Multi-Attention Learning and Exposure Guidance Toward Ghost-Free High Dynamic Range Light Field Imaging.

Due to sensor limitations, the light field (LF) images captured by the LF camera suffer from low dynamic range and are prone to poor exposure. To solve this problem, combining multi-exposure technology with LF camera imaging can achieve high dynamic range (HDR) LF imaging. However, for dynamic scenes, this approach tends to produce disturbing ghosting artifacts and destroy the parallax structure of the generated results.

Association between physician age and patterns of end-of-life care among older Americans.

Background: End-of-life (EOL) care patterns may differ by physician age given differences in how physicians are trained or changes associated with aging. We sought to compare patterns of EOL care delivered to older Americans according to physician age.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of a 20% sample of Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries aged ≥66 years who died in 2016-2019 (n = 487,293).

Changes in Site of Death Among Older Adults Without a COVID-19 Diagnosis During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Background: Understanding how the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic affected site of death-an important patient-centered outcome related to end-of-life care-would inform healthcare system resiliency in future public health emergencies.

Objective: To evaluate the changes in site of death during the COVID-19 pandemic among older adults without a COVID-19 diagnosis.

Design: Using a quasi-experimental difference-in-differences method, we estimated net changes in site of death during the pandemic period (March-December 2020) from the pre-pandemic period (January-February 2020), using data on the same months in prior years (2016-2019) as the control.

Association between physicians' geriatric training and patterns of end-of-life care delivered to persons with dementia.

Background: Geriatric training is designed to prepare physicians to meet the complex needs of older adults, including persons with dementia at the end-of-life (EOL) stage. We sought to compare patterns of EOL care delivered to persons with dementia between physicians with versus without geriatric training.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of a 20% random sample of fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries with dementia who died in 2016-2018 (n = 99,631).

Timing and setting of billed advance care planning among Medicare decedents in 2017-2019.

Background: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) began to reimburse clinicians for advance care planning (ACP) discussions, effective January 1, 2016. We sought to characterize the timing and setting of first-billed ACP discussions among Medicare decedents to inform future research on ACP billing codes.

Methods: Using a random 20% sample of Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries aged 66 years and older who died in 2017-2019, we described the timing (relative to death) and setting (inpatient, nursing home, office, or outpatient with or without Medicare Annual Wellness Visit [AWV], home or community, or elsewhere) of the first-billed ACP discussion for each beneficiary.

Client-Oriented Blind Quality Metric for High Dynamic Range Stereoscopic Omnidirectional Vision Systems.

A high dynamic range (HDR) stereoscopic omnidirectional vision system can provide users with more realistic binocular and immersive perception, where the HDR stereoscopic omnidirectional image (HSOI) suffers distortions during its encoding and visualization, making its quality evaluation more challenging. To solve the problem, this paper proposes a client-oriented blind HSOI quality metric based on visual perception. The proposed metric mainly consists of a monocular perception module (MPM) and binocular perception module (BPM), which combine monocular/binocular, omnidirectional and HDR/tone-mapping perception.

Deep Light Field Spatial Super-Resolution Using Heterogeneous Imaging.

Light field (LF) imaging expands traditional imaging techniques by simultaneously capturing the intensity and direction information of light rays, and promotes many visual applications. However, owing to the inherent trade-off between the spatial and angular dimensions, LF images acquired by LF cameras usually suffer from low spatial resolution. Many current approaches increase the spatial resolution by exploring the four-dimensional (4D) structure of the LF images, but they have difficulties in recovering fine textures at a large upscaling factor.

Quantifying Balance Billing for Out-of-Network Behavioral Health Care in Employer-Sponsored Insurance.

Objective: The study estimated balance billing for out-of-network behavioral health claims and described subscriber characteristics associated with higher billing.

Methods: Claims data (2011-2014) from a national managed behavioral health organization's employer-sponsored insurance (N=196,034 family-years with out-of-network behavioral health claims) were used to calculate inflation-adjusted annual balance billing-the submitted amount (charged by provider) minus the allowed amount (insurer agreed to pay plus patient cost-sharing) and any discounts offered by the provider. Among family-years with complete sociodemographic data (N=68,659), regressions modeled balance billing as a function of plan and provider supply, subscriber and family-year, and employer characteristics.

Comparing Gold-standard Copayment and Coinsurance Values From Claims Processing Engines to Values Derived From Behavioral Health Claims Databases.

Background: While researchers use patient expenditures in claims data to estimate insurance benefit features, little evidence exists to indicate whether the resulting measures are accurate.

Objective: To develop and test an algorithm for deriving copayment and coinsurance values from behavioral health claims data.

Subjects: Employer-sponsored insurance plans from 2011 to 2013 for a national managed behavioral health organization (MBHO).

Stereo Video Quality Metric Based on Multi-Dimensional Analysis.

Stereo video has been widely applied in various video systems in recent years. Therefore, objective stereo video quality metric (SVQM) is highly necessary for improving the watching experience. However, due to the high dimensional data in stereo video, existing metrics have some defects in accuracy and robustness.

Impact of the 2016 Election on the Quality of Life of Sexual and Gender Minority Adults: A Difference-in-Differences Analysis.

The 2016 U.S. election significantly changed the political landscape for sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals.

Blind Tone-Mapped Image Quality Assessment Based on Regional Sparse Response and Aesthetics.

High dynamic range (HDR) images give a strong disposition to capture all parts of natural scene information due to their wider brightness range than traditional low dynamic range (LDR) images. However, to visualize HDR images on common LDR displays, tone mapping operations (TMOs) are extra required, which inevitably lead to visual quality degradation, especially in the bright and dark regions. To evaluate the performance of different TMOs accurately, this paper proposes a blind tone-mapped image quality assessment method based on regional sparse response and aesthetics (RSRA-BTMI) by considering the influences of detail information and color on the human visual system.

Carve-out plan financial requirements associated with national behavioral health parity.

Objectives: To examine changes in carve-out financial requirements (copayments, coinsurance, use of deductibles, and out-of-pocket maxima) following the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA).

Data Source/study Setting: Specialty mental health benefit design information for employer-sponsored carve-out plans from a national managed behavioral health organization's claims processing engine (2008-2013).

Study Design: This pre-post study reports linear and logistic regression as the main analysis.

The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act evaluation study: Child and adolescent behavioral health service expenditures and utilization.

This study explores possible associations of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) with child access to behavioral health (BH) services (preimplementation = 2008-2009, transition = 2010, and post = 2011-2013). The study sample included children aged 4-17 years in self-insured "carve-in" plans from large employers. In "carve-ins," BH and medical care are covered through the same insurance plan.

The Role of Behavioral Health Diagnoses in Adverse Selection.

Objective: Adverse selection in medical insurance is well documented; however, little is known about the role of behavioral health. This study's objective was to examine the probability of being enrolled in the lowest-deductible plan among commercially insured patients, according to psychiatric diagnosis.

Methods: This cross-sectional study used 2012-2013 benefit design and plan choice data linked to 2011-2012 behavioral health claims for a national sample of individuals (N=116,975) and different family types (couple with at least one dependent, N=59,237; single subscriber with at least one dependent, N=19,066; couple with no dependents, N=40,917) with Optum, UnitedHealth Group "carve-in" plans.

Certificate of need and the cost of competition in home healthcare markets.

We used 2010-16 Medicare Cost Reports for 10,737 freestanding home health agencies (HHAs) to examine the impact of home health (HH) and nursing home (NH) certificate-of-need (CON) laws on HHA caseload, total and per-patient variable costs. After adjusting for other HHA characteristics, total costs were higher in states with only HH CON laws ($2,975,698), only NH CON laws ($1,768,097), and both types of laws ($3,511,277), compared with no CON laws ($1,538,536). Higher costs were driven by caseloads, as CON reduced per-patient costs.

What Happens When Employers Switch from a "Carve-Out" to a "Carve-In" Model of Managed Behavioral Health?

Background: Since the introduction and soaring popularity of the managed behavioral healthcare (BH) "carve-out" model in the 1980s, policymakers have been concerned with their impact on access. In carve-outs, BH and medical benefits are administered separately. Earlier literature found they reduced intensity of service use while maintaining penetration rates.

The Effects of Three Kinds of Insurance Benefit Design Features on Specialty Mental Health Care Use in Managed Care.

Background: Insurance benefit features play a role in determining access to specialty mental health care. Previous research, primarily examining the effects of copayments, coinsurance, and deductibles in a fee-for-service setting, has concluded that specialty mental health use is highly sensitive to changes in financial requirements. Less is known about the effects of other benefit features and the effects of all of these features in a managed care environment.

Racial/ethnic disparities in specialty behavioral health care treatment patterns and expenditures among commercially insured patients in managed behavioral health care plans.

Objective: To document differences among racial/ethnic/gender groups in specialty behavioral health care (BH) utilization/expenditures; examine whether these differences are driven by probability vs intensity of treatment; and identify whether differences are explained by socioeconomic status (SES).

Data Source: The cohort consists of adults continuously enrolled in Optum plans with BH benefits during 2013.

Study Design: We modeled each outcome using linear regressions among the entire sample stratified by race/ethnicity, language and gender.

Analysis of Delays in Breast Cancer Treatment and Late-Stage Diagnosis in Kazakhstan.

Objective: Although Kazakhstan has made significant investments to improve health and life expectancy of its population, high cancer rates persist, with breast cancer being the most prevalent type. Factors contributing to delays in treatment and late staging for breast cancer patients were assessed. Methods: A retrospective follow-up study with registry data identified 4,248 breast cancer patients in sixteen regions of Kazakhstan in 2014.

The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) evaluation study: Did parity differentially affect substance use disorder and mental health benefits offered by behavioral healthcare carve-out and carve-in plans?

Background: To assess whether implementation of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) was associated with: 1. Reduced differences in financial requirements (i.e.

The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act Evaluation Study: Impact on Nonquantitative Treatment Limits for Specialty Behavioral Health Care.

Objective: To assess frequency, type, and extent of behavioral health (BH) nonquantitative treatment limits (NQTLs) before and after implementation of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA).

Data Sources: Secondary administrative data for Optum carve-out and carve-in plans.

Study Design: Cross-tabulations and "two-part" regression models were estimated to assess associations of parity period with NQTLs.

Behavioral Health Treatment Patterns Among Employer-Insured Adults in Same- and Different-Gender Marriages and Domestic Partnerships.

Objective: This study examined specialty behavioral health treatment patterns among employer-insured adults in same- and different-gender domestic partnerships and marriages.

Methods: The study used behavioral health service claims (2008-2013) from Optum to estimate gender-stratified penetration rates of behavioral health service use by couple type and partnership status among partnered adults ages 18-64 (N=12,727,292 person-years) and levels of use among those with any use (conditional analyses). Least-squares, logistic, and zero-truncated negative binomial regression analyses adjusted for age, employer and plan characteristics, and provider supply and for sociodemographic factors in sensitivity analyses.