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At least 775 records · Page 43Linked to original sources
PubMed2006

Infection control and the long-term care facility.

Approximately 70% of health care associated pathogens are resistant to one or more antibiotics. Experts maintain that most antimicrobial-resistant pathogens develop from antibiotic overuse and inappropriate antibiotic selection or treatment duration. Up to 70% of long-term care residents receive at least one course of an antimicrobial agent during a one-year period. Four types of infections occur most often among long-term care residents: urinary tract, respiratory tract, skin and soft tissue, and gastrointestinal tract, and outbreaks are common. Diagnostic uncertainty, failure to recognize fever's clinical manifestation in the elderly, treatment of asymptomatic bacteriuria, and bacterial colonization contribute to antibiotic overuse. Recent infection control guidelines recommend more targeted antibiotic utilization review. Recommendations are presented for implementing antibiotic utilization programs. Hand washing and other measures, such as droplet precautions, are discussed. Economic disincentives surrounding antimicrobial research are highlighted.

Cross Infection↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Insights into managed care--operational, legal and actuarial.

Understanding the operational, legal and actuarial dimensions of managed care is essential to developing managed care contracts between managed care organizations and individual health care providers or groups such as provider-sponsored organizations or independent practice associations. Operationally, it is important to understand managed care and its trends, emphasizing business issues, knowing your practice and defining acceptable levels of reimbursement and risk. Legally, there are a number of common themes or issues relevant to all managed care contracts, including primary care vs. specialist contracts, services offered, program policies and procedures, utilization review, physician reimbursement and compensation, payment schedule, terms and conditions, term and termination, continuation of care requirements, indemnification, amendment of contract and program policies, and stop-loss insurance. Actuarial issues include membership, geography, age-gender distribution, degree of health care management, local managed care utilization levels, historical utilization levels, health plan benefit design, among others.

Actuarial Analysis↗
PubMed1995

The clinical and financial impact of non-invasive vascular testing in the USA.

Health care costs in the USA have increased dramatically during the past 10 years, and it is widely believed that they have reached crisis dimensions. Vascular laboratories are a segment of the USA health care industry that has experienced particularly rapid growth in the last decade. In 1992, USA Medicare payments (for patients > or = 65 years) totalled US$304,492,588 for 3,673,695 non-invasive vascular studies. This figure represents only one segment of USA health care costs and, if all segments were considered, the 1992 total for vascular laboratory services would probably approach one billion USA dollars. The expansion of vascular laboratory utilization is attributed to a number of factors: (i) increased recognition of the clinical value of non-invasive vascular studies; (ii) replacement of invasive (angiographic) procedures; (iii) expanded surveillance application; (iv) the verification of carotid endarterectomy for treatment of carotid stenosis; (v) widespread, unlimited access; (vi) over-utilization; (vii) greed. Widespread awareness of the crisis in USA health care funding has imposed cost-containment pressure where virtually none existed previously. The vascular laboratory is no exception to this trend, and the following measures have been suggested for controlling vascular laboratory costs: (i) demonstration of the clinical and cost effectiveness of non-invasive vascular studies; (ii) utilization review; (iii) pre-approval of requests for vascular studies; (iv) linkage of vascular study reimbursement with clinical diagnosis; (v) limitations on self-referral; (vi) reduced reimbursement; (vii) capitation; (viii) diagnosis-related reimbursement; (ix) accreditation. This article summarizes the factors that have led to increased utilization of vascular laboratory services, and discusses methods proposed for containing vascular laboratory expenditure.

Accreditation↗
PubMed1989

Severity systems add new dimension to utilization management.

Utilization management expands the concept of utilization review by identifying the best possible treatment protocol for a specific type of patient. Severity of illness systems allow healthcare organizations to define patient groups with similar treatment needs and then identify appropriate practice patterns for each group. Both measures are critical to the success of a utilization management program.

Clinical Protocols↗
PubMed2001

Managing costs and managing care.

With a defined population served, contracted provider panels and the nature of care delivery integration, managed care has provided a solution, though not a panacea, to provide equitable services, standardized and prevention oriented cares to its enrolled members. Combined with the earmarked capitation reimbursement system and a series of cost containment and utilization review techniques, managed care has also demonstrated potently its capacity in cost-saving and quality promotion. Presents steps and measures related to managed care that federal government has taken to manage care and contain cost. It is crucial to identify and promulgate best practices continually, while managing utilization of resources for improving health care, containing cost, and equalizing medical care access to a greater proportion of the population. Concludes that it may take time for a universal adoption of managed care. However, Americans may actually benefit more from having a standard level of health care that managed care could achieve and provide.

Cost Control↗
PubMed1978

Quantitative care norms for a psychiatric ambulatory population in a county medical assistance program.

An approach for developing quantitative care norms for outpatient acute psychiatric patients is presented. Both the methodological concept of the norming procedure and its application to the needs of Medicaid in Rockland County, New York are given. The methodology is totally general in that it could be applied to concerns related to characterization of services rendered in a wide variety of applications ranging from planning to utilization review. The norms developed relate both to monthly quantity of services rendered and length of active treatment period. Further, the impact of a review rule is discussed in terms of its implication to number of cases reviewed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

An analysis of donor blood wastage due to outdating in a large teaching hospital.

We analyzed the pattern and rate of donor blood outdating in our hospital from 1986 to 1990. We found that there was a sharp drop in blood outdating since the implementation of the Type and Screen crossmatch protocol. The outdating rate was reduced from 11.5% to 1.3% for whole blood and from 4.9% to 0.4% for red cells. In absolute numbers, wastage of blood due to outdating was cut from 2,570 units in 1986-87 (a 2 yr period before Type and Screen) to only 227 units in 1988-89 (a 2 yr period after Type and Screen). We also found that the outdating rate varied among different blood groups (group 0 less than A = B less than AB), and the outdating of whole blood was consistently more than red cells throughout the study period. The results of our utilization review were conveyed to local hospitals and the blood supplier in an effort to preserved donor blood.

Blood Donors↗
PubMed1998

Pharmacotherapy: strategies to control drug costs in managed care.

Pharmacotherapy remains one of the most cost-effective interventions physicians can provide to manage the medical conditions of older patients. Because many older Americans have multiple diseases, the practitioner's goal is to maximize appropriate drug use while avoiding duplicative or interacting medications. Medicare managed care plans seek to provide appropriate medication for the older patient at a reasonable cost through such strategies as formularies, prior authorization, generic and therapeutic substitution, and drug utilization review. Yet, like the medications themselves, these strategies require careful attention to their risks and benefits to the individual patient.

Drug Costs↗
PubMed1996

The involvement of pharmacists in professional and clinical audit in the UK: a review and assessment of their potential role.

This review addresses the uptake and implementation of the principles of audit by community, hospital and health authority pharmacists. The pressures to audit professional services are discussed, as are the barriers to cooperation among pharmacists and between pharmacists and prescribers in primary care. The development of standards of professional practice is then described taking into account the particular difficulty in developing standards for health care workers who are geographically separated from other members of the primary care team and are in commercial competition with each other. The review identifies audit of professional services in both community and hospital pharmacy and of clinical services in the latter. The role of pharmacists employed by health authorities to advise them and general practitioners on the optimum use of the drug budget is described and their potential role for involvement in audit is discussed. The particular advantages that pharmacists in hospital and health authorities have in developing the specific aspect of clinical audit related to medicines usage (drug utilization review) is then described. The potential for pharmacists to contribute to clinical and management audit is discussed.

Community Pharmacy Services↗
PubMed2001

Drugs and the elderly, Part 2: Strategies for improving prescribing in a managed care environment.

OBJECTIVE: In part 1 of "Drugs and the Elderly" (December 2000 issue), we reviewed and summarized the vast amount of clinical information on medication use in the elderly for healthcare providers and administrators within managed care. In part 2, we explore the literature on improving prescribing, focusing on those approaches most likely to be useful within a managed care environment. STUDY DESIGN: We reviewed the general literature on medication use in the elderly, focusing on problems and systems approaches to the improvement of medication use in managed care. We created a topic list of general interest to health professionals within managed care and fit the available information into those topics. Thus, the result is an authoritative review rather than a systematic literature review. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Nonquantitative evaluation of the medical literature. RESULTS: We identified several hundred articles describing issues related to medication use in the elderly but only a trivial number that in any way addressed the managed care community directly. There is very little literature on how managed care can best incorporate the lessons of geriatric pharmacology and pharmacy. CONCLUSIONS: There is a paucity of literature for the managed care community of health professionals regarding pharmacology, pharmacoepidemiology, drug utilization review, and other issues related to the use of medication in the elderly population.

Aged↗
PubMed1998

The cost-effectiveness of managed care regarding chronic medicine prescriptions in a selected medical scheme.

The purpose of the study was to examine the cost-effectiveness of managed care interventions with respect to prescriptions for chronic illness sufferers enrolled with a specific medical scheme. The illnesses included, were epilepsy, hypertension, diabetes and asthma. The managed care interventions applied were a primary discount; the use of preferred provider pharmacies, and drug utilization review. It was concluded that the managed care interventions resulted in some real cost savings.

Asthma↗
PubMed1994

Product standards committees today and tomorrow.

The results of a survey of product standards committees conducted by the JOURNAL OF HEALTHCARE MATERIEL MANAGEMENT show that most hospitals have such a committee, chaired by the materiel manager. Despite the fact that respondents named 49 different disciplines as possible members of the committees and 100% attendance is experienced less than a quarter of the time, most respondents said they had the right number of people on their committee and that the committee was effective or very effective. With more facility affiliations in the offing, purchasing decisions will be made at a corporate level. To be viable in the future, the products committee will have to transform itself into a utilization review and cost oversight committee, and drastically reduce its membership.

Canada↗
PubMed1997

Aligning incentives using risk-sharing arrangements.

Most managed care arrangements do not properly align provider and HMO incentives and thus unintentionally promote conflicting care management patterns. But appropriate risk-sharing arrangements encourage HMOs and providers to agree on the best methods to achieve member satisfaction; high-quality, cost-effective care; and healthy profits. Quality- and cost-based risk-sharing arrangements withhold a certain portion of providers' payments for placement in a risk pool fund. Providers are penalized financially for poor quality and unsatisfactory cost performance; providers are financially rewarded with risk pool funds for the cost-efficient delivery of high-quality health care. Percent-of-premium or capitation risk-sharing arrangements divide member premiums among the parties to the risk-sharing arrangement based on how much financial risk each party is willing to assume for providing care. The risk of controlling variations in cost is assumed by providers, thus minimizing HMOs' financial exposure. Inpatient case rate risk-sharing arrangements pay providers a flat rate for uncomplicated cases. Such arrangements can improve the relationship between HMOs and providers by giving providers primary control over case management and benefits HMOs by reducing their utilization review activities.

Capitation Fee↗
PubMed1996

Payoff's worth the price in UR/discharge merger.

Combining discharge and utilization review functions eliminates duplication of effort in chart review and assessing patient needs. Cross trained staff can better cover for each other on sick days and vacation. Increased efficiencies led to reduction in staffing needs.

Efficiency, Organizational↗
PubMed2000

Drugs and the elderly, Part 1: The problems facing managed care.

OBJECTIVE: In part 1 of "Drugs and the Elderly," we review and summarize the vast amount of clinical information on medication use in the elderly for healthcare providers and administrators within managed care. In part 2, we explore the literature on improving prescribing, focusing on those approaches most likely to be useful within a managed care environment. STUDY DESIGN: We reviewed the general literature on medication use in the elderly, focusing on problems and systems approaches to the improvement of medication use in managed care. We created a topic list of general interest to health professionals within managed care and fit the available information into those topics. Thus, the result is an authoritative review rather than a systematic literature review. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Nonquantitative evaluation of the medical literature. RESULTS: We identified several hundred articles describing issues related to medication use in the elderly but only a trivial number that in any way addressed the managed care community directly. There is very little literature on how managed care can best incorporate the lessons of geriatric pharmacology and pharmacy. CONCLUSIONS: There is a paucity of literature for the managed care community of health professionals regarding pharmacology, pharmacoepidemiology, drug utilization review, and other issues related to the use of medication in the elderly population.

Aged↗
PubMed1983

Update on the medical director concept.

Physicians have a legal and ethical responsibility to provide leadership in the care of our institutionalized elderly. In the nursing home, this responsibility includes three components: providing care for individual patients (attending physician), providing care for groups of individuals (medical director) and monitoring and evaluating utilization and quality of care (Utilization Review Committee). Individual physicians, administrators and staff must define the tasks of the medical director to meet the needs of each particular nursing home.

Administrative Personnel↗
PubMed1978

Quality considerations in medical records abstracting systems.

Health Information Systems utilizing computerized medical records abstracting services are widely applied to clinical research, utilization review, health statistics, and similar programs. The utility of such systems is determined primarily by the accuracy of stored abstracts. Even very low per-character error rates can result in a relatively high proportion of abstracts in error. Application of quality control procedures and purposeful design of error identification systems is essential for establishing face validity. Acceptance sampling with comparison of abstracts to medical records can be employed to assure content validity.

Abstracting and Indexing↗
PubMed1992

DUE software highlights therapeutic issues.

Drug use evaluation (DUE) or drug use review (DUR) for the ambulatory care setting is creating many opportunities to improve the pharmaceutical care provided by pharmacists. This study documents one year of peer-review interventions based on a retrospective drug utilization review software system (Qualisure, Q-A, Inc.) that screens patient profiles for a high likelihood of drug therapy problems. Letters are written to physicians and pharmacists providing care to these patients. The software identifies frequent opportunities for selecting therapeutic class alternatives to prescribed agents. Antibiotics, antihistamines, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and antidepressants were the classes for which therapeutic class alternatives were most often recommended.

Drug Prescriptions↗