 41 per 100,000 men for definition 1, 158 per 100,000 women and 28 per 100,000 men for definition 2, 99 per 100,000 women and 19 per 100,000 men for definition 3, and 45 per 100,000 women and 8 per 100,000 men for definition 4. Using definition 2 the 1-year incidence of IC was 21 per 100,000 women and 4 per 100,000 men. The female-to-male ratio for each estimate was 5:1. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence and incidence of interstitial cystitis is significantly higher for women and men than previously published estimates. Men account for a higher proportion of patients with IC than has previously been recognized.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Prevalence of interstitial cystitis symptoms in a managed care population.

PURPOSE: We calculated the prevalence of symptoms typically associated with interstitial cystitis (IC) in men and women in a managed care population in the Pacific Northwest. MATERIALS AND METHODS: International Classification of Diseases-9 based queries of the Kaiser Permanente Northwest, Portland, Oregon database were used to identify subjects with IC exclusion criteria, who were excluded from further analysis. A total of 10,000 questionnaires, including 5,000 for women and 5,000 for men, were mailed to subjects with codes indicating bladder symptoms and to those with none of the codes. The questionnaires included questions about the presence of IC symptoms and the O'Leary-Sant interstitial cystitis questionnaire. IC symptoms were defined in 2 ways, that is as 1) pelvic pain at least 3 months in duration plus urgency or frequency at least 3 months in duration and 2) the same criteria plus pain increasing as the bladder fills and/or pain relieved by urination. RESULTS: The prevalence of IC symptoms according to definitions 1 and 2 was 11.2% and 6.2% in women, and 4.6% and 2.3% in men, respectively. Symptoms were long-standing (duration greater than 1 year in 80% of cases) and bothersome (severity score 5 or greater in greater than 50%). Mean O'Leary-Sant interstitial cystitis questionnaire scores were 15.94 in subjects with definition 1 IC symptoms, 18.97 in those with definition 2 IC symptoms and 6.69 in those with no IC symptoms (p <0.001). Symptoms were most common and most severe in subjects previously diagnosed with IC. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of IC symptoms is 30 to 50-fold higher in women and 60 to 100-fold higher in men than the prevalence of a coded physician diagnosis of IC in the same population. Although these findings are not conclusive, they imply that IC may be significantly under diagnosed.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Incidence and clinical characteristics of National Institutes of Health type III prostatitis in the community.

PURPOSE: Few population-based epidemiological studies of prostatitis have been performed. We used coded physician diagnoses and subsequent chart reviews to estimate the incidence and clinical characteristics of physician diagnosed National Institutes of Health (NIH) type III prostatitis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Computer searches of the Kaiser Permanente Northwest (Portland, Oregon) database were performed on the 2-year interval May 2002 to May 2004 to identify new diagnoses of chronic prostatitis (International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision code 601.1) and prostatitis not otherwise specified (International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision code 601.9). Of the 1,223 men identified with these coded diagnoses, chart reviews were performed on a random subset of 413 (33.8%). Patients were categorized based on NIH prostatitis definitions of type I/II-evidence of pyuria and/or bacteriuria on urinalysis or culture, type III-presence of at least 1 of the pain or urinary symptoms in the NIH Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index (pain in the perineum, testicles, tip of penis, pubic or bladder area, dysuria, ejaculatory pain, incomplete emptying, urinary frequency), type IV-inflammation on prostate biopsy and Other-symptoms other than those listed. RESULTS: Of the 413 patients 57 were previously diagnosed with prostatitis (prevalent cases), 46 had no evidence of a prostatitis diagnosis in the medical record and 7 were treated by physicians outside of the Kaiser Permanente Northwest plan. Of the remaining 303 the distribution was 58 type I/II, 189 type III, 33 type IV and 23 Other. The incidence of physician diagnosed type III prostatitis was 3.3 per 1,000 person-years. If those with isolated urinary symptoms were excluded from analysis, the incidence decreased to 2.8 per 1,000 person-years. The mean age of those with type III prostatitis was 52.9 years (range 29 to 82). The most common presenting symptoms were dysuria, urinary frequency and perineal pain. Symptom duration at presentation was less than 3 months in 44%, 3 months or greater in 31% and unspecified in 25%. The majority (78%) of new prostatitis diagnoses was made by primary care physicians. CONCLUSIONS: These data indicate that prostatitis is commonly diagnosed in the community setting, and that type III prostatitis accounts for the majority of these diagnoses. The duration and complexity of symptoms are less than those reported in established prostatitis research cohorts. Most prostatitis diagnoses in the community are made by nonurologists.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Opportunities and challenges for measuring cost, quality, and clinical effectiveness in health care.

Empirical studies of health care cost, productivity, and output have focused primarily on intermediate goods and services. Consumers are ultimately interested in final goods such as improved health or health-related quality of life, but health services research continues to address whether health services financing and delivery are structured in ways to maximize production of intermediate goods, regardless of the link between these services and final outcomes. Increasing rates of growth of health care cost and dissatisfaction with the quality of U.S. health care force us to reexamine how productivity and cost are analyzed so that research properly informs policy and practice. The authors examine recent changes in the U.S. health care sector that suggest the need to revise how health services research approaches analyses of cost, production, and output; consider alternative notions of final goods; and review the availability and quality of data necessary to conduct this research.

Cost-Benefit Analysis↗

PubMed2003

Risk adjustment using automated ambulatory pharmacy data: the RxRisk model.

OBJECTIVES: Develop and estimate the RxRisk model, a risk assessment instrument that uses automated ambulatory pharmacy data to identify chronic conditions and predict future health care cost. The RxRisk model's performance in predicting cost is compared with a demographic-only model, the Ambulatory Clinical Groups (ACG), and Hierarchical Coexisting Conditions (HCC) ICD-9-CM diagnosis-based risk assessment instruments. Each model's power to forecast health care resource use is assessed. DATA SOURCES: Health services utilization and cost data for approximately 1.5 million individuals enrolled in five mixed-model Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) from different regions in the United States. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study using automated managed care data. SUBJECTS All persons enrolled during 1995 and 1996 in Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound, HealthPartners of Minnesota and the Colorado, Ohio and Northeast Regions of Kaiser-Permanente. MEASURES RxRisk, an algorithm that classifies prescription drug fills into chronic disease classes for adults and children. RESULTS: HCCs produce the most accurate forecasts of total costs than either RxRisk or ACGs but RxRisk performs similarly to ACGs. Using the R(2) criteria HCCs explain 15.4% of the prospective variance in cost, whereas RxRisk explains 8.7% and ACGs explain 10.2%. However, for key segments of the cost distribution the differences in forecasting power among HCCs, RxRisk, and ACGs are less obvious, with all three models generating similar predictions for the middle 60% of the cost distribution. CONCLUSIONS: HCCs produce more accurate forecasts of total cost, but the pharmacy-based RxRisk is an alternative risk assessment instrument to several diagnostic based models and depending on the nature of the application may be a more appropriate option for medical risk analysis.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2003

Using risk-adjustment models to identify high-cost risks.

BACKGROUND: We examine the ability of various publicly available risk models to identify high-cost individuals and enrollee groups using multi-HMO administrative data. METHODS: Five risk-adjustment models (the Global Risk-Adjustment Model [GRAM], Diagnostic Cost Groups [DCGs], Adjusted Clinical Groups [ACGs], RxRisk, and Prior-expense) were estimated on a multi-HMO administrative data set of 1.5 million individual-level observations for 1995-1996. Models produced distributions of individual-level annual expense forecasts for comparison to actual values. Prespecified "high-cost" thresholds were set within each distribution. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) for "high-cost" prevalences of 1% and 0.5% was calculated, as was the proportion of "high-cost" dollars correctly identified. Results are based on a separate 106,000-observation validation dataset. MAIN RESULTS: For "high-cost" prevalence targets of 1% and 0.5%, ACGs, DCGs, GRAM, and Prior-expense are very comparable in overall discrimination (AUCs, 0.83-0.86). Given a 0.5% prevalence target and a 0.5% prediction threshold, DCGs, GRAM, and Prior-expense captured $963,000 (approximately 3%) more "high-cost" sample dollars than other models. DCGs captured the most "high-cost" dollars among enrollees with asthma, diabetes, and depression; predictive performance among demographic groups (Medicaid members, members over 64, and children under 13) varied across models. CONCLUSIONS: Risk models can efficiently identify enrollees who are likely to generate future high costs and who could benefit from case management. The dollar value of improved prediction performance of the most accurate risk models should be meaningful to decision-makers and encourage their broader use for identifying high costs.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2002

Surveying physicians: do components of the "Total Design Approach" to optimizing survey response rates apply to physicians?

BACKGROUND: Surveys serve essential roles in clinical epidemiology and health services research. However, physician surveys frequently encounter problems achieving adequate response rates. Research on enhancing response rates to surveys of the general public has led to the development of Dillman's "Total Design Approach" to the design and conduct of surveys. The impact of this approach on response rates among physicians is uncertain. OBJECTIVE: To determine the extent to which the components of the total design approach have been found to be effective in physician surveys. DESIGN: A systematic review. RESULTS: The effectiveness of prepaid financial incentives, special contacts, and personalization to enhance response rates in surveys of physicians have been confirmed by the existing research. There is suggestive evidence supporting the use of first class stamps on return envelopes and multiple contacts. The optimum amount for incentives and the number of contacts necessary have not been established. Details of questionnaire design and their impact on response rates have received almost no attention from researchers. Few studies have assessed the usefulness of combinations of components of the total design approach. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the number of surveys conducted among physicians, their cost, the level of interest in their findings, and in spite of inadequate response rates, there have been few randomized trials conducted on important aspects of enhancing response in this population. Until this gap has been filled, researchers conducting surveys of physicians should consider including all components of the total design approach whenever feasible.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

PubMed2002

Issues in pooling administrative data for economic evaluation.

Managed care, in particular the health maintenance organization (HMO), now dominates US healthcare delivery, and economic evaluation is receiving increasing attention as a management tool that can be tailored to its perceived business needs. This encourages use of HMO administrative data as an efficient source of resource utilization and cost measures. Use of administrative data coincides with growing research interest in multisite analyses that increase external validity. The best alternative to a nationally representative data set is to pool administrative data from multiple sites within one database. However, pooling administrative data is problematic because HMO data sources reflect differences in systems of care, costing, and coding. This paper describes issues inherent in the pooling of HMO administrative cost data for use in multisite economic evaluations. We describe the attributes of administrative data that are relevant to costing and discuss their implications for multisite economic evaluations. We then briefly describe our experience with pooling multisite cost data, discuss lessons learned, and offer suggestions for researchers working with such data, followed by concluding comments. Multisite administrative data provide unique opportunities to conduct population-based clinical and economic research.

Community Health Planning↗

PubMedDate not supplied

On the integration of complementary and conventional medicine within health maintenance organizations.

The integration of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) with conventional medicine continues across practice settings and modalities. Managed care is of particular interest to practitioners, policy makers, and researchers concerned with the evolution of CAM integration. Within health maintenance organizations (HMOs), availability, coverage, and support of CAM are variable. We present an organizational model within which we identify factors that influence the degree of CAM integration within HMOs. We describe avenues through which CAM is currently available within the Northwest Region of Kaiser Permanente (KPNW). We also describe research methods applicable to the study of CAM integration within HMOs.

Complementary Therapies↗