scholarly journals Mechanisms and impact of public reporting on physicians and hospitals’ performance: A systematic review (2000–2020)

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. e0247297
Author(s):  
Khic-Houy Prang ◽  
Roxanne Maritz ◽  
Hana Sabanovic ◽  
David Dunt ◽  
Margaret Kelaher

Background Public performance reporting (PPR) of physician and hospital data aims to improve health outcomes by promoting quality improvement and informing consumer choice. However, previous studies have demonstrated inconsistent effects of PPR, potentially due to the various PPR characteristics examined. The aim of this study was to undertake a systematic review of the impact and mechanisms (selection and change), by which PPR exerts its influence. Methods Studies published between 2000 and 2020 were retrieved from five databases and eight reviews. Data extraction, quality assessment and synthesis were conducted. Studies were categorised into: user and provider responses to PPR and impact of PPR on quality of care. Results Forty-five studies were identified: 24 on user and provider responses to PPR, 14 on impact of PPR on quality of care, and seven on both. Most of the studies reported positive effects of PPR on the selection of providers by patients, purchasers and providers, quality improvement activities in primary care clinics and hospitals, clinical outcomes and patient experiences. Conclusions The findings provide moderate level of evidence to support the role of PPR in stimulating quality improvement activities, informing consumer choice and improving clinical outcomes. There was some evidence to demonstrate a relationship between PPR and patient experience. The effects of PPR varied across clinical areas which may be related to the type of indicators, level of data reported and the mode of dissemination. It is important to ensure that the design and implementation of PPR considered the perspectives of different users and the health system in which PPR operates in. There is a need to account for factors such as the structural characteristics and culture of the hospitals that could influence the uptake of PPR.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver T. Nguyen ◽  
Amir Alishahi Tabriz ◽  
Jinhai Huo ◽  
Karim Hanna ◽  
Christopher M. Shea ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND E-visits involve asynchronous communication between providers and patients through a secure web-based platform, such as a patient portal, to elicit symptoms and determine a diagnosis and treatment plan. E-visits are now reimbursable through Medicare due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The state of the evidence regarding e-visits, such as the impact on clinical outcomes and healthcare delivery, is unclear. OBJECTIVE To address this gap, this systematic review examines how e-visits have impacted clinical outcomes and healthcare quality, access, utilization, and costs. METHODS MEDLINE, Embase, and Web of Science were searched from January 2000 through October 2020 for peer-reviewed studies that assessed e-visits’ impact on clinical and healthcare delivery outcomes. RESULTS Out of 1,858 papers, 19 studies met the inclusion criteria. E-visit usage was associated with improved or comparable clinical outcomes, especially for chronic disease management (e.g., diabetes care, blood pressure management). The impact on quality of care varied across conditions. Quality of care was equivalent or better for chronic conditions but variable quality was observed in infection management (e.g., appropriate antibiotic prescribing). Similarly, the impact on healthcare utilization varied across conditions (e.g., lower utilization for dermatology) but mixed impact in primary care. Healthcare costs were lower for e-visits for a wide-range of conditions (e.g., dermatology and acute visits). No studies examined the impact of e-visits on healthcare access. Available studies are observational in nature and it is difficult to draw firm conclusions about effectiveness or impact on care delivery. CONCLUSIONS Overall, the evidence suggests e-visits may provide comparable clinical outcomes to in-person care and reduce healthcare costs for certain healthcare conditions. At the same time, there is mixed evidence on healthcare quality, especially regarding infection management (e.g., sinusitis, urinary tract infections, conjunctivitis). Further studies are needed to test implementation strategies that might improve delivery (e.g., clinical decision support for antibiotic prescribing) and to assess which conditions are amenable to e-visits and which conditions require in-person or face-to-face care (e.g., virtual visit). CLINICALTRIAL not applicable


BJGP Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. BJGPO.2021.0040
Author(s):  
Ruth Parker ◽  
Emma Figures ◽  
Charlotte Paddison ◽  
James Matheson ◽  
David Blane ◽  
...  

BackgroundCOVID-19 has led to rapid and widespread use of remote consultations in general practice, but the health inequalities impact remains unknown.AimTo explore the impact of remote consultations in general practice compared to face-to-face consultations on utilisation and clinical outcomes across socio-economic and disadvantaged groups.Design & settingSystematic reviewMethodWe undertook an electronic search of MEDLINE, EMBASE and Web of Science from inception to June 2020. We included studies which compared remote consultations to face-to-face consultations in primary care and reported outcomes by PROGRESS Plus criteria. Risk of bias was assessed using ROBINS-I. Data was synthesised narratively.ResultsBased on 13 studies, exploring telephone and internet-based consultations, we found that telephone consultations were used by younger working age people, the very old and non-immigrants, with internet-based consultations more likely to be used by younger people. Women consistently used more remote forms of consulting than men. Socio-economic and ethnicity findings were mixed, with weak evidence that patients from more affluent areas were more likely to use internet-based communication. Remote consultations appeared to help patients with opioid dependence remain engaged with primary care. No studies reported on the impact on quality of care or clinical outcomes.ConclusionRemote consultations in general practice are likely to be used more by younger working people, non-immigrants, the elderly and women, with internet-based consultations more by younger, affluent and educated groups. Wide-spread use of remote consultations should be treated with caution until the inequalities impact on clinical outcomes and quality of care is known.


Cancers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 1032 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sosse E. Klarenbeek ◽  
Harm H.A. Weekenstroo ◽  
J.P. Michiel Sedelaar ◽  
Jurgen J. Fütterer ◽  
Mathias Prokop ◽  
...  

Background: To deal with complexity in cancer care, computerized clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) are developed to support quality of care and improve decision-making. We performed a systematic review to explore the value of CDSSs using automated clinical guidelines, Artificial Intelligence, datamining or statistical methods (higher level CDSSs) on the quality of care in oncology. Materials and Methods: The search strategy combined synonyms for ‘CDSS’ and ‘cancer.’ Pubmed, Embase, The Cochrane Library, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Association of Computing Machinery digital library and Web of Science were systematically searched from January 2000 to December 2019. Included studies evaluated the impact of higher level CDSSs on process outcomes, guideline adherence and clinical outcomes. Results: 11,397 studies were selected for screening, after which 61 full-text articles were assessed for eligibility. Finally, nine studies were included in the final analysis with a total population size of 7985 patients. Types of cancer included breast cancer (63.1%), lung cancer (27.8%), prostate cancer (4.1%), colorectal cancer (3.1%) and other cancer types (1.9%). The included studies demonstrated significant improvements of higher level CDSSs on process outcomes and guideline adherence across diverse settings in oncology. No significant differences were reported for clinical outcomes. Conclusion: Higher level CDSSs seem to improve process outcomes and guidelines adherence but not clinical outcomes. It should be noticed that the included studies primarily focused on breast and lung cancer. To further explore the impact of higher level CDSSs on quality of care, high-quality research is required.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hossein Motahari-Nezhad ◽  
Márta Péntek ◽  
László Gulácsi ◽  
Zsombor Zrubka

BACKGROUND Digital biomarkers are defined as objective, quantifiable physiological and behavioral data that are collected and measured by means of digital devices such as portables, wearables, implantables or digestibles. For their widespread adoption in publicly financed healthcare systems, it is important to understand how their benefits translate into improved patient outcomes, which is essential for demonstrating their value. OBJECTIVE To assess the quality and strength of evidence of the impact of digital biomarkers on clinical outcomes compared to interventions without digital biomarkers, reported in systematic reviews. METHODS A comprehensive search for 2019-2020 will be conducted in the PubMed and the Cochrane Library using keywords related to digital biomarkers and a filter for systematic reviews. Original full-text English publications of systematic reviews comparing clinical outcomes of interventions with and without digital biomarkers via meta-analysis will be included. The AMSTAR-2 tool will be used to assess the methodological quality of reviews. To assess the quality of evidence, we will evaluate systematic reviews using the GRADE tool. To detect the possible presence of reporting bias, we will record whether the protocol of the systematic reviews was published before the start of the study. A qualitative summary of results by digital biomarker technology and outcome will be provided. RESULTS This protocol was submitted before data collection. The next steps in this review will be initiated after the protocol is accepted for publication. CONCLUSIONS Our study will provide a comprehensive summary of the highest level of evidence available on digital biomarker interventions. Our results will help identify clinical areas where the use of digital biomarkers leads to favorable clinical outcomes. In addition, our findings will highlight areas of evidence gaps where the clinical benefits of digital biomarkers have not yet been demonstrated.


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 2473011418S0044
Author(s):  
Yoshiharu Shimozono ◽  
Eoghan Hurley ◽  
John Kennedy

Category: Ankle Introduction/Purpose: Autologous osteochondral transplantation (AOT) is an established treatment for large-sized OLT, typically greater than 107mm2. Several studies have demonstrated favourable outcomes following AOT at short- and mid-term follow-up. However, the majority of the literature on AOT has short-term follow-up and little evidence exists on the mid-term and longer-term follow-up. Additionally, few studies include a large number of patients or have a high level of evidence, limiting the ability to draw broad and meaningful conclusions about the effectiveness of the AOT procedure for the treatment of OLT beyond short-term follow-up. The purpose of the current systematic review was to evaluate the clinical outcomes analysing level and quality of evidence of the AOT procedure in the treatment of OLT at mid-term and long-term follow-up. Methods: A systematic search of the MEDLINE, EMBASE and Cochrane Library databases was performed in October 2017 based on the PRISMA guidelines. Included studies were evaluated with regard to level of evidence (LOE) and quality of evidence (QOE) using the Coleman Methodology Score. Clinical outcomes, and complications were also evaluated. Results: Eleven studies, with 500 ankles were included at a mean 62.8 months follow-up. There were 3 studies of LOE III, and 8 studies of LOE IV. There were 3 studies of fair quality and 8 studies of poor quality. The weighted mean preoperative AOFAS score was 55.1 ± 6.1, and the postoperative score was 86.2 ± 4.5, with 87.4% of patients being reported as excellent or good results. In total, 54 of the 500 patients (10.8%) had complications. The most common complication was donor site morbidity with 18 patients (3.6%) at final follow-up. Thirty-one patients (6.2%) underwent reoperations, and the authors deemed a total of 5 ankles (1.0%) failures. Only 5 studies (45.5%) used MRI for follow-up evaluation. Conclusion: The current systematic review demonstrated that good clinical and functional outcomes can be expected following AOT procedure for the treatment of OLT, with a failure rate of only 1.0% at 63 months follow-up. MRI and radiographs showed restoration of articular surface as well as a minimal presence of osteoarthritis at mid-term follow-up. However, there is still lack of data from high LOE and QOE studies, and further high quality studies are necessary.


2017 ◽  
Vol 67 (664) ◽  
pp. e800-e815 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rishi Mandavia ◽  
Nishchay Mehta ◽  
Anne Schilder ◽  
Elias Mossialos

BackgroundProvider financial incentives are being increasingly adopted to help improve standards of care while promoting efficiency.AimTo review the UK evidence on whether provider financial incentives are an effective way of improving the quality of health care.Design and settingSystematic review of UK evidence, undertaken in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) recommendations.MethodMEDLINE and Embase databases were searched in August 2016. Original articles that assessed the relationship between UK provider financial incentives and a quantitative measure of quality of health care were included. Studies showing improvement for all measures of quality of care were defined as ‘positive’, those that were ‘intermediate’ showed improvement in some measures, and those classified as ‘negative’ showed a worsening of measures. Studies showing no effect were documented as such. Quality was assessed using the Downs and Black quality checklist.ResultsOf the 232 published articles identified by the systematic search, 28 were included. Of these, nine reported positive effects of incentives on quality of care, 16 reported intermediate effects, two reported no effect, and one reported a negative effect. Quality assessment scores for included articles ranged from 15 to 19, out of a maximum of 22 points.ConclusionThe effects of UK provider financial incentives on healthcare quality are unclear. Owing to this uncertainty and their significant costs, use of them may be counterproductive to their goal of improving healthcare quality and efficiency. UK policymakers should be cautious when implementing these incentives — if used, they should be subject to careful long-term monitoring and evaluation. Further research is needed to assess whether provider financial incentives represent a cost-effective intervention to improve the quality of care delivered in the UK.


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