What is a star worth to Medicare beneficiaries? A discrete choice experiment of hospital quality ratings.

Hospital quality ratings are widely available to help Medicare beneficiaries make an informed choice about where to receive care. However, how beneficiaries' trade-off between different quality domains (clinical outcomes, patient experience, safety, efficiency) and other considerations (out-of-pocket cost, travel distance) is not well understood. We sought to study how beneficiaries make trade-offs when choosing a hypothetical hospital.

Screening for Breast Cancer: Evidence Report and Systematic Review for the US Preventive Services Task Force.

Importance: Breast cancer is a leading cause of cancer mortality for US women. Trials have established that screening mammography can reduce mortality risk, but optimal screening ages, intervals, and modalities for population screening guidelines remain unclear.

Objective: To review studies comparing different breast cancer screening strategies for the US Preventive Services Task Force.

Missing link: a qualitative analysis of community-based organisations' contributions to partnered collaborative care to treat late-life depression.

Objective: Extending collaborative care, a model integrating mental health services into primary care, to include community-based organisations (CBOs) may improve older patient health outcomes by increasing access to care and addressing patients' social needs; however, little is known about how CBOs contribute to such partnered depression care. We explored how six primary care clinic and CBO partnerships came together to provide late-life depression care through the Care Partners funded in 2014.

Design: 43 key informant interviews and 15 focus groups were conducted with care managers, administrators and primary care providers partnering to provide late-life depression care.

Patient concerns and physician strategies for addressing COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy.

Objective: COVID-19 vaccination is critical for reducing serious illness and hospitalizations, yet many remain hesitant. We conducted a survey of frontline physicians to identify patient concerns and physician strategies to address COVID-19 vaccine-hesitancy.

Methods: A national random sample of physicians in frontline specialties selected from a comprehensive list of practicing physicians in the U.

Lessons From the Field From a Volunteer Telehealth Ambassador Program to Enhance Video Visits Among Low-Income Patients: Qualitative Improvement Study.

Background: The prevalence of telehealth video use across the United States is uneven, with low uptake in safety-net health care delivery systems, which care for patient populations who face barriers to using digital technologies.

Objective: This study aimed to increase video visit use in an urban safety-net delivery system. We piloted a telehealth ambassador program, in which volunteers offered technical support to patients with access to digital technologies to convert primary care visits already scheduled as telehealth audio-only visits to telehealth video visits.

Impact of overdose on health plan disenrollment among patients prescribed long-term opioids: Retrospective cohort study.

Context: Health plan disenrollment may disrupt chronic or preventive care for patients prescribed long-term opioid therapy (LTOT).

Purpose: To assess whether overdose events in patients prescribed LTOT are associated with subsequent health plan disenrollment.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Cancer incidence among Armenians in California.

Introduction: California is home to the largest population of Armenians in the United States. The historical categorization of Armenians as 'White' or 'Some Other Race' in population databases has likely masked cancer incidence patterns in this population. This is the first study considering cancer incidence among Armenians in California.

Examining evidence for a relationship between human-animal interactions and common mental disorders during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic literature review.

Introduction: COVID-19 lockdowns, shelter in place, closures of transportation and mental health services, and dearth of mental health providers created new barriers to obtaining support for mental health needs at a time of increased rates of anxiety and depression. During the pandemic, a record number of households owned and adopted pets, opening a potential avenue to investigate the relationship between pets and mental health. This systematic literature review examined the question: What is the evidence for a relationship between human-animal interaction and/or animal ownership and common mental disorders among adults who interacted with pets compared to adults who did not during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Methods: To address this question, four databases were searched: Medline, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and SCOPUS for peer-reviewed literature published between 2020 and July 2023.

A Tutorial on Net Benefit Regression for Real-World Cost-Effectiveness Analysis Using Censored Data from Randomized or Observational Studies.

We illustrate the steps involved in carrying out cost-effectiveness analysis using net benefit regressions with possibly censored demo data by providing step-by-step guidance and code applied to a data set.We demonstrate the importance of these new methods by illustrating how naïve methods for handling censoring can lead to biased cost-effectiveness results.

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of a Community-Based Telewellness Weight Loss Program.

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to perform a cost-effectiveness analysis of the Koa Family Program, a community-based telewellness weight reduction intervention for overweight and obese women aged 21-45 years with low income. The Koa Family Program resulted in an approximately 8-pound weight loss as demonstrated in an RCT published previously.

Methods: Estimates for the cost-effectiveness were derived from the prospective 25-week RCT including 70 women (25 kg/m≤BMI<40 kg/m).

Clinical Knowledge Model for the Prevention of Healthcare-Associated Venous Thromboembolism.

Knowledge models inform organizational behavior through the logical association of documentation processes, definitions, data elements, and value sets. The development of a well-designed knowledge model allows for the reuse of electronic health record data to promote efficiency in practice, data interoperability, and the extensibility of data to new capabilities or functionality such as clinical decision support, quality improvement, and research. The purpose of this article is to describe the development and validation of a knowledge model for healthcare-associated venous thromboembolism prevention.

Prenatal Counseling on the Maternal Health Benefits of Lactation: A Randomized Trial.

To assess the effects of prenatal counseling about the maternal health benefits of lactation on postpartum knowledge, breastfeeding intentions, and infant feeding behaviors. We conducted a randomized trial with 411 nulliparous U.S.

Improving hospital quality risk-adjustment models using interactions identified by hierarchical group lasso regularisation.

Background: Risk-adjustment (RA) models are used to account for severity of illness in comparing patient outcomes across hospitals. Researchers specify covariates as main effects, but they often ignore interactions or use stratification to account for effect modification, despite limitations due to rare events and sparse data. Three Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) hospital-level Quality Indicators currently use stratified models, but their variable performance and limited interpretability motivated the design of better models.

A scoping review of empathy recognition in text using natural language processing.

Objective: To provide a scoping review of studies on empathy recognition in text using natural language processing (NLP) that can inform an approach to identifying physician empathic communication over patient portal messages.

Materials And Methods: We searched 6 databases to identify relevant studies published through May 1, 2023. The study selection was conducted through a title screening, an abstract review, and a full-text review.

Primary Care Physicians' Perspectives on High-Quality Discharge Summaries.

Background: Successful transitions of care require communication between inpatient and outpatient physicians. The discharge summary is the main communication tool used by physicians during these transitions.

Objective: With the goal of improving care transitions, we explored primary care physicians (PCPs) perspectives on characteristics of high-quality discharge summaries.

Does haste make waste? Prevalence and types of errors reported after publication of studies of COVID-19 therapeutics.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic spurred publication of a rapid proliferation of studies on potential therapeutic agents. While important for the advancement of clinical care, pressure to collect, analyze, and report data in an expedited manner could potentially increase the rate of important errors, some of which would be captured in published errata. We hypothesized that COVID-19 therapeutic studies published in the early years of the pandemic would be associated with a high rate of published errata and that, within these errata, there would be a high prevalence of serious errors.

Strengthening digital health equity by balancing techno-optimism and techno-skepticism through implementation science.

As result of the pandemic-related increase in telehealth and the 21st Century Cures Act, technology is playing an increasing role in healthcare. This has led to organizational investments in the “digital front door” of healthcare. The promise that these technologies can revolutionize care by better connecting us to our patients, overcoming analog barriers to care, and addressing health disparities is grounded in “techno-optimism.

Colposcopy referral rates post-introduction of primary screening with human papillomavirus testing: evidence from a large British Columbia cohort study.

Background: Shifting from cytology to human papillomavirus (HPV)-based cervical cancer screening will initially increase colposcopy referrals. The anticipated impact on health systems has been raised as a concern for implementation. It is unclear if the higher rate of colposcopy referrals is sustained after initial HPV-based screens or reverts to new lower baselines due to earlier detection and treatment of precancer.

How Do Adolescent and Young Adult Patients with Cancer Manage Their Chemotherapy-Related Symptoms at Home?

Chemotherapy can cause many distressing side effects, potentially impacting treatment completion and quality of life in adolescent and young adult (AYA) patients with cancer. To identify ways to help mitigate chemotherapy-related symptoms, we sought to elicit barriers and facilitators to managing symptoms experienced by AYAs with cancer through interviews. Qualitative thematic analysis identified three main domains: (1) managing chemotherapy symptoms (e.

Identifying the Information Needs and Format Preferences for Web-Based Content Among Adults With or Parents of Children With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Three-Stage Qualitative Analysis.

Background: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a highly prevalent childhood and adult behavioral disorder. Internet searches for ADHD information are rising, particularly for diagnosis and treatment. Despite effective ADHD treatments, research suggests that there are delays in seeking help for ADHD.

Language-Specific Challenges and Solutions for Equitable Telemedicine Implementation in the Primary Care Safety Net During COVID-19.

Purpose: Telemedicine care dramatically expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic. We characterized facilitators and barriers to telemedicine implementation among safety-net primary care clinics serving patients with limited English proficiency (LEP).

Methods: We collected data on telemedicine volume and patient demographics among safety-net clinics participating in a telemedicine learning collaborative.

Understanding of Lactational Amenorrhea As a Contraceptive Method Among U.S. Pregnant Women.

The lactational amenorrhea method (LAM) of postpartum contraception is more effective than typical use of condoms or birth control pills. However, LAM may be underutilized due to incomplete perinatal counseling. We compared perceptions of the effectiveness of postpartum contraceptives including LAM among U.

Longitudinal Care Patterns and Utilization Among Patients With New-Onset Neck Pain by Initial Provider Specialty.

Study Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Objective: To compare utilization patterns for patients with new-onset neck pain by initial provider specialty.

Summary Of Background Data: Initial provider specialty has been associated with distinct care patterns among patients with acute back pain; little is known about care patterns among patients with acute neck pain.