Changes in Provider Type and Prescription Refills Among Privately Insured Children and Youth With ADHD

2020 ◽  
pp. 108705472095672
Author(s):  
Laura C. Hart ◽  
Scott D. Grosse ◽  
Melissa L. Danielson ◽  
Rebecca A. Baum ◽  
Alex R. Kemper

Objective The aim of this paper is to understand associations between age and health care provider type in medication continuation among transition-aged youth with ADHD. Method Using an employer-sponsored insurance claims database, we identified patients with likely ADHD and receipt of ADHD medications. Among patients who had an outpatient physician visit at baseline and maintained enrollment at follow-up 3 years later, we evaluated which ones continued to fill prescriptions for ADHD medications. Results Patients who were younger at follow-up more frequently continued medication (77% of 11–12 year-olds vs. 52% of 19–20 year-olds). Those who saw a pediatric provider at baseline and follow-up more frequently continued to fill ADHD medication prescriptions than those who saw a pediatric provider at baseline and non-pediatric providers at follow-up (71% vs. 53% among those ages 15–16 years at follow-up). Conclusion Adolescents and young adults with ADHD who changed from pediatric to exclusively non-pediatric providers less frequently continued to receive ADHD medications.

Author(s):  
Patricia Cerrito ◽  
John Cerrito

If we want to gain a complete picture of patient treatment, we need to examine all patient encounters with the medical profession. Then, we need to divide them into episodes of care. For example, an encounter with a physician might lead to a laboratory test, which in turn could lead to inpatient (or outpatient) surgery with additional follow up visits to a physician. A chronic condition could lead to multiple patient visits to the emergency department, which could become an inpatient stay. In order to determine the total cost of such episodes, we must first be able to define them. One of the major ways we have of defining episodes is to examine dates of care. If a physician visit occurs within a week or two of an inpatient event, it is very likely a follow up to the inpatient treatment. However, if the physician visit occurs several months after an inpatient event, it is likely for a general checkup, or it may mark the start of a new patient episode. We also want to look at the overall cost of a disease over a year’s time period given all requirements of that treatment: physician visits, medications, lab tests, and hospitalizations. The MEPS is ideal for such analyses.


Crisis ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Chen ◽  
Brian L. Mishara ◽  
Xiao Xian Liu

Background: In China, where follow-up with hospitalized attempters is generally lacking, there is a great need for inexpensive and effective means of maintaining contact and decreasing recidivism. Aims: Our objective was to test whether mobile telephone message contacts after discharge would be feasible and acceptable to suicide attempters in China. Methods: Fifteen participants were recruited from suicide attempters seen in the Emergency Department in Wuhan, China, to participate in a pilot study to receive mobile telephone messages after discharge. All participants have access to a mobile telephone, and there is no charge for the user to receive text messages. Results: Most participants (12) considered the text message contacts an acceptable and useful form of help and would like to continue to receive them for a longer period of time. Conclusions: This suggests that, as a low-cost and quick method of intervention in areas where more intensive follow-up is not practical or available, telephone messages contacts are accessible, feasible, and acceptable to suicide attempters. We hope that this will inspire future research on regular and long-term message interventions to prevent recidivism in suicide attempters.


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 189-196
Author(s):  
Vian Harsution

Lesson study is a systematic, collaborative, and sustainable method of improving the quality of learning. Lesson study emphasizes the exploration of students’ learning needs; teacher openness towards learning difficulties encountered; the willingness of teachers to receive and provide advice and solutions to the difficulties encountered; and the consistency of the various parties to follow up the suggestions and solutions. Implementation of lesson study involving teachers, principals, and experts in the field of education. Kurikulum tingkat satuan pendidikan or abbreviated KTSP is operational curriculum formulated and implemented by each educational unit. KTSP has the characteristics, namely: giving broad autonomy to the educational unit, involving the community and parent participation, involving the democratic leadership of the principal, and require the support of a working team that is synergistic and transparent. KTSP based on the learning process, needs to be supported by a conducive learning environment and fun to be created by teachers.Teachers and principals in a professional, systematic and collaborative create an atmosphere that fosters independence, tenacity, entrepreneurial spirit, adaptive and proactive nature of the learning process. Thus, the learning needs of students who fulfilled optimally and professional ability of teacher who have increased on an ongoing basis, may usher in success – based learning KTSP. It means that the lesson study provides positive implications for the KTSP – based learning.


2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 260-267
Author(s):  
Morgan M. Millar ◽  
Hilary A. Hewes ◽  
Andrea L. Genovesi ◽  
Michael Ely ◽  
Braden Green ◽  
...  

Survey response is higher when the request comes from a familiar entity compared to an unknown sender. Little is known about how sender influences response to surveys of organizations. We assessed whether familiarity of the sender influences response outcomes in a survey of emergency medical services agencies. Emergency medical services agencies in one U.S. state were randomly assigned to receive survey emails from either a familiar or unfamiliar sender. Both deployment approaches were subsequently used nationwide, with each state selecting one of the two contact methods. Experimental results showed that requests from the familiar sender achieved higher survey response (54.3%) compared to requests from the unfamiliar sender (36.9%; OR: 2.03; 95% CI: 1.23, 3.33). Similar results were observed in the subsequent nationwide survey; in states where the familiar sender deployed the survey, 62.0% of agencies responded, compared to 51.0% when the survey was sent by the unfamiliar sender (OR: 1.57; 95% CI: 1.47, 1.67). The response difference resulted in nearly 60 additional hours of staff time needed to perform telephone follow-up to nonrespondents. When surveying healthcare organizations, surveyors should recognize that it is more challenging to obtain responses without a pre-established relationship with the organizations.


Vascular ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 170853812110100
Author(s):  
Mohamed Shukri Abdelgawad ◽  
Amr M El-Shafei ◽  
Hesham A Sharaf El-Din ◽  
Ehab M Saad ◽  
Tamer A Khafagy ◽  
...  

Background Venus ulcers developed mainly due to reflux of incompetent venous valves in perforating veins. Patients and methods In this randomized controlled trial, 119 patients recruited over two years, with post-phelebtic venous leg ulcers, were randomly assigned into one of two groups: either to receive radiofrequency ablation of markedly incompetent perforators (Group A, n = 62 patients) or to receive conventional compression therapy (Group B, n = 57 patients). Follow-up duration required for ulcer healing continued for 24 months post randomization. Results Statistically significant shorter time to healing (ulcer complete healing or satisfactory clinical improvement) between both groups (56 patients, 90.3% of cases in Group A versus 44 patients 77.2% of cases in Group B) over the follow-up period of 24 months was attained ( p  = 0.001). Also, significantly different ulcer recurrence was recorded between both groups, 8 patients (12.9%) in Group A versus 19 patients (33.3%) in Group B ( p = 0.004). Conclusion In absence of deep venous obstruction, the monopolar radiofrequency ablation for incompetent perforators is a feasible and effective method that surpasses the traditional compression protocol for incompetent perforator-induced venous ulcers in terms of time required for healing even in the presence of unresolved deep venous valvular reflux.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lilian M. N. Kebaya ◽  
Dalton Wamalwa ◽  
Nyambura Kariuki ◽  
Bashir Admani ◽  
Philip Ayieko ◽  
...  

Abstract Background HIV is a major contributor to infant mortality. A significant gap remains between the uptake of infant and maternal antiretroviral regimens and only a minority of HIV-exposed infants receives prophylaxis and safe infant feeding. Losses to follow-up of HIV-exposed infants are associated with shortcomings of facility-based PMTCT models with weak community support of linkages. Use of mobile phones offers an opportunity for improving care and promoting retention assessed by timely attendance of scheduled appointments for the mother-baby pairs and achievement of an HIV-free generation. The objective of this study was to compare self-reported adherence to infant Nevirapine (NVP) prophylaxis and retention in care assessed by timely attendance of scheduled appointments over 10 weeks in HIV exposed infants randomized to 2-weekly mobile phone calls (intervention) versus no phone calls (control). Methods In this open label randomized controlled study, one hundred and fifty HIV infected women drawn from 3 health facilities in Western Kenya and their infants were randomly assigned to receive either phone-based reminders on PMTCT messages or standard health care messages (no calls) within 24 h of delivery. Women in the intervention arm continued to receive fortnightly phone calls. At 6- and 10-weeks following randomization we collected data on infant adherence to Nevirapine, mode of infant feeding, early HIV testing and retention in care in both study arms. All analyses were intention to treat. Results At 6 weeks follow-up, 90.7% (n = 68) of participants receiving phone calls reported adherence to infant NVP prophylaxis, compared with 72% (n = 54) of participants in the control group (p = 0.005). Participants in the intervention arm were also significantly more likely to remain in care than participants in the control group [78.7% (n = 59) vs. 58.7% (n = 44), p = 0.009 at 6 weeks and 69.3% (n = 52) vs. 37.3% (n = 28), p < 0.001 at 10 weeks]. Conclusions These results suggest that phone calls are potentially an important tool to improve adherence to infant NVP prophylaxis and retention in care for HIV-exposed infants. Trial registration PACTR202007654729602. Registered 6 June 2018 - Retrospectively registered, https://pactr.samrc.ac.za/TrialDisplay.aspx?TrialID=3449


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S706-S706
Author(s):  
Tanaz Petigara ◽  
Ya-Ting Chen ◽  
Zhiwen Liu ◽  
Michelle Goveia ◽  
David Johnson ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The US vaccination schedule includes DTaP, IPV, Hib and HepB doses in the first 6 months of life. A previous analysis found variability in the timing of HepB doses in infants receiving DTaP-IPV/Hib. We explored factors associated with co-administration of DTaP-IPV/Hib and HepB on the same day. Methods This was a retrospective study using the MarketScan® commercial claims and encounters database. Infants born from 1 July 2010 - 30 June 2016, continuously enrolled in an insurance plan for ≥ 13 months and receiving ≥ 3 DTaP-IPV/Hib doses were included. Infants were assessed for HepB claims relative to the first and third DTaP-IPV/Hib doses. Because a HepB birth dose was assumed, the first HepB claim from 29 - 169 days following birth was counted as Dose 2, and the second claim from 170 days - 12 months as Dose 3. Associations between demographic, provider, and insurance characteristics, receipt of other pediatric vaccines, and co-administration of DTaP-IPV/Hib and HepB were analyzed using multivariate logistic regression. Results Among 165,553 infants who received a first DTaP-IPV/Hib dose, 60.7% received HepB Dose 2 on the same day. Among 162,217 infants who received a third DTaP-IPV/Hib dose, 45.1% received HepB Dose 3 on the same day. Infants in the Northeast were less likely (OR=0.38, 95%CI=0.36-0.39), while those in the West were more likely (OR=1.41, 95%CI=1.36-1.46) than infants in the South to receive the first dose of DTaP-IPV/Hib and HepB Dose 2 on the same day. Infants vaccinated by pediatricians (OR=0.54, 95%CI=0.53-0.55) were less likely to receive the first dose of DTaP-IPV/Hib and HepB Dose 2 on the same day compared to infants vaccinated by family physicians. Infants who received PCV on the same day as the first dose of DTaP-IPV/Hib were more likely to receive HepB Dose 2 (OR=6.96, 95%CI=6.30-7.70) that day. These factors were also associated with co-administration of the third dose of DTaP-IPV/Hib and HepB Dose 3. Conclusion Differences in co-administration of DTaP-IPV/Hib and HepB were associated with region of residence, provider type and co-administration of PCV. The reasons underlying these differences merit exploration. A hexavalent vaccine containing DTaP, IPV, Hib, and HepB could improve timeliness of HepB vaccination, while reducing the number of injections during infancy. Disclosures Tanaz Petigara, PhD, Merck & Co., Inc. (Employee, Shareholder) Ya-Ting Chen, PhD, Merck & Co., Inc. (Employee, Shareholder) Zhiwen Liu, PhD, Merck & Co., Inc., (Employee) Michelle Goveia, MD, Merck & Co., Inc (Employee, Shareholder) David Johnson, MD, MPH, Sanofi Pasteur (Employee, Shareholder) Gary S. Marshall, MD, GlaxoSmithKline (Consultant, Scientific Research Study Investigator)Merck (Consultant, Scientific Research Study Investigator)Pfizer (Consultant, Scientific Research Study Investigator)Sanofi Pasteur (Consultant, Grant/Research Support, Scientific Research Study Investigator, Honorarium for conference lecture)Seqirus (Consultant, Scientific Research Study Investigator)


Author(s):  
S. Sze ◽  
P. Pellicori ◽  
J. Zhang ◽  
J. Weston ◽  
I. B. Squire ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Frailty is common in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) and is associated with poor outcomes. The natural history of frail patients with CHF is unknown. Methods Frailty was assessed using the clinical frailty scale (CFS) in 467 consecutive patients with CHF (67% male, median age 76 years, median NT-proBNP 1156 ng/L) attending a routine follow-up visit. Those with CFS > 4 were classified as frail. We investigated the relation between frailty and treatments, hospitalisation and death in patients with CHF. Results 206 patients (44%) were frail. Of 291 patients with HF with reduced ejection fraction (HeFREF), those who were frail (N = 117; 40%) were less likely to receive optimal treatment, with many not receiving a renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system inhibitor (frail: 25% vs. non-frail: 4%), a beta-blocker (16% vs. 8%) or a mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist (50% vs 41%). By 1 year, there were 56 deaths and 322 hospitalisations, of which 25 (45%) and 198 (61%), respectively, were due to non-cardiovascular (non-CV) causes. Most deaths (N = 46, 82%) and hospitalisations (N = 215, 67%) occurred in frail patients. Amongst frail patients, 43% of deaths and 64% of hospitalisations were for non-CV causes; 58% of cardiovascular (CV) deaths were due to advancing HF. Among non-frail patients, 50% of deaths and 57% of hospitalisations were for non-CV causes; all CV deaths were due to advancing HF. Conclusion Frailty in patients with HeFREF is associated with sub-optimal medical treatment. Frail patients are more likely to die or be admitted to hospital, but whether frail or not, many events are non-CV. Graphical abstract


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mona Dietrichkeit ◽  
Marion Hagemann-Goebel ◽  
Yvonne Nestoriuc ◽  
Steffen Moritz ◽  
Lena Jelinek

AbstractAlthough awareness of side effects over the course of psychotherapy is growing, side effects are still not always reported. The purpose of the present study was to examine side effects in a randomized controlled trial comparing Metacognitive Training for Depression (D-MCT) and a cognitive remediation training in patients with depression. 84 patients were randomized to receive either D-MCT or cognitive remediation training (MyBrainTraining) for 8 weeks. Side effects were assessed after the completion of each intervention (post) using the Short Inventory of the Assessment of Negative Effects (SIAN) and again 6 months later (follow-up) using the Negative Effects Questionnaire (NEQ). D-MCT and MyBrainTraining did not differ significantly in the number of side effects. At post assessment, 50% of the D-MCT group and 59% of the MyBrainTraining group reported at least one side effect in the SIAN. The most frequently reported side effect was disappointment in subjective benefit of study treatment. At follow-up, 52% reported at least one side effect related to MyBrainTraining, while 34% reported at least one side effect related to the D-MCT in the NEQ. The most frequently reported side effects fell into the categories of “symptoms” and “quality”. Our NEQ version was missing one item due to a technical error. Also, allegiance effects should be considered. The sample size resulted in low statistical power. The relatively tolerable number of side effects suggests D-MCT and MyBrainTraining are safe and well-received treatment options for people with depression. Future studies should also measure negative effects to corroborate our results.


BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. e050667
Author(s):  
Meaghan Lunney ◽  
Paul E Ronksley ◽  
Robert G Weaver ◽  
Lianne Barnieh ◽  
Norman Blue ◽  
...  

ObjectivesThis report estimates the risk of COVID-19 importation and secondary transmission associated with a modified quarantine programme in Canada.Design and participantsProspective analysis of international asymptomatic travellers entering Alberta, Canada.InterventionsAll participants were required to receive a PCR COVID-19 test on arrival. If negative, participants could leave quarantine but were required to have a second test 6 or 7 days after arrival. If the arrival test was positive, participants were required to remain in quarantine for 14 days.Main outcome measuresProportion and rate of participants testing positive for COVID-19; number of cases of secondary transmission.ResultsThe analysis included 9535 international travellers entering Alberta by air (N=8398) or land (N=1137) that voluntarily enrolled in the Alberta Border Testing Pilot Programme (a subset of all travellers); most (83.1%) were Canadian citizens. Among the 9310 participants who received at least one test, 200 (21.5 per 1000, 95% CI 18.6 to 24.6) tested positive. Sixty-nine per cent (138/200) of positive tests were detected on arrival (14.8 per 1000 travellers, 95% CI 12.5 to 17.5). 62 cases (6.7 per 1000 travellers, 95% CI 5.1 to 8.5; 31.0% of positive cases) were identified among participants that had been released from quarantine following a negative test result on arrival. Of 192 participants who developed symptoms, 51 (26.6%) tested positive after arrival. Among participants with positive tests, four (2.0%) were hospitalised for COVID-19; none required critical care or died. Contact tracing among participants who tested positive identified 200 contacts; of 88 contacts tested, 22 were cases of secondary transmission (14 from those testing positive on arrival and 8 from those testing positive thereafter). SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 lineage was not detected in any of the 200 positive cases.Conclusions21.5 per 1000 international travellers tested positive for COVID-19. Most (69%) tested positive on arrival and 31% tested positive during follow-up. These findings suggest the need for ongoing vigilance in travellers testing negative on arrival and highlight the value of follow-up testing and contact tracing to monitor and limit secondary transmission where possible.


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