Author Interviews, Geriatrics, JAMA, NYU, Primary Care / 22.05.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Benjamin Han, MD, MPH Assistant professor Departments of Medicine-Division of Geriatric Medicine and Palliative Care, and Population Health NYU Langone Medical Center MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: There are an increasing number of older adults being prescribed statins for primary prevention, but the evidence for the benefit for older adults is unclear. Our study finds that in the ALLHAT-LLT clinical trial, there were no benefits in either all-cause mortality or cardiovascular outcomes for older adults who did not have any evidence of cardiovascular disease at baseline. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Macular Degeneration, Ophthalmology, Primary Care / 01.05.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: David C Neely, MD The University of Alabama at Birmingham MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: This study examined the prevalence of eyes with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in patients seen in primary eye care clinics who purportedly have normal macular health. Approximately 25.0% of eyes deemed to be normal based on dilated eye examination by primary eye care providers had macular characteristics that indicated age-related macular degeneration. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, JAMA, Primary Care, UCLA / 10.04.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: John N. Mafi, MD, MPH Assistant Professor of Medicine Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine Los Angeles, CA 90024 Affiliated Natural Scientist in Health Policy RAND Corporation 1776 Main St, Santa Monica, CA 90401 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Between 10-30% of healthcare costs are due to low value care, or patient care that provides little to no benefit to patients, and can sometimes cause harm (e.g., radiation exposure from diagnostic imaging tests). In this study, we found that hospital-based primary care practice provide more low value care than community-based primary care practices across the United States. Understanding where and why low value care occurs is going to be essential if we want to get serious about eliminating it. (more…)
Author Interviews, Lancet, Primary Care, Weight Research / 26.10.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Paul Aveyard PhD MRCP FRCGP FFPH Professor of Behavioural Medicine Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences University of Oxford Radcliffe Primary Care Building Radcliffe Observatory Quarter Oxford MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: We know that opportunistic brief interventions by physicians can be effective, but there is no evidence that they are so for obesity. Physicians worry that broaching this topic will be offensive, time-consuming, and ineffective. We needed a randomised trial to assess whether physicians’ fears were justified, or in fact brief interventions could be as effective for patients who are overweight as they are for smoking or problem drinking and that’s what we did. (more…)
Author Interviews, OBGYNE, Pediatrics, Primary Care, Yale / 26.10.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ann Kurth, Ph.D., C.N.M., R.N. USPSTF Task Force member Dean of the Yale School of Nursing MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Breastfeeding is beneficial for both mothers and their babies, with the evidence showing that babies who are breastfed are less likely to get infections such as ear infections, or to develop chronic conditions such as asthma, obesity, and diabetes. For mothers, breastfeeding is associated with a lower risk for breast and ovarian cancer and type 2 diabetes. While breastfeeding rates have been rising in recent decades—with 80 percent of women starting to breastfeed and just over half still doing so at six months—they are still lower than the Healthy People 2020 targets and the Task Force wanted to review the latest evidence around how clinicians can best support breastfeeding.” After balancing the potential benefits and harms, the Task Force found sufficient evidence to continue to recommend interventions during pregnancy and after birth to support breastfeeding. This recommendation includes the same types of interventions the Task Force recommended in 2008, such as education about the benefits of breastfeeding, guidance and encouragement, and practical help for how to breastfeed. (more…)
Author Interviews, Kidney Disease, PLoS, Primary Care / 22.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Adam Shardlow Derby Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust UK MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is common in the general population, and many people are managed in primary care rather than by specialist nephrologists. This study was designed to investigate 5 year outcomes in people with mild to moderate CKD (CKD stage 3). The main findings were that the majority of participants were stable, and progression to end stage renal disease was a rarity. Interestingly, and contrary to common thinking about CKD, we found that a significant minority no longer had evidence of CKD stage 3 at 5 years, which we have termed ‘CKD remission’. (more…)
Author Interviews, Blood Pressure - Hypertension, Electronic Records, Heart Disease, Primary Care / 18.08.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Tom Marshall, PhD, MRCGP, FFPH Professor of public health and primary care Institute of Applied Health Research University of Birmingham Edgbaston, Birmingham MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Shortly before the Health Checks programme began, a programme of targeted case finding was set up in Sandwell in the West Midlands. In general practices in the area a programme nurse searched electronic medical records to identify untreated patients at high risk of cardiovascular disease. The nurse then invited high risk patients for assessment in the practice and those who needed treatment were referred to their GP for further action. This was implemented in stages across 26 general practices, allowing it to be evaluated as a stepped wedge randomised controlled trial. The programme was successful, resulting in a 15.5% increase in the number of untreated high risk patients started on either antihypertensives or statins. (more…)
Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Mental Health Research, Primary Care / 09.08.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: David S. Kroll, MD Harvard Medical School Department of Psychiatry Brigham and Women's Hospital MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Our primary care clinic has the capacity to provide 9 psychiatry evaluations per week, but before we started this project nearly half of the evaluation appointments went unused due to no-shows, and meanwhile the waiting time was two months. We had tried appointment reminders but this had very little impact on the problem—it turns out that forgetting is only a small part of why patients miss their appointments and that instead they have competing obligations—family, housing, legal, etc. Since the traditional model of scheduling and keeping appointments wasn’t working for so many patients, we implemented a referral-based walk-in clinic instead and found that this significantly increased the number of patients who were seen while virtually eliminating our wait list. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, PLoS, Primary Care, Telemedicine / 26.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Brian McKinstry MD Professor of primary care e-health and General practitioner MacKenzie Medical Centre EdinburghBrian McKinstry MD Professor of primary care e-health and General practitioner MacKenzie Medical Centre Edinburgh MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?  Response: The prevalence of diabetes is rising as the population ages and becomes more obese. Clinical services are increasingly stretched, so much so that it will be difficult for doctors and nurses to continue to look after patients using the same service delivery they have used in the past. Increasingly patients are being asked to self-manage long-term illnesses, but particularly with type 2 diabetes they find this stressful. One solution is to encourage self-management but with monitoring at a distance through telehealth. We performed a randomised controlled trial in family practices in four regions of the United Kingdom among 321 people with type 2 diabetes and glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) ( a measure of control over the previous three months) >58 mmol/mol. The supported telemonitoring intervention involved self-measurement and transmission to a secure website of twice weekly morning and evening glucose for review by family practice clinicians. The control group received usual care, with at least annual review and more frequent reviews for people with poor glycaemic or blood pressure control in the context of incentives in family practice based on a sliding scale of financial rewards for achieving glycaemic and blood pressure control targets. HbA1c assessed at nine months was the primary outcome. Intention-to-treat analyses were performed. (more…)
Author Interviews, Infections, JAMA, Primary Care / 28.06.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jochen Gensichen, MD, MSc, MPH Institute of General Practice and Family Medicine Konrad Reinhart, MD Center of Sepsis Control and Care Jena University Hospital Friedrich-Schiller-University School of Medicine Jena, Germany MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings? Response: Sepsis survivors face multiple long-term sequelae which result in increased primary care needs as a basic support in medication, physiotherapy or mental health. Process of care after discharge from the intensive care unit often is fragmented. (more…)
Annals Internal Medicine, Author Interviews, Primary Care, UCLA / 21.06.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: John N. Mafi, MD, MPH Assistant Professor of Medicine Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine Los Angeles, CA 90024 Affiliated Adjunct in Health Policy RAND Corporation Santa Monica, CA 90401 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Mafi: The U.S. healthcare system faces a looming shortage of primary care physicians, with some estimates as high as 20,000 physicians by the year 2020. In addition, fewer and fewer trainees enter primary care careers because of the harder work and lower salaries. Combine this with the passage of the Affordable Care Act and the millions of newly insured patients looking for a primary care provider, and you have created a perfect storm where timely access to primary care becomes essentially unachievable. Many advocate for expanding the role of nurse practitioners and physician assistants to mitigate the physician shortage. But this is controversial as most doctors believe nurse practitioners provide inferior care to doctors and many feel that expanding their role would worsen the value and efficiency of the U.S. healthcare system. While studies suggest they provide similar quality of care to physicians, few have actually evaluated whether they provide greater amounts of inefficient or low value care. Low value care is important because it can harm patients (antibiotics for colds don’t help patients and have harmful side effects) and they can raise healthcare costs. In this context, we used a large national database on ambulatory visits to compare the quality and efficiency of care among nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and physicians in the U.S. primary care setting. In our 15 year analysis of nearly 29,000 patients who saw either a nurse practitioner, physician assistant, or a physician, we found similar rates of inappropriate antibiotic use for colds, unnecessary imaging (such as x-rays, CT scans, and MRI scans) for back pain and headache, and potentially necessary referrals to specialists for these same three conditions. (more…)
ASCO, Author Interviews, Dermatology, Journal Clinical Oncology, Melanoma, Primary Care, University of Pittsburgh / 07.06.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Laura Ferris, M.D., Ph.D. Associate professor, Department of Dermatology University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Member of the Melanoma Program University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Dr. Ferris: Rates of melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer, are on the rise, and skin cancer screenings are one of the most important steps for early detection and treatment. Typically, patients receive skin checks by setting up an appointment with a dermatologist. UPMC instituted a new screening initiative, which was modeled after a promising German program, the goal being to improve the detection of melanomas by making it easier for patients to get screened during routine office visits with their primary care physicians (PCPs). PCPs completed training on how to recognize melanomas and were asked to offer annual screening during office visits to all patients aged 35 and older. In 2014, during the first year of the program, 15 percent of the 333,788 eligible UPMC patients were screened in this fashion. (more…)
Author Interviews, Electronic Records, JAMA, Primary Care / 16.03.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Daniel R. Murphy MD MBA Assistant Professor - Interim Director of GIM at Baylor Clinic Department of Medicine Health Svc Research & General Internal Medicine Baylor College of Medicine Houston, TX, US MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Murphy: Electronic health records (EHRs) have enabled a large number of messages to be transmitted to physicians each day, including new types of messages that were not present in the pre-EHR era. Lack of support and policies to assist physicians with this workload creates opportunities for important information, such as abnormal tests results, to be missed among the vast amount of other information. We found that primary care physicians (PCPs) at three clinics using commercial EHRs received an average of 77 messages per day, of which only about 20% were test results. Specialists received an average of 29 total messages per day. Extrapolating time needed to process these messages from prior work suggests that PCPs would require an average of 67 minutes per day to process these messages. (more…)
Author Interviews, Geriatrics, JAMA, Ophthalmology, Primary Care / 03.03.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Albert Siu M.D., M.S.P.H. Chair of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Chairman and professor of the Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Director of the Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center James J. Peters Veterans Affairs Medical Center MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Siu: Impaired vision is a serious and common problem facing older adults and can affect their independence, ability to function, and quality of life. When the Task Force reviewed the research around screening older adults for vision impairment in a primary care setting, we concluded that the current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms. As a result, we issued an I statement, which is consistent with the 2009 final and 2015 draft recommendations. MedicalResearch.com: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report? Dr. Siu: Older adults who are having problems seeing should talk to their primary care doctor or an eye specialist. Primary care doctors can explore the various causes of vision problems and do an eye exam to check for refractive error. An eye specialist can do a full eye exam to look for and treat refractive errors and other eye conditions that affect vision, such as cataracts and age-related macular degeneration (AMD). With regards to clinicians, in the absence of clear evidence, they should use their clinical judgment when deciding whether to screen patients who have not reported any concerns about their vision. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, Primary Care / 07.01.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Sapna Kaul, Ph.D Huntsman Cancer Institute 2000 Circle of Hope Salt Lake City, UT 84112 Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Kaul: The United States has the highest healthcare expenditures in the world, and close to one-third of these expenditures are believed to be unnecessary. One potential reason for these unnecessary expenditures is that patients may ask for medical services that are unnecessary. At the same time, primary care physicians (PCP) could find it difficult to refuse to prescribe unnecessary medical services as they may worry that it may compromise patient satisfaction. Also, there is a shortage of primary care workforce in the U.S. and PCPs may have insufficient time to effectively address patient requests. We investigated 2 types of unnecessary medical practices initiated by patient requests: (1) providing unnecessary specialty referrals, and (2) prescribing brand-name drugs when generic alternatives were available. To explore these practices, we used data on 840 U.S. PCPs from a national survey of physicians conducted in 2009. Over 50% of primary care physicians reported providing unnecessary specialty referrals and 39% prescribed brand-name drugs at patient requests. Several provider and organizational factors, such as physician specialty and solo/2-person practice, were related to reporting unnecessary practices. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Mental Health Research, Primary Care / 13.11.2015

Shahrzad Mavandadi, PhD Research Health Science Specialist and Investigator Veterans Integrated Services Network 4 Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center Corporal Michael J. Crescenz Veterans Affairs Medical Center Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Shahrzad Mavandadi, PhD Research Health Science Specialist and Investigator Veterans Integrated Services Network 4 Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center Corporal Michael J. Crescenz Veterans Affairs Medical Center Philadelphia, Pennsylvania  Medical Research: What is the background for this study? Dr. Mavandadi: Mental health (MH) conditions are underidentified and undertreated in later life.  This is particularly true among subgroups of older adults who are more vulnerable to developing mental health issues, have poor access to specialty care, and are less responsive to treatment and therapy.  Thus, we sought to evaluate longitudinal MH outcomes among low-income, community-dwelling older adults enrolled in an evidence-based, collaborative mental health care management service (i.e., the SUpporting Seniors Receiving Treatment And INtervention (SUSTAIN) program).  The SUSTAIN program integrates mental health with primary care (which is where the majority of behavioral health conditions in later life are managed) and provides standardized, measurement-based, software-aided MH assessment and connection to community resources to older adults by telephone. While there is a strong evidence base for the efficacy of collaborative care models for me conditions, little is known about the amount or level of patient and provider support that is needed to achieve optimal behavioral health outcomes.  Thus, we specifically examined outcomes among older adults randomized to one of two program arms of varying intensity: MH symptom monitoring alone or mental health symptom monitoring plus MH care management.   MH care management involved care managers who provided education, counseling, and decision support to patients and their primary care providers, a licensed mental health clinician who supervised the care managers, and the use of an algorithm to help guide pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment plans.  The sample consisted of 1018 older adults prescribed an antidepressant or anxiolytic by their non-behavioral health providers who presented with clinically significant symptoms at intake. (more…)
Author Interviews, Emergency Care, OBGYNE, Primary Care / 30.10.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Alfred Sacchetti, M.D. Department of Emergency Medicine Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center, Camden, NJ Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA Medical Research: What is the background for this study? Dr. Sacchetti: Much of the value of the "Affordable Care Act" is based on the concept that a primary care provider will limit the need for Emergency Department visits.  Unfortunately, this has never been proven, particularly for women's health issues. The purpose of our study was to determine if a relationship with a primary care provider did limit the need to access Emergency Department services. Medical Research: What are the main findings? Dr. Sacchetti: What our results demonstrated was that patients with a primary care Obstetrical / Gynecologic provider utilized the emergency department to the same extent as patients without a documented primary OB/GYN relationship.   Patients with women's health issues still required the services of the ED, even with an established primary care provider.  What was very interesting was that Emergency Department use was not restricted to off hours in the evenings and on weekends.  In fact the use of the ED occurred as much during the 9-5 hours on the weekdays as it did during other times.  The majority of the ED visits were for ambulatory complaints, with most patients being discharged to home after their care. (more…)
Author Interviews, Dermatology, Melanoma, Primary Care / 24.10.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Simone Ribero,  M.D., Ph.D.  University of Turin Department of Medical Sciences Italy & King’s College London Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology St Thomas’ campus London, UK Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Ribero: The total body naevus count is the principal risk factor for melanoma. having more than 100 moles increases  6 times the risk of developping a melanoma. In our study we described a model to predict the total number naevus count with the count of one arm. (more…)
Author Interviews, Colon Cancer, Gastrointestinal Disease, Primary Care / 22.10.2015

Elizabeth Broussard, MD Clinical Assistant Professor Division of Gastroenterology Harborview Medical Center Seattle, WA 98105MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Elizabeth Broussard, MD Clinical Assistant Professor Division of Gastroenterology Harborview Medical Center Seattle, WA 98105 Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Broussard: I am a clinical assistant professor of gastroenterology and I practice and teach fellows and residents GI at a safety-net hospital in Seattle and I was seeing too many late stage colorectal cancer (CRC) in our patient population. CRC is preventable with screening, and I wanted to see how the primary care clinics were performing in getting patients screened. When I looked at the baseline percentages, I realized this was an opportunity for improvement. I teamed up with an internal medicine resident Kara Walter, and we did a deep dive into the process of screening. The results of the poster presentation are a product of this teamwork, with cooperation and input from the directors of the six primary care clinics at our hospital. The main findings are that performing the FIT test is complicated and tricky for some patients, that this process can be streamlined with providing a toilet hat, a prepaid postage envelope, and improved and visual instructions. After one year, we saw statistically significant increases in overall screening with FIT in our patient population. (more…)
Author Interviews, Electronic Records, Primary Care / 27.09.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr-Talley-HolmanTalley Holman, PhD, MBA  Senior eHealth Systems Analyst, Practice Advancement American Academy of Family Physicians Leawood, KS 66211  and John Beasley MD Professor of Family Medicine School of Medicine and Public Health and the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering University of Wisconsin Madison, WIJohn Beasley MD Professor of Family Medicine School of Medicine and Public Health and the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering University of Wisconsin Madison, WI Medical Research: What is the background for this study? Dr. Holman: From an engineering standpoint, tools such as EHRs are designed based on objectives, and the workflows that are created are developed to achieve those objectives. In health care, workflows have not been well understood, so designers have made assumptions when pressed to create tools to address specific situations, problems, or issues. However, the effectiveness of many of these tools is lacking, based on feedback. This led us to take a step back and ask if there is a standard workflow, and if so, what is it? Dr. Beasley: Physicians (and staff) have noted that the EHR is not doing a good job of supporting their work - and changes are made that appear to disrupt the physician’s workflow. There appears to have been an assumption on the part of designers/implementers that workflow is linear. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, Primary Care / 17.09.2015

Michael K. Magill, MD Professor and Chairman, Family and Preventive Medicine University of Utah School of Medicine Salt Lake City, UT 84108MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Michael K. Magill, MD Professor and Chairman, Family and Preventive Medicine University of Utah School of Medicine Salt Lake City, UT  84108   Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Magill: The Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) model of primary care is becoming more common. The model focuses on team delivery of care with other medical staff joining the primary care provider/clinician to provide for all patients’ healthcare needs.  However, the cost of sustaining PCMH functions is not well understood. This  study assessed direct personnel cost of delivering PCMH services in 20 diverse primary care practices in Utah and Colorado. The main finding is that PCMH services cost on average around $105,000 per clinician FTE per year, or around $4.00 per member per month for an imputed panel size of 2000 patients per FTE clinician.  (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, CDC, JAMA, Primary Care / 05.08.2015

Joanne Klevens, MD, PhD Division of Violence Prevention US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Atlanta, GeorgiaMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Joanne Klevens, MD, PhD Division of Violence Prevention US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Atlanta, Georgia Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Klevens: The United States Preventive Services Task Force recommends women of reproductive age be screened for partner violence but others, such as the World Health Organization and the Cochrane Collaborative conclude there is insufficient evidence for this recommendation. Our randomized clinical trial allocated 2700 women seeking care in outpatient clinics to 1 of 3 study groups: computerized partner violence screening and provision of local resource list, universal provision of partner violence resource list without screening, or a no-screen/no resource list control group.  No differences were found in women’s quality of life, days lost from work or housework, use of health care and partner violence services, or the recurrence of partner violence after 1 year. In this three-year follow-up, no differences were found in the average number of hospitalizations, emergency room visits or ambulatory care visits. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, Education, Johns Hopkins, Primary Care / 15.06.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Eric T. Roberts and Darrell Gaskin Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health Baltimore, MD Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: This study looked at the implications of the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of Medicaid on the need for additional physicians working in primary care. Since 2014, 11 million low-income adults have signed up for Medicaid, and this figure will likely increase as more states participate in the expansion. Many new Medicaid enrollees lacked comprehensive health insurance before, and will be in need of primary and preventive care when their Medicaid coverage begins. In light of these questions, in this study, we projected the number of primary care providers that are needed to provide care for newly-enrolled adults. We forecast that, if all states expand Medicaid, newly-enrolled adults will make 6.1 million additional provider visits per year. This translates into a need for 2,100 additional full time-equivalent primary care providers. We conclude that this need for additional providers is manageable, particularly if Congress fully funds key primary care workforce training programs, such as the National Health Service Corps. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, Primary Care / 15.05.2015

Judith Hibbard, Ph.D. Senior Researcher, Health Policy Research Group University of OregonMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Judith Hibbard, Ph.D. Senior Researcher, Health Policy Research Group University of Oregon MedicalResearch: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Hibbard: Two important trends are happening in health care today: 1) Policies which move away from paying for volume and toward paying for value; and 2) The emphasis on patient engagement and the need for the patient to play a key part in the care process. Because so many quality outcomes are determined to a large extent by patient behaviors, there is an implied assumption that if you pay primary care clinicians (PCPs) more for better quality outcomes, they will also try to engage the patient as a necessary partner in reaching quality targets. That is, there is a tacit assumption that clinicians will naturally engage patients if you incentivize them on the quality metrics. We had an opportunity to examine the soundness of this assumption, when we conducted a study of primary care clinicians whose compensation was based 40% on their performance of quality metrics. The findings show that the vast majority of clinicians did not invest their efforts in patient engagement and activation, when trying to maximize their income under this model. They put their efforts in other areas. However, a year later they were very frustrated that their income was influenced by patient behaviors. This was their greatest frustration with the compensation model, and they indicated that “patient’s unwillingness to change their behavior” as the greatest barrier to achieving their quality goals. (more…)
Author Interviews, Global Health, Pediatrics, Primary Care / 12.05.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Elizabeth Cecil, MSc Department of Primary Care and Public, Health, Imperial College London London, United Kingdom Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Unplanned hospital admissions in children have been rising for more than a decade placing strain on health care resources in the UK. Unnecessary hospital admission exposes children to hospital acquired infections and an over invasive approach, and is inconvenient for their families as well as adding to pressures on staff dealing with sicker children. Our team from Imperial College London were interested in assessing the impact of primary care policy reforms on short stay admissions, in England. The reforms were nationally implemented in April 2004 and reduced the availability of primary care physicians for children. Our study, found that reforms coincided with an increase in short-stay admission rates for children with primary care-sensitive chronic conditions and with fewer children’s admissions being referred by a primary care physician. Over the study period from April 2000 to March 2012, we found that more than half of the 7.8 million unplanned hospital admissions for children younger than 15 years were short-stay admissions for potentially avoidable infections and chronic conditions. The primary care policy reforms implemented in April 2004 were associated with an 8 percent increase in short-stay admission rates for chronic conditions, equivalent to 8,500 additional admissions, above the 3 percent annual increasing trend. Notably, the policy reforms were not associated with an increase in short-stay admission rates for infectious illness. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, Emergency Care, Primary Care / 07.05.2015

Karoline Mortensen, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Health Services Administration University of Maryland College Park, MDMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Karoline Mortensen, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Health Services Administration University of Maryland College Park, MD Medical Research: What is the background for this study? Dr. Mortensen: For twenty years, use of hospital emergency departments has been on the rise in the United States, particularly among low-income patients who face barriers to accessing health care outside of hospitals including not having an identifiable primary health care provider. Almost half of emergency room visits are considered “avoidable.” The Emergency Department-Primary Care Connect Initiative of the Primary Care Coalition, which ran from 2009 through 2011, linked low-income uninsured and Medicaid patients to safety-net health clinics. Medical Research: What are the main findings? Dr. Mortensen: “Our study found that uninsured patients with chronic health issues – such as those suffering from hypertension, diabetes, asthma, COPD, congestive heart failure, depression or anxiety – relied less on the emergency department after they were linked to a local health clinic for ongoing care,” says Dr. Karoline Mortensen, assistant professor of health services administration at the University of Maryland School of Public Health and senior researcher. “Connecting patients to primary care and expanding the availability of these safety-net clinics could reduce emergency department visits and provide better continuity of care for vulnerable populations.” (more…)
Author Interviews, Dental Research, Primary Care / 01.04.2015

Judith Haber, PhD, APRN, BC, FAAN Associate Dean, Graduate Programs The Ursula Springer Leadership Professor in Nursing New York, NY 10003MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Judith Haber, PhD, APRN, BC, FAAN Associate Dean, Graduate Programs The Ursula Springer Leadership Professor in Nursing New York, NY 10003 Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Haber: The background of the project originally aligns with publication of the Surgeon General's Report (2000), challenging health providers to think about the "mouth as a window to the body".  More recent Institute of Medicine (IOM) reports, Advancing Oral Health in America (2011) and Improving Access to Oral Health Care for Vulnerable and Underserved Populations (2011) highlighted the extant problems with oral health access, oral health disparities and outcomes and the potential role of the primary care workforce in addressing this population health issue.  However, there is a dearth of curricular focus on oral health in the curriculum of health professionals.  The IOM challenged the Health Resource and Service Administration (HRSA) to convene an Expert Panel to develop interprofessional oral health core clinical (IPOHCC) competencies; the report, Integrating Oral Health and Primary Care Practice, delineating the IPOHCC competencies, was published in 2014.   Our HRSA funded initiative, Teaching Oral-Systemic Health (TOSH), focuses on building interprofessional oral health workforce capacity with a special focus on the nursing, medical and dental professions.  We have operationalized the IPOHCC competencies by transforming the HEENT component of the health history, physical exam, risk assessment, diagnosis, and management plan, including collaboration and referral, to the HEENOT approach.  When a health professional uses the HEENOT approach, he or she cannot forget about oral health. (more…)
Alcohol, Author Interviews, Primary Care / 27.02.2015

Dr. Kristy Barnes Le MD Department of Internal Medicine Wake Forest School of Medicine Winston-Salem, NCMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Kristy Barnes Le MD Department of Internal Medicine Wake Forest School of Medicine Winston-Salem, NC Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Because about 1 in 6 Americans binge drink, it is important that physicians know how to screen for at-risk drinking and be able to effectively address alcohol use with their patients.   Alcohol screening and brief intervention (SBI) has been shown to be an effective tool to detect and reduce hazardous alcohol use, but it has not yet gained wide acceptance in practice or in medical education.  We know that lack of confidence contributes to practicing physicians’ hesitancy to screen and intervene with at-risk drinkers, but this had not been studied in resident physicians. We set out to determine how primary care resident physicians screen and intervene with their patients who drink, how they feel about discussing at-risk drinking, and what barriers they have to performing  Alcohol screening and brief intervention. Our main findings are: 1.)  Resident physicians are using the wrong screening instruments at the wrong times, and are not adequately performing the brief intervention when they do detect hazardous drinking. Less than 20% of residents in this study used screening instruments that are capable of detecting at-risk or binge drinking, while the remainder used instruments designed to detect alcohol use disorders.  And, only 17% screened for at-risk drinking at acute-care visits, where the consequences of binge drinking (such as injuries) are most likely to appear.  Additionally, when a brief intervention was performed, only a quarter of residents usually or always included the three recommended elements of feedback, advice, and goal-setting. 2.)  Resident physicians do not feel confident addressing at-risk drinking with their patients. Only 21% felt they could help their patient with hazardous drinking cut down or stop using alcohol and only 17% felt they had been successful in doing so in the past.  Interestingly, U.S.-born residents and those reporting no religious affiliation were even more likely to express lack of confidence. 3.)  Lastly, residents report barriers that include lack of adequate training (53 %), the belief that talking with patients is unlikely to make a difference (44 %), and just being too busy (39%).  The hours of reported  Alcohol screening training did not vary with residency year, perhaps indicating that most of it was done prior to residency. Clearly, the several hours they report getting (mean of 9.8 hours) is either not covering the right topics, or not teaching them in a way that leads to changes in practice. (more…)
Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, Gender Differences, Primary Care / 10.02.2015

Molly B. Conroy MD, MPH Assistant Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology, and Clinical and Translational Science University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA,MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Molly B. Conroy MD, MPH Assistant Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology, and Clinical and Translational Science University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The background for the study is the fact that middle-aged women are at high risk for being physically inactive, which puts them at higher risk for heart disease, cancer, and other chronic health problems. We compared an interventionist-led physical activity and weight loss program delivered in coordination with primary care to a booklet that women were asked to use to exercise by themselves at home. We found that women who received the interventionist-led program had significantly greater increases in physical activity at 3 months, compared to women who received booklet. At 12 months, women who received the interventionist-led program were still more active than they were before starting the program, although the difference between the 2 groups was no longer significant. (more…)
Author Interviews, Primary Care, Radiology / 27.01.2015

Christine Hughes Hadley Hart Group, Chicago, IllinoisMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Christine Hughes Hadley Hart Group, Chicago, Illinois Medical Research: What is the background for this study? Response: Value in healthcare is a popular topic today. Yet no clear value measures have been developed which could be used in policy decisions on reimbursement for diagnostic imaging procedures.  Within the imaging sector it is a given that imaging has value.  However efforts to articulate that value to payers and policy makers and others outside the sector have come up short.   We did conduct qualitative research with radiologists but during this process of mapping a value chain it became clear that those M.D.s who use the data that radiology provides to make decisions on patient care could better speak to imaging’s value.  And primary care because of the gatekeeper status for all types of care seemed appropriate. Medical Research: What are the main findings? Response: Primary care physicians highly value access to advanced imaging: 88% of the PCPs indicated that advanced imaging increases their diagnostic confidence; 90% believe imaging provides data not otherwise available; 88% reported access to imaging  permits better clinical decision making;  88% reported increases confidence in treatment choices , and 86% say it shortens time to definitive diagnosis. Most  Primary care physicians ( 85%) believe that patient care would be negatively impacted without access to advanced imaging. One very interesting finding is in differences in attitudes and valuations in younger vs. older physicians towards advanced imaging modalities.  For the purposes of this part of the analysis we divided the survey respondents into those in practice 1-20 years and those practicing radiology more than 21 years.  Presumably those practicing less 21 years trained with ready access to advanced imaging versus those who presumably having practiced without ready access to the advanced imaging modalities of MRI, CT and PET. Respondents who have practiced without ready access attach higher value to the ability to shorten the time to definitive diagnosis, ability to replace invasive procedures, make better clinical decisions, and believe the quality of patient care would be negatively impacted without access to advanced imaging.  The younger physicians attach more value to the practice efficiency issues such as enabling the Primary care physician to see more patients, or patient centric issues like the ability to communicate on a visual level with the patient. (more…)