Economic Evaluation of Wastewater Surveillance Combined with Clinical COVID-19 Screening Tests, Japan.

The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed substantial burdens on the global society. To find an optimal combination of wastewater surveillance and clinical testing for tracking COVID-19, we evaluated the economic efficiency of hypothetical screening options at a single facility in Japan. To conduct cost-benefit analyses, we developed standard decision models in which we assumed model parameters from literature and primary data, such as screening policies used at the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Village in 2021.

Economic Evaluation of Telemedicine Consultations to Reduce Unnecessary Neonatal Care Transfers.

Objectives: To perform an economic evaluation to estimate the return on investment (ROI) of making available telemedicine consultations from a healthcare payer perspective, and to estimate the economic impacts of telemedicine under a hypothetical scenario in which all rural hospitals providing level I neonatal care in California had access to telemedicine consultations from neonatologists at level III and level IV neonatal intensive care units (NICUs).

Study Design: We developed standard decision models with assumptions derived from primary data and the literature. Telemedicine costs included equipment installation and operation costs.

Clinical Outcomes of Asynchronous Versus Synchronous Telepsychiatry in Primary Care: Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Asynchronous telepsychiatry (ATP; delayed-time) consultations are a novel form of psychiatric consultation in primary care settings. Longitudinal studies comparing clinical outcomes for ATP with synchronous telepsychiatry (STP) are lacking.

Objective: This study aims to determine the effectiveness of ATP in improving clinical outcomes in English- and Spanish-speaking primary care patients compared with STP, the telepsychiatry usual care method.

Can income-based co-payment rates improve disparity? The case of the choice between brand-name and generic drugs.

Background: Higher income population tend to prefer brand-name to generic drugs, which may cause disparity in access to brand-name drugs among income groups. A potential policy that can resolve such disparity is imposing a greater co-payment rate on high-income enrollees. However, the effects of such policy are unknown.

School-Located Influenza Vaccination: Do Vaccine Clinics at School Raise Vaccination Rates?

Background: Only half of US schoolchildren receive influenza vaccine. School-located influenza vaccination (SLIV) might raise vaccination rates but conducting flu vaccine clinics at schools is challenging to implement. We compared 2 school-based programs designed to raise influenza vaccination rates: parent reminder/educational messages sent to parents from schools which is a low-intensity intervention vs the combination of reminder/educational messages plus SLIV clinics which is a high-intensity intervention.

Cost effectiveness of school-located influenza vaccination programs for elementary and secondary school children.

Background: Studies have noted variations in the cost-effectiveness of school-located influenza vaccination (SLIV), but little is known about how SLIV's cost-effectiveness may vary by targeted age group (e.g., elementary or secondary school students), or vaccine consent process (paper-based or web-based).

Text Message Reminders for Child Influenza Vaccination in the Setting of School-Located Influenza Vaccination: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Half of US school children receive influenza vaccine. In our previous trials, school-located influenza vaccination (SLIV) raised vaccination rates by 5 to 8 percentage points. We assessed whether text message reminders to parents could raise vaccination rates above those observed with SLIV.

Impact of a direct-to-consumer information campaign on prescription patterns for overactive bladder.

Background: Direct-to-consumer information (DTCI) campaign is a new medium to inform and empower patients in their decision-making without directly promoting specific drugs. However, little is known about the impact of DTCI campaigns, expanding rapidly in developed countries, on changes in prescription patterns. We sought to determine whether a DTCI campaign on overactive bladder increases the prescription rate for overactive bladder treatment drugs.

Impact of elementary school-located influenza vaccinations: A stepped wedge trial across a community.

Background: Influenza vaccination rates among children are low and novel strategies are needed to raise coverage. We measured the impact of school-located influenza vaccination (SLIV) on coverage, examined whether SLIV substitutes for practice-based influenza vaccination ("substitution"), and estimated whether a second year of experience with SLIV increases its impact.

Methods: We implemented a stepped wedge study design with schools as clusters.

School-located Influenza Vaccinations for Adolescents: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Purpose: We aimed to evaluate the effect of school-located influenza vaccination (SLIV) on adolescents' influenza vaccination rates.

Methods: In 2015-2016, we performed a cluster-randomized trial of adolescent SLIV in middle/high schools. We selected 10 pairs of schools (identical grades within pairs) and randomly allocated schools within pairs to SLIV or usual care control.

Selected Use of Telemedicine in Intensive Care Units Based on Severity of Illness Improves Cost-Effectiveness.

Background: Telemedicine in the intensive care unit (tele-ICU) is expected to address geographic health disparities through more efficient resource allocation. Our previous economic evaluation demonstrated tele-ICU to be cost-effective in most cases and cost saving in some cases, compared to conventional intensive care unit (ICU) care without adequate intensivist coverage.

Introduction: This study's objective is to examine how to optimize the cost-effectiveness of tele-ICU use by selecting highest risk (i.

Pilot survey of a novel incentive to promote healthy behavior among school children and their parents.

Reversing the obesity epidemic has been a persistent global public health challenge, particularly among low socioeconomic status populations and racial/ethnic minorities. We developed a novel concept of community-based incentives to approach this problem in such communities. Applying this concept, we proposed a school intervention to promote obesity prevention in the U.

The Impact of Economic Recession On Registered Nurse Workforce Supply in California.

The severe economic recession from December 2007 to December 2010 substantially affected registered nurse (RN) employment. The objective of this study was to determine if the association between RN workforce supply and its potential determinants differed during the period from 2008 to 2012. Older, experienced RNs were more likely to work in 2010, compared to 2008, but less likely to work in 2012 compared to 2010.

Program Evaluation of a Nursing Workforce Intervention: The Maryland Nurse Support Program II.

A nursing workforce initiative in Maryland sought to graduate additional nursing students to become registered nurses and to increase the number and preparation levels of nursing faculty. Between FY 2006 and FY 2015, nearly $100 million was awarded through 109 competitive institutional grants at 27 nursing programs across the state; 950 faculty received awards through fellowships, scholarships, and grants. Maryland's nursing workforce intervention increased the number of graduates by 27% through this decade-long program.

School-Located Influenza Vaccinations: A Randomized Trial.

Objective: Assess impact of offering school-located influenza vaccination (SLIV) clinics using both Web-based and paper consent upon overall influenza vaccination rates among elementary school children.

Methods: We conducted a cluster-randomized trial (stratified by suburban/urban districts) in upstate New York in 2014-2015. We randomized 44 elementary schools, selected similar pairs of schools within districts, and allocated schools to SLIV versus usual care (control).

The effect of prior healthcare employment on the wages of registered nurses.

Background: The proportion of registered nurses (RNs) with employment in health-related positions before their initial RN education has increased in the past two decades. Previous research found that prior health-related employment is positively associated with RN workforce supply, potentially due to the wage differences based on different career paths. This study's objective is to test the hypotheses that prior health-related employment is associated with differences in starting wages and with different rates of wage growth for experience as an RN.

A Systematic Review of the Economic Evaluation of Telemedicine in Japan.

Objectives: There is no systematic review on economic evaluations of telemedicine in Japan, despite over 1000 trials implemented. Our systematic review aims to examine whether Japan's telemedicine is cost-saving or cost-effective, examine the methodological rigorousness of the economic evaluations, and discuss future studies needed to improve telemedicine's financial sustainability.

Methods: We searched five databases, including two Japanese databases, to find peer-reviewed articles published between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2014 in English and Japanese that performed economic evaluations of Japan's telemedicine programs.

Cost effectiveness analysis of Year 2 of an elementary school-located influenza vaccination program-Results from a randomized controlled trial.

Background: School-located vaccination against influenza (SLV-I) has the potential to improve current suboptimal influenza immunization coverage for U.S. school-aged children.

Economic Evaluation of Telemedicine for Patients in ICUs.

Objective: Despite telemedicine's potential to improve patients' health outcomes and reduce costs in the ICU, hospitals have been slow to introduce telemedicine in the ICU due to high up-front costs and mixed evidence on effectiveness. This study's first aim was to conduct a cost-effectiveness analysis to estimate the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of telemedicine in the ICU, compared with ICU without telemedicine, from the healthcare system perspective. The second aim was to examine potential cost saving of telemedicine in the ICU through probabilistic analyses and break-even analyses.

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of a Television Campaign to Promote Seasonal Influenza Vaccination Among the Elderly.

Background: The U.S. policy goals regarding influenza vaccination coverage rate among the elderly include the increase in the coverage rate and the elimination of disparities across racial/ethnic groups.

Economic Evaluation of Pediatric Telemedicine Consultations to Rural Emergency Departments.

Background: Comprehensive economic evaluations have not been conducted on telemedicine consultations to children in rural emergency departments (EDs).

Objective: We conducted an economic evaluation to estimate the cost, effectiveness, and return on investment (ROI) of telemedicine consultations provided to health care providers of acutely ill and injured children in rural EDs compared with telephone consultations from a health care payer prospective.

Methods: We built a decision model with parameters from primary programmatic data, national data, and the literature.

Decomposing racial/ethnic disparities in influenza vaccination among the elderly.

While persistent racial/ethnic disparities in influenza vaccination have been reported among the elderly, characteristics contributing to disparities are poorly understood. This study aimed to assess characteristics associated with racial/ethnic disparities in influenza vaccination using a nonlinear Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition method. We performed cross-sectional multivariable logistic regression analyses for which the dependent variable was self-reported receipt of influenza vaccine during the 2010-2011 season among community dwelling non-Hispanic African-American (AA), non-Hispanic White (W), English-speaking Hispanic (EH) and Spanish-speaking Hispanic (SH) elderly, enrolled in the 2011 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) (un-weighted/weighted N=6,095/19.

A randomized trial of the effect of centralized reminder/recall on immunizations and preventive care visits for adolescents.

Objective: To assess the impact of a managed care-based patient reminder/recall system on immunization rates and preventive care visits among low-income adolescents.

Methods: We conducted a randomized controlled trial between December 2009 and December 2010 that assigned adolescents aged 11-17 years to one of three groups: mailed letter, telephone reminders, or control. Publicly insured youths (n = 4115) were identified in 37 participating primary care practices.

Cost effectiveness analysis of elementary school-located vaccination against influenza--results from a randomized controlled trial.

School-located vaccination against influenza (SLV-I) has been suggested to help meet the need for annual vaccination of large numbers of school-aged children with seasonal influenza vaccine. However, little is known about the cost and cost-effectiveness of SLV-I. We conducted a cost-analysis and a cost-effectiveness analysis based on a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of an SLV-I program implemented in Monroe County, New York during the 2009-2010 vaccination season.