Publications by authors named "Meghan Gabriel"

Categorization systems for tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) infection lack consistency in classifying disease severity. To evaluate the need for a standard, consensus-based categorisation system for TBEV infection across subtypes, we gathered an expert panel of clinicians and scientists with diverse expertise in TBEV infection. Consensus was sought using the Delphi technique, which consisted of 2 web-based survey questionnaires and a final, virtual, consensus-building exercise.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Vaccine uptake among adult Medicaid beneficiaries is low, prompting a systematic review of factors influencing both patients and healthcare providers regarding vaccination practices from studies published between 2005 and 2022.
  • - The review highlights that barriers to vaccination include insurance policies, cost-sharing, access to services, and the level of vaccine-related education among both patients and providers.
  • - Recommendations to improve vaccination rates focus on reducing cost-sharing, enhancing educational outreach about vaccine safety and benefits, and ensuring better reimbursement rates comparable to other insurance plans.
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Article Synopsis
  • Health information technology (health IT) has significantly transformed healthcare in the U.S. by enhancing data exchange, e-prescribing, and patient access to health info.
  • The study assesses advancements in health IT adoption, focusing on how it aligns with the goals of improving healthcare data access and sharing, as outlined by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT.
  • Findings show a massive increase in electronic health record usage, with 70% of hospitals now interoperable and 92% of prescribers using e-prescribing, facilitating easier access to personal health information for patients and caregivers.
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Objectives: Despite chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) being a leading cause of death in the US, there are few COPD measures in current quality programs. The objective of this study was to assess the validity and applicability of the COPD treatment ratio (CTR) as a surrogate marker of COPD exacerbation risk for use in quality measurement. CTR is defined as the ratio of COPD maintenance medications to all COPD medications (maintenance and rescue).

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Background: Patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures provide valuable evidence in clinical trials; however, poor compliance with PRO measures is a notable and long-standing problem, resulting in missing data that potentially impact the interpretation of trial results. Interactive, patient-centric platforms may increase participants' motivation to complete PRO measures over the course of a clinical trial. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate and optimize the usability of 3 popular consumer technologies-a traditional app-based interface, a chatbot interface, and a speech-operated interface-that may be used to improve user engagement and compliance with PRO measures.

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Objective: The SUPPORT Act provided resources for developing prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) capable of reporting on four specific opioid quality measures. Therefore, the objective of this pilot study was to map, test, and adapt these claims-based opioid quality measures specified for health plan performance to PDMP data for state-level performance.

Materials And Methods: Maryland PDMP and claims from Maryland Medicaid beneficiaries continuously enrolled from April 1, 2019, to March 31, 2020.

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Patients receiving specialty medications have conditions that are often complex, high cost, and high need. Prompt treatment initiation is essential for the appropriate management of many conditions treated by specialty products. Improving the turnaround time (TAT) of specialty pharmacy prescriptions helps ensure patients receive the medication they need in the necessary time frame to optimize health outcomes.

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Background: Data on guideline-concordant initial systemic treatment among women with HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer (MBC) are limited. We determined the proportion of women with HER2-negative MBC who received guideline-concordant treatment and the extent to which independent variables explained differences in guideline-concordant treatment by hormone receptor (HR) status.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using the SEER-Medicare database.

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Objectives: The study's objectives were to explore the impact of personal/organizational knowledge, prior breach status of organizations, and framed scenarios on the choices made by privacy officers regarding the decision to report a breach.

Study Design: A survey was completed of 123 privacy officers who are members of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA).

Methods: The study used primary data collection through a survey.

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This study examined the health literacy of international college students from Colombia visiting the United States. Thirty (30) students from a Colombian university completed the survey in October 2017. This pilot study surveyed international college students using the eHEALS and Newest Vital Signs (NVS) health literacy tools to determine the health literacy of this group.

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This study explored how hospitals define population health and the factors associated with hospitals' population health initiatives. Data came from the 2015 American Hospital Association (AHA) Population Health Survey, the 2015 AHA Annual Survey, and the 2015 AHA Health Information Technology Supplement. Descriptive statistics described the sample of 1,386 nonfederal acute care hospitals and variables of interest.

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Background: Despite its efficacy, medication-assisted treatment (MAT) is rarely available in the criminal justice system in the United States, including in problem-solving courts or diversionary settings. Previous studies have demonstrated criminal justice administrators' hostility towards MAT, especially in prisons and jails. Yet, few studies have examined attitudes among court personnel or compared beliefs among different types of personnel.

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The purpose of this study is to determine racial and ethnic disparities with the adherence to inhaled corticosteroids (ICSs) in adults with persistent asthma, and their association with healthcare expenditures. A retrospective, cross-sectional study using the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) 2013-2014 data included patients ≥18 years with persistent asthma. Median medication possession ratio (MPR) was used to dichotomize adherence levels.

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Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between ownership type and population health initiatives adopted by hospitals using the 2015 American Hospital Association data.

Design/methodology/approach: Hospitals of various sizes, ownership structures and geographic locations are represented in the survey. The outcome variables of interest include measures of hospital population health activities.

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Despite the ever-changing requirements of modern policy, payers seek interventions for care delivery improvement through value-based care models. Prior research acknowledges the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) as a tool for performance and outcomes improvement. However, these studies lack empirical evidence of performance trends across medical homes.

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Background: Physical therapy is an important treatment option for patients with low back pain (LBP). However, whether to refer patients for physical therapy and the timing of initiation remain controversial.

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of receiving physical therapy and the timing of physical therapy initiation on downstream health care utilization and costs among patients with acute LBP.

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Objectives: The objectives of this study were to describe the locations in hospitals where data are breached, the types of breaches that occur most often at hospitals, and hospital characteristics, including health information technology (IT) sophistication and biometric security capabilities, that may be predicting factors of large data breaches that affect 500 or more patients.

Study Design: The Office of Civil Rights breach data from healthcare providers regarding breaches that affected 500 or more individuals from 2009 to 2016 were linked with hospital characteristics from the Health Information Management Systems Society and the American Hospital Association Health IT Supplement databases.

Methods: Descriptive statistics were used to characterize hospitals with and without breaches, data breach type, and location/mode of data breaches in hospitals.

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Background: Although the adoption of e-prescriptions among physicians has increased substantially under the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act and Meaningful Use programs, little is known of its impact on patient outcomes.

Objective: To examine the impact of e-prescribing on emergency visits or hospitalizations for diabetes-related adverse drug events (ADEs) including hypoglycemia.

Design: This is a prospective, observational cohort study with patient fixed effects.

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Organic acids (OAs) serve as metabolites that play pivotal roles in a host of different metabolic and regulatory pathways. The polar nature of many OAs poses a challenge to their measurement using widely practiced analytical methods. In this study, a targeted metabolomics method was developed using ion chromatography/triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (IC/MS) to quantitate 28 polar OAs with limits of quantitation ranging from 0.

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Context: The effects of caloric restriction (CR) on in vivo muscle mitochondrial function in humans are controversial.

Objective: We evaluated muscle mitochondrial function and associated transcriptional profiles in nonobese humans after 12 months of CR.

Design: Individuals from an ancillary study of the CALERIE 2 randomized controlled trial were assessed at baseline and 12 months after a 25% CR or ad libitum (control) diet.

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Context: Reduced mitochondrial coupling (ATP/O [P/O]) is associated with sedentariness and insulin resistance. Interpreting the physiological relevance of P/O measured in vitro is challenging.

Objective: To evaluate muscle mitochondrial function and associated transcriptional profiles in nonobese healthy individuals distinguished by their in vivo P/O.

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Objective: To document national trends of electronic medication history use in the ambulatory setting and describe the characteristics and predicting factors of providers who regularly use medication history transaction capabilities through their e-prescribing systems.

Materials And Methods: The study used provider-initiated medication history data requests, electronically sent over an e-prescribing network from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Data from 138,000 prescribers were evaluated using multivariate analyses from 2007 to 2013.

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Evidence supports the potential for e-prescribing to reduce the incidence of adverse drug events (ADEs) in hospital-based studies, but studies in the ambulatory setting have not used occurrence of ADE as their outcome. Using the "prescription origin code" in 2011 Medicare Part D prescription drug events files, the authors investigate whether physicians who meet the meaningful use stage 2 threshold for e-prescribing (≥50% of prescriptions e-prescribed) have lower rates of ADEs among their diabetic patients. Risk of any patient with diabetes in the provider's panel having an ADE from anti-diabetic medications was modeled adjusted for prescriber and patient panel characteristics.

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