Is frequent emergency department use a complement or substitute for other healthcare services? Evidence from South Carolina Medicaid enrollees.

Objective: To compare healthcare services utilization across the healthcare system between frequent and non-frequent emergency department (ED) users among Medicaid enrollees in South Carolina.

Study Setting And Design: We conducted a retrospective, longitudinal study of individuals with at least one ED visit in 2017 in South Carolina and identified their healthcare services visits over 730 days (2 years) after their first ED visit. We classified individuals based on intensity of ED use: superfrequent (≥9 ED visits/year), frequent (4-8 ED visits/year), and non-frequent ED users (≤3 visits/year).

Comparing Time to Recovery Between Initial and Repeat Concussion in Athletes.

Objective: Compare time to recovery between initial and repeat concussions.

Design: Retrospective review of electronic medical record.

Setting: An interdisciplinary concussion clinic.

Koala MHCII association with chlamydia infertility remains equivocal: a need for new research approaches.

Chlamydiosis is a common infectious disease impacting koalas and is a major cause of population decline due to resulting mortality and infertility. Polymorphisms of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes influence chlamydial disease outcomes in several species but koala studies have produced variable results. We aimed to identify the MHC II DAB and DBB repertoire of koalas from Liverpool Plains, NSW, a population heavily impacted by chlamydiosis.

Family medicine research: seizing the moment to advance the field.

Despite a growing awareness that primary care is essential to an accessible, equitable, high-quality, cost-effective health care system, family medicine research remains woefully underdeveloped. The increased focus of both state and federal policy makers on primary care payment and care delivery models presents an opportunity for family medicine to redefine itself as an academically rigorous discipline at the forefront of generating evidence that improves patient care and population health while reducing costs. In a critical review of the literature, we identified five themes-leadership, funding, resources, team science, and departmental culture-that are integral to family medicine departments seeking to grow and expand their research capacity.