Impact of new therapeutics for hepatitis C virus infection in incarcerated populations.

Inmate populations bear a disproportionate share of the burden of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. With more than 90% of prisoners released back to their communities within a few years of sentencing, incarceration can be viewed as an opportunity to provide HCV screening and therapeutic interventions to benefit the individual, reduce the costs of HCV management to the health care system from a societal perspective, and improve overall public health. Although optimal medical management of HCV within prison settings would increase the current cost of correctional health care, it could decrease transmission within the community, reduce overall disease burden, and lower the future societal health care costs associated with end-stage liver disease.

Mom and pop versus the big boys: adult family homes as providers of Medicaid-funded residential care.

This paper compares assisted living apartments (ALs), adult residential care facilities (ARCs), and small adult family homes (AFHs) for Medicaid residents in Washington State, with particular emphasis on the settings, staffing, services, and policies of AFHs. We targeted for enrollment all residents entering an AFH, ARC, or AL setting on Medicaid/state funding in a three-county area of Washington State. We obtained information on 199 settings, interviewing administrative and direct care providers.

Assisted living pilot program: utilization and cost findings.

Objective. The Department of Veterans Affairs funded assisted living, adult family home, and adult residential care for the first time in the Assisted Living Pilot Program (ALPP). This article compares the use and cost for individuals that entered ALPP and a comparison group.

Assisted living pilot program: health outcomes.

Objectives. Assisted living programs demonstrate variation in structure and services. The Department of Veterans Affairs funded this care for the first time in the Assisted Living Pilot Program (ALPP).

Characteristics of residents and providers in the assisted living pilot program.

Purpose: The number of residents in assisted living has rapidly increased, although these facilities still primarily serve people who can pay out of pocket. The U.S.

Psychotropic use in community residential care facilities: A prospective cohort study.

Background: Psychotropic medication use in community residential care (CRC) facilities has been reported to be similar to that found in nursing homes before the implementation of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987.

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to (1) describe patterns of psychotropic medication use at baseline and after 1 year of follow-up in adult residents aged > or =65 years supported by Medicaid in CRC facilities, (2) describe the quality of psychotropic use, and (3) examine the relationship between psychotropic use and resident and facility characteristics.

Methods: This was a planned analysis of a larger prospective cohort study conducted in CRC facilities (assisted living, adult family home, adult residential care) in a 3-county area in the state of Washington.

Quality of medication records and use of pharmacy resources in community residential care facilities.

Background: In community residential care (CRC) facilities, medication administration is often performed by unlicensed personnel with minimal knowledge in medication use. Medication management is one of the top 3 quality-of-care issues facing these facilities.

Objective: To examine the type of medication assistance residents received, determine the proportion of facilities that used pharmacy resources, and examine the quality of facility medication records in CRC facilities (eg, adult family homes, adult residential care, assisted living facilities).

Health belief assessment regarding screening colonoscopy.

The purpose of this study was to assess (by questionnaire) health beliefs related to colorectal cancer screening via colonoscopy in a population 50 years of age and older. The Health Belief Model provided the theoretical framework for data collection. The study design was a nonexperimental exploratory survey.

Satisfaction with care among community residential care residents.

Measuring satisfaction with community residential care (CRC) is growing in importance but still in its infancy. The authors conducted interviews with 176 CRC residents and their providers. Logistic regression was used to identify resident and physical characteristics, policies and services, and aggregate resident characteristics associated with satisfaction.

Community residential care: comparison of cognitively impaired and noncognitively impaired residents.

Community residential care (CRC) is growing, with cognitive impairment the most common reason for CRC placement. We enrolled cognitively impaired and noncognitively impaired residents, informal caregivers, and providers in 219 CRC facilities for this study. Residents with cognitive impairment were older (p < .

Resident outcomes of Medicaid-funded community residential care.

Purpose: Washington State's initiatives to increase the availability and quality of community residential care presented an opportunity to describe clients entering adult family homes, adult residential care, and assisted living and to identify outcomes of care.

Design And Methods: We enrolled 349 residents, 243 informal caregivers, and 299 providers in 219 settings. We conducted interviews at enrollment and 12 months later, and we collected data from state databases.

Potentially inappropriate medication use in community residential care facilities.

Objective: To describe the prevalence of potentially inappropriate medication use in community residential care (CRC) facilities at baseline, describe exposure to potentially inappropriate drugs during the 1-year follow-up, and examine characteristics associated with potentially inappropriate use.

Design: A cohort study was conducted using 282 individuals aged >/=65 years entering a CRC facility in a 3-county area in the Puget Sound region of Washington State between April 1998 and December 1998 on Medicaid funding.

Main Outcome Measure: Use of potentially inappropriate medications as defined by explicit criteria (e.

Studies with Digital Hearing Aids.

Digital hearing aids offer many advantages over conventional hearing aids. These include signal-processing capabilities that are superior to those of a conventional analog hearing aid, methods of signal-processing and control that are unique to digital systems and which cannot be implemented in conventional analog hearing aids, and innovative new techniques that are changing our way of thinking about hearing aids. An example of the first of these advantages is the extremely high precision with which the frequency-gain characteristic can be specified and the use of this capability to study the effects of frequency response irregularities commonly encountered with hearing aids.