Odds and ends
January 1, 1997
Odds and ends
Group Health of Puget Sound in Seattle, has found that including pharmacists on the health care team can improve outcomes. A Group Health study of diabetic and frail elderly patients found that the pharmacists identified 197 drug-related problems during 136 patient visits. The pharmacists recommended discontinuation of at least one medication in 30% of these patients, which was backed by the attending physician 97% of the time. Group Health estimates having the pharmacists on the teams will save an average of $100 per patient per year. . . . A new study by the Managed Care Information Center indicates that specialists are joining integrated delivery systems at a high rate. The survey showed that 61% of the 148,674 physicians in 541 integrated delivery systems were specialists. The highest concentration of specialists in these systems was in the East, followed by the mid-section of the country. . . . Patient and physician preferences are being left out of quality-of-care decisions, John Wennberg, MD, of Dartmouth University told an American Health Quality Association meeting in Washington this month. He said that quality should address more than clinical outcomes. "Quality exists when patients are informed and when unbiased information is available," he said.
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