Exceptions to outpatient quality measures for coronary artery disease in electronic health records.

Background: Physicians report outpatient quality measures from data in electronic health records to facilitate care improvement and qualify for incentive payments.

Objective: To determine the frequency and validity of exceptions to quality measures and to test a system for classifying the reasons for these exceptions.

Design: Cross-sectional observational study.

Creating school-age versions of semistructured interviews for the prodrome to schizophrenia: lessons from case reviews.

There is an increasing emphasis on identifying individuals with schizophrenia earlier and earlier in their disease process, with the assumption that earlier identification translates into earlier treatment, which translates into improved outcome. Unfortunately, one age cohort, children under 13 years of age, have been excluded from this critical alteration in clinical intervention strategy, and its associated improved clinical outcome. One of the barriers to inclusion of younger children is the lack of knowledge about diagnostic issues related to attenuated psychotic symptoms in this age sample.

Childhood-onset schizophrenia: premorbid and prodromal diagnostic and treatment histories.

Objective: There is increasing interest in the possible relationship between the early diagnosis and treatment of schizophrenia during adolescence and improved long-term outcome. This study reviews the premorbid and prodromal diagnostic and treatment histories for childhood-onset schizophrenia, to assess whether early identification and treatment is possible in this school-age group.

Method: Parents of 17 children with childhood-onset schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were questioned retrospectively regarding symptoms, exposure to mental health professionals, diagnoses, and treatments.