The Texas PPO cases: a harbinger of managed care turmoil to come? Texas Medical Association v. Aetna Life Insurance Co., Texas Medical Association v. Prudential.
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OBJECTIVE: To assess use of sedative/hypnotic agents in Texas Medicaid patients and evaluate practitioner receptiveness to intervention letters concerning sedative/hypnotic prescribing generated by the Texas Medicaid Drug Utilization Review (DUR) Board. DESIGN: Retrospective DUR. SETTING: Texas Medicaid retrospective DUR program. PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS: 244 Texas Medicaid patients and 291 Texas physicians. INTERVENTION: Patient profiles for Texas Medicaid patients were reviewed retrospectively to quantify sedative/hypnotic prescribing practices. Intervention letters were prepared and sent to physicians directly involved in the care of patients receiving excessive sedative/hypnotic therapy. Physician responses were categorized based on information presented in the intervention letter and circumstances surrounding the identified patient. Prescribing practices were assessed approximately 1 year after the intervention to determine the impact of intervention letters on prescribing. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Physician response to intervention letter. RESULTS: Responses were received from 208 of 291 physicians (71.5%). Approximately 40% of physicians agreed in principle with the suggestions offered by the Texas Medicaid DUR Board to minimize chronic sedative/hypnotic use. Almost one-half of these physicians had discontinued sedative/hypnotic therapy for the identified patients 1 year after the intervention. Approximately 9% justified continued sedative/hypnotic use based on patient diagnosis or refractory response to treatment, and 55 physicians (26.4%) were unwilling to alter therapy because of patient-specific factors. CONCLUSION: Through the use of retrospective DUR, Texas Medicaid patients receiving excessive amounts of sedative/hypnotic agents were identified and improvements in sedative/hypnotic therapy were initiated. DUR can be useful not only in identifying problem areas, but also in encouraging physicians to modify prescribing practices through educational means.
BACKGROUND: The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) and Texas Tech Health Science Center (TTHSC) are responsible for providing health care for approximately 130,000 inmates of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice through a health maintenance organization (HMO). Telemedicine was considered a way to solve some of the problems presented. OBJECTIVES: To develop approaches to patient care, technology, support systems, evaluation, and uses of the system for applications other than patient care as part of the first stage of implementation. METHODS: Four prison delivery unit models were utilized. After a pilot study, the first patients were seen from October 1994 to November 1995, when 1715 consults were conducted in 18 scheduled specialty telemedicine clinics. Patients and providers were surveyed by interviews and questionnaires for their views on this form of providing care. RESULTS: Ninety-five per cent of the telemedicine consults saved one or more trips to UTMB for outpatient specialty appointments. User surveys indicated a high degree of satisfaction on the part of patients, presenters, and specialty consultants. CONCLUSIONS: Preliminary review of the data indicated favorable care outcomes, and initial economic analyses suggested that telemedicine is likely to be cost-effective in this environment. The project will be continued.
BACKGROUND: This article describes the development of consensus medication algorithms for the treatment of patients with major depressive disorder in the Texas public mental health system. To the best of our knowledge, the Texas Medication Algorithm Project (TMAP) is the first attempt to develop and prospectively evaluate consensus-based medication algorithms for the treatment of individuals with severe and persistent mental illnesses. The goals of the algorithm project are to increase the consistency of appropriate treatment of major depressive disorder and to improve clinical outcomes of patients with the disorder. METHOD: A consensus conference composed of academic clinicians and researchers, practicing clinicians, administrators, consumers, and families was convened to develop evidence-based consensus algorithms for the pharmacotherapy of major depressive disorder in the Texas mental health system. After a series of presentations and panel discussions, the consensus panel met and drafted the algorithms. RESULTS: The panel consensually agreed on algorithms developed for both nonpsychotic and psychotic depression. The algorithms consist of systematic strategies to define appropriate treatment interventions and tactics to assure optimal implementation of the strategies. Subsequent to the consensus process, the algorithms were further modified and expanded iteratively to facilitate implementation on a local basis. CONCLUSION: These algorithms serve as the initial foundation for the development and implementation of medication treatment algorithms for patients treated in public mental health systems. Specific issues related to adaptation, implementation, feasibility testing, and evaluation of outcomes with the pharmacotherapeutic algorithms will be described in future articles.
Texas has no routine system to determine current immunization levels in preschoolers. To determine the current immunization status of Texas children younger than 2 years, the Texas Department of Health commissioned a household survey in 1994. The survey included 4552 in-person interviews with parents or legal guardians of children aged 3 to 24 months. Results showed a statewide up-to-date immunization level of 55%. The younger the children, the more likely they were to be up-to-date. Differences were marked among groups based on geography, race/ethnicity, and use of public assistance. Hispanic children, children enrolled in the Women, Infants, and Children program, and children living in border communities had higher levels of immunizations. Immunization levels were below the statewide average for African-Americans, children on Aid to Families with Dependent Children, and children on Medicaid. Children with no health insurance and children with private insurance had equivalent immunization levels. Although progress appears to have been made in getting children immunized according to recommended schedules, much work remains to be done to reach our state and national goals and to protect our youngest from outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases.
An initial retrospective study of 194 children demonstrated a high prevalence of hepatitis A but not hepatitis B or C infection among children living along the Texas-Mexico border. A larger prospective study of hepatitis A was conducted with 285 children (aged 6 months to 13 years) living in 3 sociodemographically dissimilar areas of South Texas. Children living in colonías along the border had a significantly higher prevalence of hepatitis A virus infection (37%) than children living in urban border communities (17%) or in a large metropolitan area (San Antonio [6%]). Independent risk factors for hepatitis A infection included increased age, colonía residence, and history of residence in a developing country. Use of bottled water (vs. municipal or spring/well water) and years of maternal secondary education were protective. Improved sanitation or routine hepatitis A vaccination in early childhood may reduce the prevalence of hepatitis A in these areas.
An outline of the development of dentistry in Texas is presented. The growth of higher education and the emergence of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and its Dental School is highlighted on the 20th anniversary of the Dental School.
While passage of a health care bill remains uncertain, the structure of health care in the United States is nonetheless changing rapidly. In some cases, physicians and hospitals are working more closely with one another to provide high-quality care at lower costs. Patients, physicians, hospitals, and insurers (including the Federal government) can all benefit from such an arrangement. We review here the experience with a program of bundled-free (physician and hospital) cardiovascular care for Medicare patients at the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital in Houston, Texas.
The Texas Medical Association's Committee on Maternal Health reports its experience with 501 consecutive maternal deaths. The committee structure and procedures are explained. Demographic and pathologic data are presented and discussed. The defects which allowed complications to proceed to death are analyzed and recommendations are made to reduce the number of these deaths.
The mitochondrial gene T-urf13 from maize (Zea mays L.) with Texas male-sterile (T) cytoplasm codes for a unique 13 kd polypeptide, T-URF13, which is implicated in cytoplasmic male sterility and sensitivity to the insecticide methomyl and to host-specific fungal toxins produced by Helminthosporium maydis race T (HmT toxin) and Phyllosticta maydis (Pm toxin). A chimeric gene coding for T-URF13 fused to the mitochondrial targeting peptide from the Neurospora crassa ATP synthase subunit 9 precursor was constructed. Expression of this gene in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae yielded a polypeptide that was translocated into the membrane fraction of mitochondria and processed to give a protein the same size as maize T-URF13. Methomyl, HmT toxin and Pm toxin inhibited growth of yeast cells expressing the gene fusion on medium containing glycerol as sole carbon source and stimulated respiration with NADH as substrate by isolated mitochondria from these cells. These effects were not observed in yeast cells expressing T-URF13 without a targeting peptide. The results show that T-URF13 is sufficient to confer sensitivity to methomyl and the fungal toxins in a heterologous eukaryotic system, and suggest that mitochondrial localization of T-URF13 is critical for these functions.
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OBJECTIVES: Expert consensus methodology was used to develop evidence-based, consensually agreed-upon medication treatment algorithms for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in the public mental health sector. Although treatment algorithms for adult mental disorders have been developed, this represents one of the first attempts to develop similar algorithms for childhood mental disorders. Although these algorithms were developed initially for the public sector, the goals of this approach are to increase the uniformity of treatment and improve the clinical outcomes of children and adolescents with ADHD in a variety of treatment settings. METHOD: A consensus conference of academic clinicians and researchers, practicing clinicians, administrators, consumers, and families was convened to develop evidence-based consensus algorithms for the pharmacotherapy of childhood ADHD. After a series of presentations of current research evidence and panel discussion, the consensus panel met and drafted the algorithms along with guidelines for implementation. RESULTS: The panel developed consensually agreed-upon algorithms for ADHD with and without specific comorbid disorders. The algorithms consist of systematic strategies for psychopharmacological interventions and tactics to ensure successful implementation of the strategies. While the algorithms focused on the medication management of ADHD, the conference emphasized that psychosocial treatments are often a critical component of the overall management of ADHD. CONCLUSIONS: Medication algorithms for ADHD can be developed with consensus. A companion article will discuss the implementation of these algorithms.
OBJECTIVES: Expert consensus methodology was used to develop a medication treatment algorithm for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The algorithm broadly outlined the choice of medication for ADHD and some of its most common comorbid conditions. Specific tactical recommendations were developed with regard to medication dosage, assessment of drug response, management of side effects, and long-term medication management. METHOD: The consensus conference of academic clinicians and researchers, practicing clinicians, administrators, consumers, and families developed evidence-based tactics for the pharmacotherapy of childhood ADHD and its common comorbid disorders. The panel discussed specifics of treatment of ADHD and its comorbid conditions with stimulants, antidepressants, mood stabilizers, alpha-agonists, and (when appropriate) antipsychotics. RESULTS: Specific tactics for the use of each of the above agents are outlined. The tactics are designed to be practical for implementation in the public mental health sector, but they may have utility in many practice settings, including the private practice environment. CONCLUSIONS: Tactics for psychopharmacological management of ADHD can be developed with consensus.
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