Impact of complex care management on spending and utilization for high-need, high-cost Medicaid patients.

Objectives: Complex care management programs have emerged as a promising model to better care for high-need, high-cost patients. Despite their widespread use, relatively little is known about the impact of these programs in Medicaid populations. This study evaluated the impact of a complex care management program on spending and utilization for high-need, high-cost Medicaid patients.

Identifying Patients Experiencing Homelessness in an Electronic Health Record and Assessing Qualification for Medical Respite: A Five-Year Retrospective Review.

Our team developed a transitional care and medical respite program for people experiencing homelessness and designed a retrospective chart review study to more fully understand the unique needs of this population. Using four independent techniques, we identified individuals (N=1,656) who were experiencing homelessness during at least one hospital encounter (emergency department and/or in-patient admission) in a teaching hospital in the Southeastern United States over a five-year period. Data were manually abstracted from a random sample of patients to determine which patient encounters would or would not have qualified for medical respite if it had been available at the time.

Mobile health devices: will patients actually use them?

Although mobile health (mHealth) devices offer a unique opportunity to capture patient health data remotely, it is unclear whether patients will consistently use multiple devices simultaneously and/or if chronic disease affects adherence. Three healthy and three chronically ill participants were recruited to provide data on 11 health indicators via four devices and a diet app. The healthy participants averaged overall weekly use of 76%, compared to 16% for those with chronic illnesses.

Cluster and sporadic cases of herbaspirillum species infections in patients with cancer.

Background: Herbaspirillum species are gram-negative Betaproteobacteria that inhabit the rhizosphere. We investigated a potential cluster of hospital-based Herbaspirillum species infections.

Methods: Cases were defined as Herbaspirillum species isolated from a patient in our comprehensive cancer center between 1 January 2006 and 15 October 2013.