Abstract P863: Did Covid 19 Highlight Disparities in Stroke Care: A Real-World Study of Telehealth Utilization Between Urban and Suburban Populations in a Health Care System

Stroke ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 52 (Suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maryika I Gibson ◽  
Ruchi Wanchoo
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care System ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Small Sample Size ◽  
National Level ◽  
Stroke Care ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Acute Stroke Care ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Care System

A viable alternative to in person assessments, telemedicine offered providers cost effective and safe alternative to patient care delivery during COVID19. Resource limitations, state and organizational safety precautions accelerated our system adoption of video visits for stroke post hospitalization assessments. Utilizing mixed methods we aimed to investigate an association between patients characteristics (age, gender, race, Modified Rankin Score-mRS, residence) and their choice for post-acute care during a five-month period. The subset selecting in-person visits was further interviewed regarding perceptions of barriers to telehealth. We analyzed data from 85 patients’ records (45 in the urban telehealth and 40 in the suburban clinic visit groups) according to ICD10 codes. While total volume of televisits increased during COVID 19, stroke accounted for <1% of them. There was no significant difference in the mean age between the two groups-68.5 years in the clinic and 64.4 in the tele. The clinic subset had 42% of patients age greater than 75 years. Significant difference was detected in disabilities (t=3.5, p<.001) with one-point higher mean mRS (1.7 vs .7) and stronger positive correlation of age to disabilities in the suburban group (r2=.26 vs r2=.16). Patients selecting in-person care outlined as barriers to telehealth a lack of technology, poor connectivity, no caregiver availability for tele exam, inability to communicate or other major co-morbidities, family’s perception of complexity of patient’s condition, fragmentation of care during the period. Patients selecting video assessment were more connected with a health care system and from the urban center. Strengths of the study are the application of mix methods and investigation of suburban patients’ perceptions of barriers to telehealth. Limitations consist of small sample size and 90% Caucasian population. Current technology advancements, software applications, and the goal of Healthy People 2030 of removing disparities in heart and stroke disease will require a new multipronged approach to improving stroke telehealth at population level. Further studies at national level including social determinates of health need to examine barriers to telemedicine in post-acute stroke care.

scholarly journals Capacity of Kidney Care in Canada: Identifying Barriers and Opportunities

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 205435811987054
Author(s):  
Meaghan Lunney ◽  
Arian Samimi ◽  
Mohamad A. Osman ◽  
Kailash Jindal ◽  
Natasha Wiebe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care System ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
National Level ◽  
Noncommunicable Diseases ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Canadian Health Care System ◽  
Canadian Health ◽  
Canadian Health Care ◽  
Care System

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a significant health problem in Canada. Understanding the capacity of the Canadian health-care system to deliver kidney care is important to provide optimal care. Objective: To compare Canada’s position in relation to countries of similar economic standing. Design: Cross-sectional electronic survey. Setting: Member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) that participated in the survey. Participants: Nephrologists, other physicians, policymakers, and other professionals with relevant expertise in kidney care. Measurements: Not applicable. Methods: A survey administered by the International Society of Nephrology assessed the global capacity of kidney care delivery. Data from participating OECD countries were analyzed using descriptive statistics to compare Canada’s position. Results: Of the participating countries, most funded kidney care services (non-medication) by government (transplantation: 85%, dialysis: 81%, acute kidney injury (AKI): 77%). Most countries covered medication. Canada reported a public funding model for kidney services and a mix of public and private sources for medication. Nephrologists and nephrology trainee densities were lower in Canada compared to the median (15.33 vs. 25.82 and 1.74 vs. 3.94, respectively). CKD was recognized as a health priority in five countries, but not in Canada. Registries for CKD did not exist in most (24/26) countries. Canada followed a national strategy for noncommunicable diseases, but this was not specific to CKD care, dialysis, or transplantation. Limitations: Risks of recall bias or social desirability bias are present. Differences in a number of factors could influence discrepancies among countries and were not explored. Responses reflected the existence of practices, policies, and strategies, and may not necessarily describe action or impact. Capacity of care is not equal across all regions and provinces within Canada; however, the findings are reported on a national level and therefore may not appropriately address variability. Conclusions: This study describes the capacity for kidney care at a national level within the context of the Canadian health system. The Canadian health-care system is well funded by the government; however, there are areas that could be improved to increase the optimization of kidney care provided.

Modern Western Science as a Standard for Traditional Chinese Medicine: A Critical Appraisal

2003 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruiping Fan
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Chinese Medicine ◽  
Traditional Chinese Medicine ◽  
Health Care System ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
World Health ◽  
Scientific Medicine ◽  
Integrative Health ◽  
Integrative Health Care ◽  
Care System

It is generally recognized that China, while attempting to develop modern scientific medicine in carrying out its national policy for modernization, has also made significant efforts to integrate traditional Chinese medicine into its health care system. For instance, the World Health Organization's first global strategy on traditional and alternative medicine (released in May 2002) lists China as one of only four of its member states to have attained an integrative health care system. However, medical integration can take many different forms and involve quite different health care standards. A health care standard is a set of mechanisms by which distinct diagnostic and therapeutic practices and products are validated or accredited for use in health care delivery. Traditional Chinese medicine and modern scientific medicine adopt different sets of such mechanisms and thereby engage different health care standards. Accordingly, in appraising the Chinese integrative health care system, it is important to investigate which health care standard has been appealed to.

Patient Experiences, Trust, and Preferences for Health Data Sharing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rochelle D. Jones ◽  
Chris Krenz ◽  
Kent A. Griffith ◽  
Rebecca Spence ◽  
Angela R. Bradbury ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Data Sharing ◽  
Health Care System ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Final Analysis ◽  
Secondary Use ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Care System

PURPOSE: Scholars have examined patients' attitudes toward secondary use of routinely collected clinical data for research and quality improvement. Evidence suggests that trust in health care organizations and physicians is critical. Less is known about experiences that shape trust and how they influence data sharing preferences. MATERIALS AND METHODS: To explore learning health care system (LHS) ethics, democratic deliberations were hosted from June 2017 to May 2018. A total of 217 patients with cancer participated in facilitated group discussion. Transcripts were coded independently. Finalized codes were organized into themes using interpretive description and thematic analysis. Two previous analyses reported on patient preferences for consent and data use; this final analysis focuses on the influence of personal lived experiences of the health care system, including interactions with providers and insurers, on trust and preferences for data sharing. RESULTS: Qualitative analysis identified four domains of patients' lived experiences raised in the context of the policy discussions: (1) the quality of care received, (2) the impact of health care costs, (3) the transparency and communication displayed by a provider or an insurer to the patient, and (4) the extent to which care coordination was hindered or facilitated by the interchange between a provider and an insurer. Patients discussed their trust in health care decision makers and their opinions about LHS data sharing. CONCLUSION: Additional resources, infrastructure, regulations, and practice innovations are needed to improve patients' experiences with and trust in the health care system. Those who seek to build LHSs may also need to consider improvement in other aspects of care delivery.

A Principled Approach to Essential Health-Care Delivery System Reforms

2017 ◽  
pp. 159-201
Author(s):  
Gunnar Almgren
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Population Health ◽  
Health Care System ◽  
Health Care Delivery ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Right To Health Care ◽  
Competing Interests ◽  
Political Feasibility ◽  
Future Health Care ◽  
Care System

The basic premise of this chapter is that we have at our disposal a wealth of evidence-based knowledge of critical health care delivery strategies that would, if implemented on a large scale, yield both a social right to health care for all citizens and favorable population health care outcomes at lower cost. This chapter provides a synthesis of this knowledge, and then identifies a limited set of very specific health care system delivery reforms that meet three evaluative criteria: equity, sustainability, and political feasibility. Equity refers to the extent to which any particular health care system delivery reform achieves a fair balance between the competing interests of different segments of the patient population and society at large. Sustainability refers to the extent to which a health care system delivery reform initiative yields favorable impacts on population health while realizing large reductions in immediate and future health care costs. Finally, political feasibility refers to the likelihood of a given health care system delivery reform in view of the competing interests of different stakeholder groups affected. This chapter offers a principled and empirically justified blueprint for the most promising health care system delivery reforms towards the fulfillment of these three ends.

scholarly journals Social and Health System Complexities Impacting on Decision-Making for Utilization of Oncology and Palliative Care in an African Context: A Qualitative Study

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 185-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Agom ◽  
Stuart Allen ◽  
Sarah Neill ◽  
Judith Sixsmith ◽  
Helen Poole ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Palliative Care ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Health Care System ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Semistructured Interview ◽  
Design Data ◽  
Care System

Background: There is a dearth of research focusing on identifying the social complexities impacting on oncology and palliative care (PC), and no study has explored how the health-care system in Nigeria or other African contexts may be influencing utilization of these services. Aim: This study explored how social complexities and the organization of health-care influenced the decision-making process for the utilization of oncology and PC in a Nigerian hospital. Methods: This qualitative study used an interpretive descriptive design. Data were collected using semistructured interview guides with 40 participants, comprising health-care professionals, patients, and their families. Thematic analysis was conducted to generate and analyze patterns within the data. Findings: Three themes were identified: dysfunctional structural organization of the health-care delivery system, service-users’ economic status, and the influence of social networks. The interrelationship between the themes result in patients and their family members decisions either to present late to the hospital, miss their clinical appointments, or not to seek oncological health care and PC. Conclusion: This article offers insights into the role of the health-care system, as organized currently in Nigeria, as “autoinhibitory” and not adequately prepared to address the increasing burden of cancer. We therefore argue that there is a need to restructure the Nigerian health-care system to better meet the needs of patients with cancer and their families as failure to do so will strengthen the existing inequalities, discourage usage, and increase mortality.

Race and Blackness: A Thematic Review of Communication Challenges Confronting the Black Community Within the U.S. Health Care System

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 397-405 ◽  
Author(s):  
Comfort Tosin Adebayo ◽  
Kimberly Walker ◽  
Maren Hawkins ◽  
Oluwatoyin Olukotun ◽  
Leslie Shaw ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Literacy ◽  
Health Care System ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Cultural Safety ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Potential Health ◽  
Communication Challenges ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Care System

Effective communication is integral to the patient–provider relationship. Yet, as a result of structural factors that ignore the unique health care needs of different populations of patients who identify as Black—both African American and African immigrants—are confronted with communication challenges during health care seeking encounters. Using cultural safety as a framework, in this article, we thematically review communication challenges specifically experienced by patients of African descent in the U.S. health care system. In our review, we focus on complications that might arise from discrimination, mistrust, health literacy, and impacts of culture and language barriers on health literacy. In conclusion, we offer recommendations for improving the health care experiences and potential health outcomes for this population, through nursing care and health care delivery.

Impact of Contaminated Blood Cultures on Children, Families, and the Health Care System

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 836-843
Author(s):  
Megan Farrell ◽  
Sarah Bram ◽  
Hongjie Gu ◽  
Shakila Mathew ◽  
Elizabeth Messer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Length Of Stay ◽  
Health Care System ◽  
Peripheral Blood ◽  
Blood Cultures ◽  
Hospital Charges ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Contaminated Blood ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Care System

BACKGROUND: Contaminated blood cultures pose a significant burden. We sought to determine the impact of contaminated peripheral blood cultures on patients, families, and the health care system. METHODS: In this retrospective case-control study from January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2017, we compared the hospital course, return visits and/or admissions, charges, and length of stay of patients with contaminated peripheral blood cultures (case patients) with those of patients with negative cultures (controls). Patients were categorized into those evaluated and discharged from the emergency department (ED) (ED patients) and those who were hospitalized (inpatients). RESULTS: A total of 104 ED case patients were matched with 208 ED control patients. A total of 343 case inpatients were matched with 686 inpatient controls. There was no significant difference between case and control patient demographics, ED, or hospital course at presentation. Fifty-five percent of discharged ED patients returned to the hospital for evaluation and/or admission versus 4% of controls. There was a significant (P &lt; .0001) increase in repeat blood cultures (43% vs 1%), consultations obtained (21% vs 2%), cerebrospinal fluid studies (10% vs 0%), and antibiotic administration (27% vs 1%) in ED patients compared with controls. Each ED patient requiring revisit to the hospital incurred, on average, $4660 in additional charges. There was a significant (P &lt; .04) increase in repeat blood cultures (57% vs 7%), consultations obtained (35% vs 28%), broadening of antibiotic coverage (18% vs 11%), median length of stay (75 vs 64 hours), and median laboratory charges ($3723 vs $3296) in case inpatients compared with controls. CONCLUSIONS: Contaminated blood cultures result in increased readmissions, testing and/or procedures, length of stay, and hospital charges in children.

scholarly journals Crossing the health IT chasm: considerations and policy recommendations to overcome current challenges and enable value-based care

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 1036-1043 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Adler-Milstein ◽  
Peter J Embi ◽  
Blackford Middleton ◽  
Indra Neil Sarkar ◽  
Jeff Smith
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care System ◽  
Health Care Delivery ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Policy Recommendations ◽  
It Infrastructure ◽  
Health It ◽  
Current Health ◽  
Value Based Care ◽  
Care System

Abstract While great progress has been made in digitizing the US health care system, today’s health information technology (IT) infrastructure remains largely a collection of systems that are not designed to support a transition to value-based care. In addition, the pursuit of value-based care, in which we deliver better care with better outcomes at lower cost, places new demands on the health care system that our IT infrastructure needs to be able to support. Provider organizations pursuing new models of health care delivery and payment are finding that their electronic systems lack the capabilities needed to succeed. The result is a chasm between the current health IT ecosystem and the health IT ecosystem that is desperately needed. In this paper, we identify a set of focal goals and associated near-term achievable actions that are critical to pursue in order to enable the health IT ecosystem to meet the acute needs of modern health care delivery. These ideas emerged from discussions that occurred during the 2015 American Medical Informatics Association Policy Invitational Meeting. To illustrate the chasm and motivate our recommendations, we created a vignette from the multistakeholder perspectives of a patient, his provider, and researchers/innovators. It describes an idealized scenario in which each stakeholder’s needs are supported by an integrated health IT environment. We identify the gaps preventing such a reality today and present associated policy recommendations that serve as a blueprint for critical actions that would enable us to cross the current health IT chasm by leveraging systems and information to routinely deliver high-value care.

Changes in Cuban Health Care: An Argument against Technological Pessimism

1977 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 383-400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sally Guttmacher ◽  
Ross Danielson
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Health Care System ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Care System

Since the popular revolution in 1959, alterations in the organization and delivery of health care in Cuba have paralleled the country's broader political, economic, and social changes. This paper discusses the evolution of the Cuban health care system during the past seventeen years within the wider context of societal development. The authors compare three “snapshots” of Cuba, the first in 1959, the second in 1970, and the last in 1976, and touch upon such issues as the organization of health care delivery, the recruitment and socialization of health workers, and aspects of the process of receiving health care. They point out that the Cuban experience should be of particular interest to the developing world. For though it is true that a larger portion of Cuban national resources has been directed to the health and social services than in other developing countries, nonetheless, it was largely through the reorganization and equalization of the prerevolutionary health care system that improvement in the health status of the population was achieved. It appears that Cuba could well serve as an example for those who are skeptical about the possibility of combining technical development with improvement in the humane quality of care.

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