What every dentist should know ... before signing a dental provider contract. Stop, read and consider before you sign.
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According to the Health Care Financing Administration, the PRO program's new emphasis on outcomes addresses provider concerns about subjectivity in the review process. But providers are wary of how it will play out.
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Under Medicare, one of the federally required objectives of peer review organizations is to reduce inappropriate and unnecessary admissions. We reevaluated 32 admissions approved and 32 denied by the Arizona peer review organization, Health Services Advisory Group (HSAG), in a "blind" manner to determine whether practicing physicians in the community agree with the local peer review organization. Overall, physicians at the Scottsdale Memorial Hospital (SMH) approved 72% of HSAG-approved and denied 61% of HSAG-denied admissions. Of the 64 admissions, 3 or 4 of 4 reviewers (2 physicians and 2 nurses) agreed with the HSAG decision in 38 (59%), but 2 or more reviewers disagreed in the other 26 (41%). Disagreement between the 2 physicians occurred in 48% of the cases and disagreement between the 2 nurses in 33%. Even among admissions denied by SMH physician reviewers, the physicians would have admitted 23% of those patients under similar circumstances. In 28% of the HSAG-denied admissions, the reviewing physicians thought that the patients' health care would have been compromised if the admissions had not taken place. Despite well-defined criteria for the appropriateness of hospital admissions, the review process remains subjective, with much disagreement between peer review organizations and practicing physicians.
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OBJECTIVE: To review clinical research pertaining to continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) and the heart. DATA SOURCES: A Medline computer search was employed to identify appropriate references from 1970 - 1994. Indexing terms were: continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis, hemodialysis, heart or cardiac, left ventricle, coronary artery disease, and survival. English and non-English language abstracts were scrutinized. STUDY SELECTION: Forty-six studies were reviewed and utilized. Numerical data extracted are reported in this review as they were reported in the original article. RESULTS: This review provides a broad-based survey of studies pertaining to CAPD and the heart. Most of the studies relate to CAPD and left ventricular structure or function. Little information exists concerning CAPD and coronary artery disease, valvular disease, pericardial disease, and cardiac arrhythmias. Studies pertaining to patient survival on CAPD identify coronary artery disease and congestive heart failure as major risk factors, but in-depth quantification of these cardiovascular disorders is lacking in the literature. CONCLUSIONS: CAPD is capable of decreasing left ventricular (LV) volume and improving LV systolic function in patients with LV enlargement and those with LV systolic dysfunction. The effect of CAPD on left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and LV diastolic function is variable. CAPD produces symptomatic improvement in patients with refractory congestive heart failure, but its effect on survival in such patients is uncertain. Atherogenic lipid abnormalities occur in CAPD patients. The clinical significance of these abnormalities is uncertain. Coronary artery bypass surgery can be performed safely and effectively on CAPD patients. CAPD is not arrhythmogenic. Survival of CAPD patients is similar to that of hemodialysis patients except in elderly diabetics for whom it is slightly lower.
The drug experiences of 1200 patients receiving i.v. histamine H2-receptor antagonists were studied. Forty hospitals in five southeastern states participated in a drug-use evaluation (DUE). In addition to supplying background information, a pharmacist at each hospital used a standardized form to perform a concurrent review of 30 consecutive adult patients who had been started on i.v. cimetidine, ranitidine, or famotidine. In addition to the patient's age and the prescriber's medical specialty, specific DUE criteria included the reason given in the medical record for use; dosage regimen and adjustments made on the basis of the patient's renal function; other GI drugs taken concurrently; pharmacist intervention; simultaneous use of oral medications; occurrence of adverse events; H2-antagonist use with specified drug products known to affect serum drug concentrations of one or both medications; and use of gastric pH monitoring. Therapy with i.v. H2 antagonists was usually started by internal medicine specialists or surgeons, and most of the evaluated patients received such therapy for prevention of stress-related mucosal damage. According to estimated creatinine clearance, 34% of patients were in need of dosage adjustments, but such adjustments were made in only 49% of these. Forty percent of patients began therapy while taking at least one medication orally, and almost one fourth of patients were receiving an additional drug for the treatment of an acid-peptic or related indication. The occurrence of adverse events was similar for the three H2 antagonists studied. The findings identify several problematic areas in the way H2 antagonists are used in clinical practice.