Experience Starting an Addiction Medicine Practice-based Research Network.

Objectives: This paper outlines the experience developing Addiction Medicine Practice-Based Research Network (AMNet), which promotes the adoption of patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) and measurement-based care in outpatient addiction treatment practices and creates a platform for quality improvement and research.

Methods: From August 2019 to July 2023, the AMNet team selected patient-reported outcome measures for implementation in the American Psychiatric Association's clinical data registry (PsychPRO), recruited addiction medicine providers, and collected PROMs data.

Results: AMNet selected 12 PROMs for implementation in PsychPRO.

Patient Engagement in and Adaptations to Delivery of Outpatient Care for Opioid Use Disorder During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Objective: The authors investigated adaptations to outpatient care delivery and changes in treatment demand and engagement among patients receiving medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) in the months after the declaration of the COVID-19 public health emergency in 2020.

Methods: Data were collected through an online survey (June-November 2020) of outpatient MOUD prescribers. The survey obtained information on outpatient practices' adaptations to MOUD treatment and urine drug screening (UDS) and elicited provider views on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on patient demand for, and engagement in, treatment.

Addiction Medicine Practice-Based Research Network (AMNet): Assessment Tools and Quality Measures.

Introduction: The need for innovative approaches to address the opioid epidemic in the United States is widely recognized. Many challenges exist to addressing this epidemic, including the obstacles outpatient substance use treatment practices face in implementing measurement-based care (MBC), quality measurement systems, and evidence-based treatments. Also, there are insufficient opportunities for clinicians in these settings to participate in research, resulting in diminished translation of research findings into community-based practice.

Addiction Medicine Practice-Based Research Network (AMNet): Building Partnerships.

This column describes the collaboration among the American Psychiatric Association (APA), American Society of Addiction Medicine, Friends Research Institute, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse to create the Addiction Medicine Practice-Based Research Network (AMNet). The collaboration, which aims to address the opioid overdose epidemic in the United States, leverages the APA's clinical data registry (PsychPRO) and is recruiting office-based addiction medicine and addiction psychiatry practices for AMNet. AMNet aims to address knowledge gaps regarding patient care in such practices, facilitate performance improvement efforts, and serve as a research platform.

The Use of a Shared Services Model for Mycobacteriology Testing: Lessons Learned.

Objectives: Public health laboratories (PHLs) provide essential services in the diagnosis and surveillance of diseases of public health concern, such as tuberculosis. Maintaining access to high-quality laboratory testing is critical to continued disease detection and decline of tuberculosis cases in the United States. We investigated the practical experience of sharing tuberculosis testing services between PHLs through the Shared Services Project.

What are colorectal cancer survivors' preferences for dietary advice? A best-worst discrete choice experiment.

Purpose: Studies on healthy lifestyle interventions in survivors of colorectal cancer have been disappointing, demonstrating only modest changes. This study aims to quantify people's preferences for different aspects of dietary intervention.

Method: A best-worst discrete choice experiment was designed and incorporated into a questionnaire including participants' characteristics and a self-assessment of lifestyle.

Reproducibility of the NEPTUNE descriptor-based scoring system on whole-slide images and histologic and ultrastructural digital images.

The multicenter Nephrotic Syndrome Study Network (NEPTUNE) digital pathology scoring system employs a novel and comprehensive methodology to document pathologic features from whole-slide images, immunofluorescence and ultrastructural digital images. To estimate inter- and intra-reader concordance of this descriptor-based approach, data from 12 pathologists (eight NEPTUNE and four non-NEPTUNE) with experience from training to 30 years were collected. A descriptor reference manual was generated and a webinar-based protocol for consensus/cross-training implemented.

Day surgery visits for dental problems.

Objectives: To fill an information gap for dental care policy stakeholders in Canada, this pilot study explored the nature of day surgery (DS) visits for dental problems in Ontario, the country's largest province.

Methods: The Canadian Institute for Health Information's National Ambulatory Care Reporting System was used, which contains demographic, diagnostic, procedural and administrative information for ambulatory care settings across Ontario. Fiscal years 2003/2004 to 2005/2006 data were included for DS visits that had a main problem coded with an International Classification of Diseases code in the range K00-K14, representing diseases of the oral cavity, salivary glands and jaws.

Emergency department visits for dental care of nontraumatic origin.

Objectives: To explore the nature of emergency department (ED) visits for dental problems of nontraumatic origin in Canada's largest province, Ontario.

Methods: The Canadian Institute for Health Information's National Ambulatory Care Reporting System was used, which contains demographic, diagnostic, procedural and administrative information from hospital-based ambulatory care settings across Ontario. Data of fiscal years 2003/04 to 2005/06 were included for emergency visits that had a main problem coded with an International Classification of Diseases - 10th edition code in the range K00-K14, representing diseases of the oral cavity, salivary glands and jaws.

Hospital standardized mortality ratio: the way forward in Ontario.

Variations in quality of care persist despite an increased understanding of optimal practice and an improved ability to monitor outcomes. The reporting of hospital standardized mortality ratios (HSMRs) is an important step in highlighting the need to improve quality; but, as with most measures, the HSMR is not without flaws. Intense debate in the United Kingdom and the United States, and now here in Canada, has focused too much on the shortcomings of this measure and not enough on the issue at hand.

Pharmacokinetics of oral micronized beta-estradiol in postmenopausal women receiving maintenance hemodialysis.

Background: Although 11% of postmenopausal women with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) are prescribed hormone replacement therapy (HRT), the appropriate use remains poorly explored. Although there remains controversy surrounding the benefits of HRT, it may be of particular interest in this population, which has a high risk of bone loss and a fourfold increase in fracture risk compared to the general population. However, the appropriate dose of estrogen for use in postmenopausal women with ESRD is not known.