The effect of education and drug samples on antihistamine prescribing costs in an HMO.

Objective: To examine the effect of an intervention designed to reduce antihistamine prescribing costs in an HMO.

Design: A quasi-experimental design with clinicians at one HMO site receiving an intervention. Their prescribing behavior before and after the intervention was compared to the prescribing behavior of clinicians at other HMO sites in a non-randomized control group.

HMO physician attitudes toward drug cost containment strategies.

Objective: To compare network and group model physician attitudes toward prescription drug cost containment strategies.

Design: Mailed survey with two reminders for non-respondents.

Setting: Mixed model (network and group) HMO in metropolitan Washington, DC.

The effect of an education and feedback intervention on group-model and network-model health maintenance organization physician prescribing behavior.

The authors evaluated the effect of an educational and feedback intervention on H2-blocker prescribing patterns and determined, if such effects differed for network- versus group-model health maintenance organization (HMO) physicians and in academic versus nonacademic settings. Physicians were randomized to receive an educational memorandum alone or combined with feedback regarding their individual prescribing behavior. The memo suggested preferred use of an H2-blocker (cimetidine) that would be less expensive to the HMO.

Association between physician counseling for hypercholesterolemia and patient dietary knowledge.

High blood cholesterol is a prime target for preventive intervention in the primary care setting; however, the current effectiveness of clinicians at educating their patients about appropriate dietary modification is questionable. This report examines the association between dietary knowledge and physician counseling among primary care patients with hypercholesterolemia. Subjects were 325 patients continuously enrolled in one of two group model HMO offices for two years following a screening cholesterol level above 200 mg/dL.

Utilization of medical services for the treatment of acute low back pain: conformance with clinical guidelines.

Objective: To assess the utilization of diagnostic and therapeutic medical services for the management of acute low back pain in a primary care setting, and to determine whether such utilization conforms to suggested guidelines for the management of this condition.

Study Design: A retrospective chart audit of consecutive cases of acute low back pain. Specific elements of the diagnostic and therapeutic approach were judged appropriate or inappropriate based on comparison with published recommendations supported by the medical literature.