MedicalResearch.com - Latest news, interviews, and insights into medical research, health and wellness, fitness and addiction.
Author Interviews, JAMA, Primary Care, Smoking, USPSTF / 28.01.2021

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Michael Silverstein M.D., M.P.H Professor of Pediatrics Director of the Division of General Academic Pediatrics Vice Chair of Research, Department of Pediatrics Boston University School of Medicine  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of disease, disability, and death in the United States and quitting is one of the best things people can do for their health. Additionally, smoking during pregnancy can cause serious harms to both the pregnant person and the baby. The Task Force continues to recommend that clinicians ask all adults and pregnant people about their tobacco use, advise those who use tobacco to quit, and connect them to proven, safe methods to help them quit.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, JAMA, Lifestyle & Health, USPSTF / 03.12.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. John Epling, M.D., M.S.Ed Professor of family and community medicine Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine in Roanoke, VA. Medical director of research for family and community medicine Medical director of employee health and wellness for the Carilion Clinic Dr. Epling joined the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force in January 2016. MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Cardiovascular disease, which includes heart disease and stroke, is one of the leading causes of death in the United States. Nearly half of all adults have at least one risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Evidence shows that counseling aimed at helping people improve their diet and increase their physical activity can help prevent cardiovascular disease. This typically involves a trained counselor who provides education, helps people set goals, shares strategies, and stays in regular contact.  The Task Force recommends behavioral counseling interventions that promote a healthy diet and physical activity to help people at risk for cardiovascular disease stay healthy. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, JAMA, Primary Care / 19.05.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Sara Martin, MD, MSc Santa Rosa Family Medicine Residency Program Santa Rosa, California MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: To improve access to comprehensive primary care, we need to understand how much is being spent on primary care. Until recently, the United States lacked any data-based estimate of primary care expenditure.  This study utilizes Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS)data from 2002 – 2016 to estimate the percentage of healthcare expenditures that was spent on primary care. Most discussions around health care expenditure in the U.S. focus on the fact that we spend more than any other country and do not have the corresponding outcomes to match that investment.  This paper focuses the conversation around the distribution of the expenditure. (more…)
Author Interviews, Dartmouth, JAMA, Pharmaceutical Companies, Primary Care / 27.01.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Steven Woloshin, MD, MS Professor of Medicine and Community and Family Medicine Professor, The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Industry spends more on detailing visits and free samples than any other form of prescription drug marketing.  There is good evidence that these activities can lead to more use of expensive new drugs over equally effective cheaper options.  Given these concerns there have been efforts by some hospitalls and practices to restrict these forms of marketing. We asked physicians in group practices delivering primary care about how often pharmaceutical reps visit their practice and whether they have a free sample closet.  (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Primary Care / 22.01.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Leah Marcotte, MD Clinical Assistant Professor, Medicine University of Washington
Joshua M. Liao, MD, MSc, FACP Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine Director, UW Medicine Value and Systems Science Lab Medical Director of Payment Strategy, UW Medicine University of Washington
  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: In the last 7 years, Medicare has implemented payment reforms to encourage primary care and other ambulatory providers for dedicated care coordination activities. One such reform, Transitional Care Management (TCM) billing codes, was introduced in 2013 and emphasized coordination during care transitions from hospital to home – a particularly vulnerable period in which patients may be at risk for adverse outcomes. TCM services include patient contact (e.g., phone call) within two business days of discharge, a visit (e.g., office or home-based) within 14 days of discharge with at least moderate complexity medical decision making, and medication reconciliation. TCM services may be delivered after inpatient hospitalization, observation stay, skilled nursing facility admission or acute rehab admission. There have been few studies that have looked at early data in Transitional Care Management, and none that have described national use of and payment for these codes over an extended period of time. We analyzed a national Medicare dataset looking at 100% of submitted and paid TCM claims from 2013-2018.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, JAMA, Primary Care / 11.12.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Julie Reiff BA Researcher Health Care Cost Institute  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Prior studies have attempted to define primary care spending and quantify such spending. Using definitions from the Milbank Memorial Fund, we used Health Care Cost Institute data to calculate primary care utilization and spending among those age 0-64 with employer-sponsored insurance. (more…)
Author Interviews, Critical Care - Intensive Care - ICUs, End of Life Care, Primary Care, Pulmonary Disease, University of Pennsylvania / 07.10.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Gary Weissman, MD, MSHP Assistant Professor of Medicine Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Division Palliative and Advanced Illness Research (PAIR) Center University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: There are millions of hospitalizations every year in the United States (US) that include a stay in an intensive care unit (ICU). Such ICU stays put strain on health system resources, may be unwanted by patients, and are costly to society. As the population of the US gets older and more medically complex, some have argued that we need more ICU beds and a larger ICU workforce to keep pace. We hypothesized that some proportion of these ICU admissions could be prevented with early and appropriate outpatient care. Such a strategy would alleviate some of the strains and costs associated with ICU stays. If an appreciable proportion of ICU stays were preventable in this way, it would strengthen support for an alternative population-health based framework instead of further investments in the ICU delivery infrastructure.  (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Opiods, Primary Care / 30.08.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Hannah T. Neprash, PhD Assistant Professor, Division of Health Policy and Management School of Public Health University of Minnesota  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Physicians play a pivotal role in the opioid epidemic and it's important to understand what factors that drive opioid prescribing. Variation in opioid prescribing across physicians has been well-documented, but there’s very little research on variation within physicians…which is surprising, given the widespread concern about time pressure and cognitive fatigue having a potentially detrimental effect on the quality of care provided by physicians. (more…)
Author Interviews, Health Care Systems, Primary Care, University of Pennsylvania / 11.07.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Molly Candon PhD Research Assistant Professor of Psychiatry Lecturer, Department of Health Care Management The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania Co-Instructor, Health Services and Policy Research Methods II, MS in Health Policy Research Program, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: A team of researchers (led by Karin Rhodes, MD and Dan Polsky, PhD) conducted a secret shopper study of thousands of primary care practices across 10 states, with trained callers simulating patients with Medicaid and requesting appointments. One of the outcome measures was whether an appointment was scheduled with a physician or Advanced Practitioner. Between 2012 and 2016, the share of appointments scheduled with Advanced Practitioners increased by five percentage points.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Electronic Records, JAMA, Pediatrics, Primary Care / 07.05.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Cari McCarty, PhD Research Professor, UW Investigator, Seattle Children’s Research Institute  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Adolescence is a time when teens begin to take charge of their health, but it is also a time when they can be prone to health risk behaviors, such as insufficient physical activity, poor sleep, and substance use. We were interested in whether using an electronic health risk screening tool in primary care settings could improve healthcare and health for adolescents.  The tool was designed to provide screening as well as motivational feedback directly to adolescents, in addition to clinical decision support for the healthcare clinician.  We conducted a trial with 300 adolescent patients where one group received the screening tool prior to their health checkup, and the other group received usual care. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, JAMA, Primary Care / 01.02.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Diane M. Gibson, Ph.D. Executive Director – New York Federal Statistical Research Data Center, Baruch RDC Associate Professor – Marxe School of Public and International Affairs, Baruch College - CUNY MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Prior studies have found that screening for diabetic retinopathy in primary care settings using telemedicine increased screening rates among individuals with diabetes and among subgroups of individuals with diabetes who are at high risk of missing recommended eye exams.  In a previous paper I looked at how often U.S. adults with diabetes visited primary care and eye care providers for recommended diabetes preventive care services using a sample from the 2007-2013 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey.  I found that while visits to eye care providers were often skipped, most adults with diabetes did visit primary care physicians.  I argued that these findings suggest that screening for diabetic retinopathy in primary care settings using telemedicine has the potential to fulfill unmet needs and reach most U.S. adults with diabetes. My brief report in JAMA Ophthalmology examines patterns of eye examination receipt and visits to primary care physicians among U.S. adults with diabetes using a sample from the 2016 National Health Interview Survey.  The report pays particular attention to individuals who are at high-risk of missing recommended eye exams. The study found that 87.7% of the sample of adults with diabetes visited a primary care physician in the past year and that, except for the uninsured subgroup, more than 78% of each high-risk subgroup visited a primary care provider in the past year.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Hospital Readmissions, JAMA, Primary Care / 28.01.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Dawn Wiest, 7-day pledge after hospital admissionDawn Wiest, PhD Director, Action Research & Evaluation Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Understanding the role of care transitions after hospitalization in reducing avoidable readmissions, the Camden Coalition launched the 7-Day Pledge in 2014 in partnership with primary care practices in Camden, NJ to address patient and provider barriers to timely post-discharge primary care follow-up. To evaluate whether our program was associated with lower hospital readmissions, we used all-payer hospital claims data from five regional health systems. We compared readmissions for patients who had a primary care follow-up within seven days with similar patients who had a later or no follow-up using propensity score matching. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Primary Care / 10.01.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ying Xue, DNSc, RN Associate Professor University of Rochester School of Nursing Rochester NY 14642 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Shortages of primary care physicians have been a national concern, and forecasts project worsening trends in the future.1 The shortfall of primary care physicians is particularly severe in rural and other underserved communities, and some evidence indicates that the shortage of primary care physicians is due to maldistribution rather than insufficient supply.2 Nurse practitioners (NPs) constitute the largest and fastest growing group of non-physician primary care providers. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) estimated that the number of primary care NPs will grow 93% from 2013 to 2025, and a projected shortage of 23,640 full-time equivalent primary care physicians in 2025 could be effectively mitigated with better utilization of NPs and physician assistants.1 As the primary care physician shortage persists, examination of trends in the distribution of primary care NP supply, particularly in relation to populations most in need, will inform strategies to strengthen primary care capacity. However, such evidence is limited, particularly in combination with physician workforce trends. We thus characterized the temporal trends in the distribution of primary care NPs in low-income and rural areas compared with the distribution of primary care physicians. (more…)
Alcohol, Author Interviews, CDC, JAMA, Primary Care, USPSTF / 20.11.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Carol Mangione M.D., M.S.P.H., F.A.C.P Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center Division Chief of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research Professor of Medicine. Barbara A. Levey, MD, and Gerald S. Levey, MD Endowed chair in medicine David Geffen School of Medicine University of California MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Unhealthy alcohol use is relatively common and is increasing among U.S. adults. Alcohol use is the third leading cause of preventable death in the U.S. and contributes to more than 88,000 deaths per year. In pregnancy, it also leads to birth defects and developmental problems in children. The Task Force found that screening tests and brief counseling interventions can help detect and reduce unhealthy alcohol use among adults, and in turn help prevent negative consequences related to alcohol use. For adolescents ages 12 to 17, clinicians should use their best judgment when deciding whether or not to screen and refer their patients to counseling, until we have better studies available. (more…)
Author Interviews, Primary Care, Respiratory, Telemedicine / 02.10.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Kathryn A. Martinez PhD MPH CanSORT Cancer Surveillance and Outcomes Research Team Cleveland Clinic MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Most upper respiratory infections are viral and therefore should not be treated with antibiotics. Despite this, physicians commonly prescribe them for these conditions. Patients often expect antibiotics for respiratory tract infections.  As a result, physicians may find it easier to give patients what they want rather than explain to them why antibiotics aren’t needed. We hypothesized it also might be more time consuming for physicians to explain to patients why they don’t need antibiotics, which creates a further incentive to prescribe them. To explore this potential phenomenon, we used data from a large direct to consumer telemedicine system to assess differences in medical encounter length by prescription outcome for patients diagnosed with respiratory tract infections. We found that encounters resulting in antibiotics were 0.33 minutes shorter than those that resulted in no prescriptions, supporting our hypothesis that prescribing an antibiotic takes less time than prescribing nothing. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, JAMA, Kaiser Permanente, Primary Care / 17.09.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Richard W. Grant MD MPH Research Scientist III, Kaiser Permanente Division of Resarch Adjunct Associate Professor, UCSF Dept Biostatistics & Epidemiology Director, Kaiser Permanente Delivery Science Fellowship Program Co-Director, NIDDK Diabetes Translational Research post-doctoral training program MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Primary care in the United States is in a state of crisis, with fewer trainees entering the field and more current primary care doctors leaving due to professional burnout. Changes in the practice of primary care, including the many burdens related to EHR documentation, has been identified as a major source of physician burnout. There are ongoing efforts to reduce physician burnout by improving the work environment. One innovation has been the use of medical scribes in the exam room who are trained to enter narrative notes based on the patient-provider interview. To date, there have only been a handful of small studies that have looked at the impact of medical scribes on the provider’s experience of providing care. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Ophthalmology, Primary Care, University of Michigan / 11.09.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Joshua Ehrlich, MD, MPH Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences University of Michigan  MedicalResearch.com: --Describe the “important role” that primary care providers play in promoting eye health? Response: Primary care is the entryway into the health system for many individuals. The poll suggests that when primary care providers discuss vision with their patients, they are more likely to get eye exams. It also suggests that primary care providers are having these conversations most often with those who have certain risk factors for eye disease, such as diabetes or a family history of vision problems, as well as those with fewer economic resources. Promoting these kinds of conversations could bolster this trend, increasing the number of diabetics and other high risk individuals who get appropriate eye care. (more…)
Author Interviews, Blood Pressure - Hypertension, JAMA, Primary Care / 16.04.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “Doctors” by Tele Jane is licensed under CC BY 2.0Doug Einstadter, MD, MPH Center for Health Care Research and Policy MetroHealth System and Case Western Reserve University  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?   Response: Despite the recognized importance of blood pressure (BP) control for those with hypertension, based on national surveys only 54% of patients with hypertension seen in primary care have their BP controlled to less than 140/90 mm Hg. Blood pressure measurement error is a major cause of poor BP control. Reducing measurement error has the potential to avoid overtreatment, including side effects from medications which would be intensified or started due to a falsely elevated blood pressure. One way to reduce measurement error is to repeat the BP measurement during an office visit. The American Heart Association recommends repeating a blood pressure at the same clinic visit with at least 1 minute separating BP readings, but due to time constraints or lack of evidence for the value of repeat measurement, busy primary care practices often measure BP only once. Repeating the BP at the same office visit when the initial blood pressure measurement is high has the potential to improve clinical decision-making regarding BP treatment. Several studies have described the effect of a repeat BP measurement in the inpatient setting, but there are little data available to characterize the effect of repeating blood pressure measurement in an outpatient primary care setting. (more…)
Author Interviews, Mental Health Research, Pediatrics, Primary Care / 15.04.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Anna Scandinaro Medical student Penn State College of Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: Dr. Usman Hameed, a child and adolescent psychiatrist, and Dr. Dellasega wrote a previous paper called "What is irritability?" which examined the idea and concept of what irritability in school aged children can encompass. After considering possible definitions of irritability, we wanted to see how the concept manifested in clinical practice, especially with the controversy around the new diagnosis of Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD) in the DSM 5. The main findings of this study are that primary care providers (PCP)​identified a need for more training and education in how to assess irritability in pediatric and adolescent populations. In contrast, the child and adolescent psychiatrists we interviewed thought more triage from PCPs who care for school aged children with irritability would be helpful.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Primary Care, Prostate Cancer / 14.03.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Jason Profetto, MD, CCFP Family and Academic Medicine Chair, Clinical Skills Undergraduate Medical Education McMaster University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?  Response: The main reason that prompted me to investigate the issue of digital rectal exams in primary care for prostate screening was that it appeared to be rather dogmatic practice (continually practiced by many despite updated data suggesting a lack of benefit).  I was very curious to see if there was any data that suggested the digital rectal exams was indeed a useful indicator in primary practice (ie. Family Medicine) in detecting prostate cancer in asymptomatic men.  Intuitively, I didn’t believe the DRE was accurate mainly because in medical school it’s generally under-represented in clinical skills teaching and poorly taught and assessed (not just in Ontario, but also Canada).  As a result, it seemed bizarre to me that this specific clinical skills was being used as a routine measure in family medicine to screen for prostate cancer.  Also, for me this was a big issue as many men in my practice were used to having yearly “rectal exams” done and I thought it was time to really take a closer look at the research to see whether or not we can support this practice. MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings? Response: The main findings suggest that the digital rectal exam is not helpful/accurate in detecting prostate cancer in asymptomatic men in family practice or primary care. (more…)
Author Interviews, Primary Care, Pulmonary Disease / 15.12.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Jennifer K Quint MSc PhD FHEA FRCP Clinical Senior Lecturer Respiratory Epidemiology Respiratory Epidemiology, Occupational Medicine and Public Health National Heart and Lung Institute Imperial College London  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: We were commissioned by the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy in the UK to undertake a piece of work to show the value of pulmonary rehabilitation in reducing exacerbations in COPD patients so that they could create a web based tool that would show cost savings if GPs actually referred people for pulmonary rehabilitation. Previous systematic reviews have found that pulmonary rehab can reduce hospital admissions but those groups are often small and not very generalizable so we decided to look at what happens in a primary care COPD population. Our main finding is that people who are eligible for referral are not being referred  - less than 10% eligible were actually referred. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, Primary Care, University of Pennsylvania / 14.11.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Molly Candon, PhD Postdoctoral Fellow Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics Center for Mental Health Policy and Services Research University of Pennsylvania MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: We conducted a secret shopper study in 2012, 2014, and 2016 in which simulated Medicaid patients called primary care practices and attempted to schedule an appointment. When Medicaid fees were increased to Medicare levels in 2013 and 2014, primary care appointment availability increased. Once the federally-funded program ended in 2015, most states returned to lower fees. As expected, provider participation in Medicaid declined as well. (more…)
Author Interviews, Emergency Care / 20.10.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: David Marcozzi, MD, MHS-CL, FACEP Associate Professor Director of Population Health Department of Emergency Medicine Adjunct Associate Professor Co-Director of the Program in Health Disparities and Population Health Department of Epidemiology and Public Health University of Maryland School of Medicine Assistant Chief Medical Officer for Acute Care University of Maryland Medical Center MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Nearly half of all US medical care is delivered by emergency departments, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM). And in recent years, the percentage of care delivered by emergency departments has grown. The study highlights what many experts argue is a major flaw in American health care: the use of emergency care in non-urgent cases, where clinics and doctor’s offices would be more appropriate. “I was shocked by this result. This really helps us understand health care in this country. This research underscores the fact that emergency departments are critical to our nation’s healthcare delivery system, particularly for Americans who have no access to care.” said David Marcozzi, MD, MHS-CL, FACEP, an associate professor in the UMSOM Department of Emergency Medicine, and co-director of the UMSOM Program in Health Disparities and Population Health. “Patients seek care delivered in emergency departments for many reasons, and we need to face this fact this is a significant segment of healthcare and actually it may be delivering the type of care that individuals want and need—24/7, 365 days.”  Although he now focuses on population health and hospital throughput, Dr. Marcozzi is an emergency room doctor himself, and works one or two days a week in the University of Maryland Medical Center emergency department, treating patients. (more…)
Author Interviews, Electronic Records, General Medicine / 28.07.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Macda Gerard M.D. Candidate | Class of 2021 Wayne State University School of Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: As electronic health records proliferate, patients are increasingly asking for their health information but little is known about how patients use that information or whether they encounter errors in their records. This comes at a time when we’re learning that understanding the patient and family experience, especially what is most valued in exchanges between doctors and patients is important and has many benefits. To learn more, we developed a formal mechanism for patients to provide feedback on what they like about accessing the information in their health records and to inform their clinical team about things like inaccuracies and perceived errors. So that’s the gap we tried to fill. The patient feedback tool is linked to the visit note in the electronic health record (EHR), and it’s part of a quality improvement initiative aimed at improving safety and learning what motivates patients to engage with their health information on the patient portal. Over the 12-month pilot period, 260 patients and care partners provided feedback using the OpenNotes patient feedback tool. Nearly all respondents found the tool to be valuable and about 70 percent provided additional information regarding what they liked about their notes and the feedback process. (more…)
Author Interviews, Education, Heart Disease, JAMA, Lifestyle & Health, Primary Care, UCLA / 28.07.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Carol M. Mangione, MD, MSPH, FACP Barbara A. Levey, MD, and Gerald S. Levey, MD Endowed chair in medicine David Geffen School of Medicine University of California, Los Angeles Professor of public health at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Americans can experience several health benefits from consuming healthy foods and engaging in physical activity. The Task Force recommends that primary care professionals work together with their patients when making the decision to offer or refer adults who are not obese and do not have hypertension, high cholesterol, high blood sugar, or diabetes to behavior counseling to promote healthful diet and physical activity. Our focus was on the impact of a healthful diet and physical activity on cardiovascular risk because this condition is the leading cause of premature morbidity and mortality. The Task Force evaluates what the science tells us surrounding the potential benefits and harms of a particular preventive service. In this case, the Task Force found high quality evidence focusing on the impact a healthful diet and physical activity can have on a patient’s risk of cardiovascular disease. Relying on this evidence, the Task Force was able to conclude that there is a positive but small benefit of behavioral counseling to prevent cardiovascular disease. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Opiods, Pain Research, Primary Care / 17.07.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jane M. Liebschutz, MD, MPH Associate Professor of Medicine Section of General Internal Medicine Boston University School of Medicine Boston, Massachusetts MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The number of patients receiving opioids for chronic pain has risen over the past 2 decades in the US, in parallel with an increase in opioid use disorder. The CDC and professional medical societies have created clinical guidelines to improve the safety of opioid prescribing, yet individual prescribers can find them onerous to implement. We developed an intervention to change clinical practice to support primary care physicians who prescribe the majority of opioids for chronic pain. The intervention included 4 elements- a nurse care manager to help assess, educate and monitor patients, an electronic registry to keep track of patient data and produce physician level reports, an individualized educational session for the physician by an opioid prescribing expert based on the physician-specific practice information and online resources to help with decision-making for opioid prescribing (www.mytopcare.org). We tested whether the intervention would improve adherence to guidelines, decrease opioid doses and decrease early refills, as a marker of potential prescription opioid misuse among 985 patients of 53 primary care clinicians in four primary care practices. (more…)
Author Interviews, Pediatrics, Primary Care, Vaccine Studies / 14.07.2017

  MedicalResearch.com Interview with: S. Hughes Melton, MD, MBA, FAAFP AAFP Foundation president MedicalResearch: What is the background for this initiative? What are the main vaccinations that teens should have?  Response: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends adolescents receive four immunizations – two of which are administered as multi-dose series – to help protect against meningococcal meningitis caused by serogroups A, C, W and Y; human papillomavirus (HPV); tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis (Tdap); and influenza (flu).1 Despite these recommendations, millions of teens remain vulnerable to serious infectious disease.2,3 Family physicians are well equipped to immunize their patients against a host of common infectious diseases and improve public health. However, discussing teen vaccinations during annual appointments may present challenges due to other issues teens and their parents/guardians may be focused on at this age. The American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation (AAFP Foundation) launched Highlight on VACCINATIONS 4 TEENS to help remind family physicians and their care teams to make immunization a priority at these key appointments for teens. (more…)
Author Interviews / 14.07.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Matthew R. McGrail, PhD Monash University School of Rural Health Churchill, Victoria Australia MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Rural populations continue to experience relative shortages of the supply of primary care physicians, with associated links to poorer health. Although considerable research has identified factors that facilitate or impede supply of physicians in rural areas, macro-level empirical evidence of observed rural mobility of physicians - notably, which are more likely to move and why - is limited. Improved understanding of mobility and nonretention of rural physicians is important because of its impact on training and workforce policy, and resultant physician supply to both the origin area (ie, the location from which the physician moved) and to the destination area (ie, the location to which the physician has moved). The cost of mobility and staff turnover can be large, both in direct costs but also in terms of service quality and continuity to the community. In our study, we aimed to describe the geographic mobility patterns of rural primary care physicians. This evidence will provide stronger understanding of the factors behind the observed mobility and nonretention of rural primary care physicians. (more…)