Medicare Advantage (MA) has grown rapidly since the Affordable Care Act; nearly one-third of Medicare beneficiaries now choose MA. An assessment of the comparative value of the 2 options is ...confounded by an apparent selection bias favoring MA, as reflected in mortality differences. Previous assessments have been hampered by lack of access to claims diagnosis data for the MA population. An indirect comparison of mortality as an outcome variable was conducted by modeling mortality on a traditional fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare data set, applying the model to an MA data set, and then evaluating the ratio of actual-to-predicted mortality in the MA data set. The mortality model adjusted for clinical conditions and demographic factors. Model development considered the effect of potentially greater coding intensity in the MA population. Further analysis calculated ratios for subpopulations. Predicted, risk-adjusted mortality was lower in the MA population than in FFS Medicare. However, the ratio of actual-to-predicted mortality (0.80) suggested that the individuals in the MA data set were less likely to die than would be predicted had those individuals been enrolled in FFS Medicare. Differences between actual and predicted mortality were particularly pronounced in low income (dual eligibility), nonwhite race, high morbidity, and Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) subgroups. After controlling for baseline clinical risk as represented by claims diagnosis data, mortality differences favoring MA over FFS Medicare persisted, particularly in vulnerable subgroups and HMO plans. These findings suggest that differences in morbidity do not fully explain differences in mortality between the 2 programs.
Value-based payments are rapidly replacing fee-for-service arrangements, necessitating advancements in physician practice capabilities and functions. The objective of this study was to examine ...potential differences among family physicians who are owners versus employed with respect to their readiness for value-based payment models. The authors surveyed more than 550 family physicians from the American Academy of Family Physician's membership; nearly 75% had made changes to participate in value-based payments. However, owners were significantly more likely to report that their practices had made no changes in value-based payment capabilities than employed physicians (owners 35.2% vs. employed 18.1%,
P
< 0.05). This study identified 3 key areas in which physician owners' value-based practice capabilities were not as advanced as the employed physician group: (1) quality improvement strategies, (2) human capital investment, and (3) identification of high-risk patients. Specifically, the employed physician group reported more quality improvement strategies, including quality measures, Plan-Do-Study-Act, root cause analysis, and Lean Six Sigma (
P
< 0.05 for all). More employed physicians reported that their practices had full-time care management staff (19.8% owners vs. 30.8% employed,
P
< 0.05), while owners were more likely to report that they had no resources/capacity to hire care managers or care coordinators (31.4% owners vs. 19.4% employed,
P
< 0.05). Owners were significantly more likely to respond that they do not have the resources/capacity to identify high-risk patients (23.1% owners vs. 19.3% employed,
P
< 0.05). As public and private payers transition to value-based payments, consideration of different population health management needs according to ownership status has the potential to support the adoption of value-based care delivery for family physicians.
The efficacy of high-dose chemotherapy with progenitor-cell rescue for women with breast cancer is a controversial issue. Although historically controlled trials have suggested a survival advantage ...for high-dose chemotherapy, several randomised studies have yet to confirm this advantage. Two studies, however, by Bezwoda, of patients with high-risk and metastatic disease, seemed to show a significant survival advantage for high-dose compared with conventional-dose chemotherapy for metastatic and high-risk primary breast cancer.
To corroborate the study results before starting a large intemational confimatory study, a US team did an onsite review of records for patients in the high-risk study. Limited numbers of records were made available for review, all of which were for patients who received the high-dose-chemotherapy regimen.
There was much disparity between the reviewed records and the data presented at two international meetings. In addition, the reviewers saw no signed informed consent, and the institutional review committee had no record of approval for the investigational therapy. After the site visit, Bezwoda admitted scientific misconduct by using a different control chemotherapy regimen from that described in presented data.
The Bezwoda study should not be used as the basis for further trials to test the efficacy of the cyclophosphamide, mitoxantrone, etoposide regimen for high-dose chemotherapy in women with high-risk primary breast cancer. This review validates the essential nature of on-site audits, especially in single-institution studies.
Abstract Decades of practice under a system that set the financial interests of physicians and insurers at odds, has resulted in physician distrust of insurers being cited a key obstacle to ...value-based arrangements. Insurers must work to shift the insurer-provider relationship from one that's transactional to a partnership built on trust. Even when physicians and insurers agree philosophically on quality over quantity, there are practical challenges. Insurers can provide the data, systems and analytical insights that help inform the physician's care strategy. Implementing value-based payments requires the two groups to build trust and work together to change long-established systems.
Purpose:
Reducing unnecessary testing may benefit patients, as some computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) expose patients to contrast, and all CTs expose patients to ...radiation. This observational study with historical controls assessed shifts in CT and MRI utilization over a 9-year period after a private health insurer’s implementation of a nondenial, consultative prior authorization program.
Methods/Materials:
Normalized rates of exams per 1000 person-years were plotted over 2005 to 2014 for people with commercial and Medicare Advantage health plans in the San Antonio market, with 2005 utilization set as the baseline. The program was implemented at the start of 2006. Computed tomography and MRI utilization changes were compared with contemporaneous changes in low-tech plain film and ultrasound utilization.
Results:
Growth in high-tech imaging utilization decelerated or reversed during the period. In 2006, CT utilization dropped to between 76% and 90% of what it had been in 2005, depending on the plan. In 2014, it was between 52% and 88% of its initial level. MRI utilization declined to between 86% and 94% of its initial level in 2006, and then to between 50% and 75% in 2014. Ultrasound utilization was greater in 2014 than in 2005 for some plans. Plain film utilization declined between 2005 and 2014 for all plans.
Conclusion:
There was an immediate and sustained decline in CT and MRI utilization after the introduction of the program. While many factors may have impacted the long-term trends, the mixed trends in low-tech imaging suggest that a decline in low-tech imaging was not responsible for the decline in CT and MRI utilization.
Given the positive association between primary care and overall health, several health plans are offering doctors' visits without patient copay, with the intent to increase primary care use. However, ...the effectiveness of these offers has not been established in the literature.
To evaluate the impact of a free primary care provider (PCP) office visit offered by a health plan on primary care-seeking behaviors.
This nonrandomized concurrent control study used event/trials logistic regression to compare the differences in primary care utilization between new exchange enrollees in Mississippi who were offered a free nonpreventive PCP visit and concurrent controls from Georgia and Tennessee who were not offered a free visit, between January 1, 2014, and December 31, 2014, which was the first year of the exchange plans. Regression models adjusted for age, sex, plan type, rural-urban designation, and enrollment month. Visits to alternative sites of care were also assessed.
The adjusted number of nonpreventive PCP visits did not differ between the states (odds ratio OR, 0.99; 95% confidence interval CI, 0.97-1.00). Mississippi residents were significantly more likely to go to the emergency department than the Georgia-Tennessee cohort (OR, 1.33; 95% CI, 1.28-1.39), but they were less likely to visit an urgent care center (OR, 0.10; 95% CI, 0.09-0.11) or a retail clinic (OR, 0.13; 95% CI, 0.11-0.17) than their counterparts.
Despite being eligible for a free nonpreventive visit, enrollees in Mississippi were no more likely than their counterparts in Georgia and Tennessee to visit a PCP. These findings suggest that removing the cost barrier alone may be insufficient to change primary care-seeking behaviors, and other barriers to care should be addressed.
The goal of this study was to use 2 separate databases to evaluate the clinical outcomes and the economic impact of adherence to Level I Pathways, an evidence-based oncology treatment program in the ...treatment of colon cancer.
The first study used clinical records from an electronic health record (EHR) database to evaluate survival according to pathway status in patients with colon cancer. Disease-free survival in patients receiving adjuvant treatment and overall survival in patients receiving first-line therapy for metastatic disease was calculated. The second study used claims data from a national administrative claims database to examine direct medical costs and use, including the cost of chemotherapy and of chemotherapy-related hospitalizations according to pathway status.
Overall costs from the national claims database-including total cost per case and chemotherapy costs-were lower for patients treated according to Level I Pathways (on- Pathway) compared with patients not treated according to Level I Pathways. Use of pathways was also associated with a shorter duration of therapy and lower rate of chemotherapy-related hospital admissions. Survival for patients on- Pathways in the EHR database was comparable with that in the published literature.
Results from 2 distinct databases suggest that treatment of patients with colon cancer on-Pathways costs less; use of these pathways demonstrates clinical outcomes consistent with published evidence.
The invasion and colonization of oral cavity mucosal tissues by microflora may contribute to the pathophysiology of ulcerative oral mucositis (UOM). Iseganan is an analog of protegrin-1, a naturally ...occurring peptide with broad-spectrum microbicidal activity. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of iseganan in preventing UOM after stomatotoxic therapy.
Patients received an oral rinse, consisting of iseganan 9
mg or placebo, to be swished/swallowed six times daily, starting with stomatotoxic therapy and continuing up to 21 days. Patients were assessed for stomatitis and UOM, and administered a questionnaire evaluating mouth pain and difficulty swallowing thrice weekly. The primary study efficacy endpoint was the proportion of patients who did not have peak stomatitis NCI-CTC grade ≥2.
Between November 2001 and June 2002, 502 patients were randomized to receive iseganan (251) or placebo (251). Equivalent numbers of patients in both cohorts received bone marrow or peripheral blood allogeneic or autologous stem cell transplantation (SCT). Forty-three percent and 37% of iseganan and placebo patients, respectively, did not have peak stomatitis grade =2 (
P=0.182). There was no significant difference between the cohorts in stomatitis severity, incidence of UOM, peak mouth pain, peak difficulty swallowing, amount of opiate analgesics used, or adverse event type or incidence.
A major impact of Iseganan on reducing stomatitis, UOM, or its clinical sequelae in patients receiving stomatotoxic therapy was not detected on this study.
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