Acuity Differences Among Newly Admitted Older Residents in Rural and Urban Nursing Homes.

Background And Objectives: Our primary objective was to assess rural-urban acuity differences among newly admitted older nursing home residents.

Research Design And Methods: Data included the 2015 Minimum Data Set v3.0, the Area Health Resources File, the Provider of Services File, and Rural-Urban Commuting Area codes.

Telehealth Use in a Rural State: A Mixed-Methods Study Using Maine's All-Payer Claims Database.

Purpose: This study assesses trends in telehealth use in Maine-a rural state with comprehensive telehealth policies-across payers, services, and rurality, and identifies barriers and facilitators to the adoption and use of telehealth services.

Methods: Using a mixed-methods approach, researchers analyzed data from Maine's All Payer Claims Database (2008-2016) and key informant interviews with health care organization leaders to examine telehealth use and explore factors impacting telehealth adoption and implementation.

Findings: Despite a 14-fold increase in the use of telehealth over the 9-year study period, use remains low-0.

Long-Term Services and Supports Use Among Older Medicare Beneficiaries in Rural and Urban Areas.

State and federal policies have shifted long-term services and support (LTSS) priorities from nursing home care to home and community-based services (HCBS). It is not clear whether the rural LTSS system reflects this system transformation. Using the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey, we examined nursing home use among rural and urban Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 and older.

Patterns of Telehealth Use Among Rural Medicaid Beneficiaries.

Purpose: Few studies have examined telehealth use among rural Medicaid beneficiaries. This study produced a descriptive overview of telehealth use in 2011, including the prevalence of telehealth use among rural and urban Medicaid beneficiaries, characteristics of telehealth users, types of telehealth services provided, and diagnoses associated with telehealth use.

Methods: Using data from the 2011 Medicaid Analytic eXtract (MAX), we conducted bivariate analyses to test the associations between rurality and prevalence and patterns of telehealth use among Medicaid beneficiaries.

Feasibility of a Web-Based Self-management Intervention for Intermittent Urinary Catheter Users With Spinal Cord Injury.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of a new Web-based intermittent catheter self-management intervention.

Design: We tested the acceptability and usability of intervention components, which included multiple Web-based materials (an online urinary diary adapted for mobile phone use and an educational booklet), 3 phone calls with a nurse, and a peer-led discussion forum.

Subjects And Setting: Thirty adults with spinal cord injury using intermittent catheterization for bladder drainage were enrolled; 26 participants received the nurses' phone-based consultations.

Development of a Web-Based Self-management Intervention for Intermittent Urinary Catheter Users With Spinal Cord Injury.

While Web-based interventions have proliferated recently, information in the literature is often lacking about how the intervention was developed. In response to that gap, this is a report of the development of a Web-based self-management intervention for intermittent urinary catheter users and pretesting with four adults with spinal cord injury living in the community. Two Web sites were created, one for recruitment and the other for the intervention itself.

A Web-Based Self-Management Intervention for Intermittent Catheter Users.

A new Web-based self-management intervention was developed for persons with spinal cord injury who use intermittent urinary catheters. Included are a description of the components, examples from the educational book, and multiple screen shots of the online urinary diary.

Factors affecting costs in Medicaid populations with behavioral health disorders.

Background: Persons with behavioral disorders incur higher healthcare costs. Although they utilize behavioral health (BH) services others do not, they also have higher utilization of medical services

Objectives: : To determine the degree to which higher costs for persons with BH disorders are attributable to utilization of BH services, multiple chronic medical conditions (CMCs) or other issues specific to populations with BH disorders.

Research Design: Data base consisted of claims for 63,141 Medicaid beneficiaries, 49% of whom had one of 5 categories of BH disorder.

Low costs of defensive medicine, small savings from tort reform.

In this paper we present the costs of defensive medicine in thirty-five clinical specialties to determine whether malpractice liability reforms would greatly reduce health care costs. Defensive medicine includes tests and procedures ordered by physicians principally to reduce perceived threats of medical malpractice liability. The practice is commonly assumed to increase health care costs.