Development of a Survey of Sunscreen Use and Attitudes among Adults in Two Coastal States, 2019.

Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States, and regular use of broad-spectrum sunscreens can prevent skin cancer. However, a new law in Hawaii that limits sunscreen choices due to the belief that some UV (ultraviolet) filters may damage coral reefs may reduce sunscreen use and increase skin-cancer risk. Because of this, there is a need for measurement tools to help understand consumer behavior and determinants of sunscreen purchase and use.

Effect of Financial Incentives and Environmental Strategies on Weight Loss in the Healthy Weigh Study: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Modest weight loss can lead to meaningful risk reduction in adults with obesity. Although both behavioral economic incentives and environmental change strategies have shown promise for initial weight loss, to date they have not been combined, or compared, in a randomized clinical trial.

Objective: To test the relative effectiveness of financial incentives and environmental strategies, alone and in combination, on initial weight loss and maintenance of weight loss in adults with obesity.

Cost-Effectiveness of Four Financial Incentive Programs for Smoking Cessation.

A trial of four financial incentive programs, conducted at CVS Caremark, a large employer, documented their effectiveness in promoting sustained abstinence from smoking, but their cost-effectiveness is unknown, and the significant up-front cost of the incentives is a deterrent to their adoption. To determine the cost-effectiveness of these incentives from the healthcare sector and employer perspectives. This study examines a decision model built with trial data, supplemented by data from the literature.

The healthy food marketing strategies study: design, baseline characteristics, and supermarket compliance.

Identifying effective strategies to promote healthy eating and reduce obesity is a priority in the USA, especially among low-income and minority groups, who often have less access to healthy food and higher rates of obesity. Efforts to improve food access have led to more supermarkets in low-income, ethnically diverse neighborhoods. However, this alone may not be enough to reduce food insecurity and improve residents' diet quality and health.

Patient Satisfaction and Perceived Quality of Care Among Younger Medicare Beneficiaries According to Activity Limitation Stages.

Objective: To examine the association between activity limitation stages and patient satisfaction and perceived quality of medical care among younger Medicare beneficiaries.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) for calendar years 2001-2011.

Functional Impairments Associated With Patient Activation Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults.

Objectives: Activity of daily living stages and instrumental activity of daily living stages demonstrated ordered associations with mortality, risk of hospitalization, and receipt of recommended care. This article explores the associations of stages with the following three dimensions of patient activation: self-care efficacy, patient-doctor communication, and health-information seeking. We hypothesized that higher activity of daily living and instrumental activity of daily living stages (greater limitation) are associated with a lower level of patient activation.

Preventable hospitalizations, barriers to care, and disability.

The AHRQ's Prevention Quality Indicators assume inpatient hospitalizations for certain conditions, referred as ambulatory-care sensitive (ACS) conditions, are potentially preventable and may indicate reduced access to and a lower quality of ambulatory care. Using a cohort drawn from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) linked to Medicare claims, we examined the extent to which barriers to healthcare are associated with ACS hospitalizations and related costs, and whether these associations differ by beneficiaries' disability status. Our results indicate that the regression-adjusted cost of ACS hospitalizations for elderly Medicare beneficiaries with no disabilities was $799.

A Risk Scoring System for the Prediction of Functional Deterioration, Institutionalization, and Mortality Among Medicare Beneficiaries.

Objective: We sought to develop a risk scoring system for predicting functional deterioration, institutionalization, and mortality. Identifying predictors of poor health outcomes informs clinical decision-making, service provision, and policy development to address the needs of persons at greatest risk for poor health outcomes.

Design: This is a cohort study with 21,257 community-dwelling Medicare beneficiaries 65 yrs and older who participated in the 2001-2008 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey.

Premorbid Activity Limitation Stages Are Associated With Posthospitalization Discharge Disposition.

Objective: Activity of daily living stages and instrumental activity of daily living stage have demonstrated associations with mortality and health service use among older adults. This cohort study aims to assess the associations of premorbid activity limitation stages with acute hospital discharge disposition among community-dwelling older adults.

Design: Study participants were Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 yrs or older who enrolled in the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey between 2001 and 2009.

Predicting 3-year mortality and admission to acute-care hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and long-term care facilities in Medicare beneficiaries.

Purpose: The ability to predict mortality and admission to acute care hospitals, skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), and long-term care (LTC) facilities in the elderly and how it varies by activity of daily living (ADL) and instrumental ADL (IADL) status could be useful in measuring the success or failure of economic, social, or health policies aimed at disability prevention and management. We sought to derive and assess the predictive performance of rules to predict 3-year mortality and admission to acute care hospitals, SNFs, and LTC facilities among Medicare beneficiaries with differing ADL and IADL functioning levels.

Methods: Prospective cohort using Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey data from the 2001 to 2007 entry panels.

The Association Between Activity Limitation Stages and Admission to Facilities Providing Long-term Care Among Older Medicare Beneficiaries.

Objective: This study aimed to examine whether activity limitation stages are associated with admission to facilities providing long-term care (LTC).

Design: Cohort study using Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey data from the 2005-2009 entry panels. A total of 14,580 community-dwelling Medicare beneficiaries 65 years or older were included.

Perceived barriers to healthcare and receipt of recommended medical care among elderly Medicare beneficiaries.

Purpose: Many Medicare beneficiaries perceive barriers to receiving healthcare, although the consequences are unknown. Facilitators can aid in the receipt of healthcare services. The objective was to assess the relationship between perceived facilitators and barriers to healthcare and actual receipt of recommended medical care among elderly beneficiaries.

Predictive Indices for Functional Improvement and Deterioration, Institutionalization, and Death Among Elderly Medicare Beneficiaries.

Background: Prediction models can help clinicians provide the best and most appropriate care to their patients and can help policy makers design services for groups at highest risk for poor outcomes.

Objective: To develop prediction models identifying both risk factors and protective factors for functional deterioration, institutionalization, and death.

Design: Cohort study using data from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS).

Disparities in receipt of recommended care among younger versus older medicare beneficiaries: a cohort study.

Background: Although health disparities have been documented between Medicare beneficiaries based on age (<65 years vs. older age groups), underuse of recommended medical care in younger beneficiaries has not been thoroughly investigated. In this study, we aim to identify and characterize vulnerabilities of the younger Medicare age group (aged <65 years) in relation to older age groups (aged 65-74 years and ≥75 years) and to explore age group as a determinant of use of recommended care among Medicare beneficiaries.

Presence of Vision Impairment and Risk of Hospitalization among Elderly Medicare Beneficiaries.

Purpose: To examine the association between vision impairment and all-cause hospitalization among elderly Medicare beneficiaries.

Methods: A population-based study (N = 22,681) of community-dwelling Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 years and older who participated in the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey for the years 2001-2007. Beneficiaries were classified into self-reported presence of vision impairment versus no vision impairment.

Disability stage and receipt of recommended care among elderly medicare beneficiaries.

Background: Receipt of recommended care among older adults is generally low. Findings regarding service use among persons with disabilities supports the notion of disparities but provides inconsistent evidence of underuse of recommended care.

Objective: To examine the extent to which receipt of recommended care among older Medicare beneficiaries varies by disability status, using a newly developed staging method to classify individuals according to disability.

Disability Stages and Trouble Getting Needed Health Care Among Medicare Beneficiaries.

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine whether activity limitation stages were associated with patient-reported trouble getting needed health care among Medicare beneficiaries.

Design: This was a population-based study (n = 35,912) of Medicare beneficiaries who participated in the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey for years 2001-2010. Beneficiaries were classified into an activity limitation stage from 0 (no limitation) to IV (complete) derived from self-reported or proxy-reported difficulty performing activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living.

Identifying neuropsychiatric disorders in the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey: the benefits of combining health survey and claims data.

Background: To address the impact of using multiple sources of data in the United States Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) compared to using only one source of data to identify those with neuropsychiatric diagnoses.

Methods: Our data source was the 2010 MCBS with associated Medicare claims files (N = 14, 672 beneficiaries). The MCBS uses a stratified multistage probability sample design to select a nationally representative sample of Medicare beneficiaries.

Patient Satisfaction and Prognosis for Functional Improvement and Deterioration, Institutionalization, and Death Among Medicare Beneficiaries Over 2 Years.

Objective: To examine how patient satisfaction with care coordination and quality and access to medical care influence functional improvement or deterioration (activity limitation stage transitions), institutionalization, or death among older adults.

Design: National representative sample with 2-year follow-up.

Setting: Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey from calendar years 2001 to 2008.

Comparison of predictive value of activity limitation staging systems based on dichotomous versus trichotomous responses in the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey.

Background: Traditional ways of measuring disability include summary indices, binary expressions, or counts of limitations. However, counts of activity of daily living (ADL) or instrumental activity of daily living (IADL) limitations do not specify which activities are limited. Activity limitation staging systems within the ADL and IADL domains depict both the severity and types of limitations experienced and specify clinically meaningful patterns of increasing difficulty with self-care.

Effects of prosthetic limb prescription on 3-year mortality among Veterans with lower-limb amputation.

Our objective was to determine the relationship between receipt of a prescription for a prosthetic limb and 3 yr mortality postsurgery among Veterans with lower-limb amputation (LLA). We conducted a retrospective observational study that included 4,578 Veterans hospitalized for LLA and discharged in fiscal years 2003 and 2004. The outcome was time to all-cause mortality from the amputation surgical date up to the 3 yr anniversary of the surgical date.

Patient Satisfaction and Perceived Quality of Care Among Older Adults According to Activity Limitation Stages.

Objective: To examine whether patient satisfaction and perceived quality of medical care are related to stages of activity limitations among older adults.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) for calendar years 2001 to 2011.

How does geographic access affect in-hospital mortality for veterans with acute ischemic stroke?

Objective: To examine the relationship between estimated travel time to admitting hospital and mortality for veterans with acute ischemic stroke, controlling for patient demographic, clinical, facility-level variables, as well as select in-hospital treatments and procedures.

Methods: A longitudinal observational population-based study. Information on all veterans discharged from a Veterans Administration Medical Center (VAMC) with an ischemic stroke diagnosis between October 1, 2006 and September 30, 2008 were examined.

Development and Validation of Prognostic Indices for Recovery of Physical Functioning Following Stroke: Part 2.

Objective: To develop a prognostic index for achievement of modified independence (Functional Independence Measure grade VI) after completion of either comprehensive or consultative rehabilitation after stroke.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: Veterans Affairs Medical Centers (VAMCs) throughout the United States.

Development and Validation of Prognostic Indices for Recovery of Physical Functioning Following Stroke: Part 1.

Objective: To develop a prognostic index using Functional Independence Measure grades and stages that would enable clinicians to determine the likelihood of achieving a level of minimum assistance with physical functioning after a stroke. Grades define varying levels of physical function, and stages define varying levels of cognitive functioning.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.