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  • Case Studies Offer Clues to How Team Case Management Model Worked

    West Virginia University's team case management approach to diabetes management has led to positive outcomes with patients.

  • Program Targeting Patients With Diabetes Reaches A1c Goals

    West Virginia University's diabetes care program helped patients lower their A1c levels from an average of 10.25 to an average of 8.7 within three to six months. Even at 18-month follow-ups, 86% of patients recorded lower A1c levels than they did in the beginning, and one-third of patients registered A1c levels below 8. The team-based diabetes care program started as a quality improvement initiative.

  • Not All Capitated Payment Models Work

    Nearly a decade ago, Maryland experimented with a global budget payment model for rural hospitals. The plan was to give them a set amount of money, called Total Patient Revenue, to improve their efficiency. But it did not quite work out. ED visits dropped 12%, and non-ED admissions declined 23%. But there was little incentive for the hospitals to collaborate with community providers to improve patients’ health. Instead, the hospitals just reduced overall services.

  • Health System Reaches ED Visit Reduction Goals by Focusing on Frequent Users

    When a five-year, federally funded demonstration project began in New York, the goals were lofty: reduce preventable readmissions by 25% or more. NYU Langone Health achieved this goal through identifying frequent users and working with them through a targeted case management approach.

  • New Tool May Identify People at Risk for HIV

    A potential analytical tool may help providers identify those at risk for HIV in efforts to offer pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Using a machine-learning algorithm to predict who could become infected with HIV during a three-year period, researchers were able to flag 2.2% of 3.7 million patients as high or very high risk.

  • Check Postpartum Opioid Use in New Moms

    In a new national cohort study of more than 300,000 deliveries, findings indicate that women who received a peripartum opioid prescription had rates of new persistent opioid use of 1.7% for vaginal delivery and 2.2% for cesarean delivery.

  • Researchers Examine Use of Dapivirine Ring for HIV Prevention

    In 2017, estimates indicated there were 37 million people living with HIV and 1.8 million new infections around the globe. In hard-hit sub-Saharan Africa, where young women are disproportionately affected by HIV, new research from an open-label trial of a dapivirine vaginal ring confirms that women will use the device to prevent HIV. The ring was estimated to reduce the risk of HIV by 39%, according to statistical modeling.

  • Analysis Focuses on Testosterone Use in Postmenopause

    Results of a comprehensive meta-analysis indicate that testosterone can improve sexual well-being for postmenopausal women. According to the analysis, benefits included improved sexual desire, function, and pleasure, and fewer concerns about sex.

  • Year-Long Supply of Pills Effective in Preventing Pregnancy, Cutting Costs

    Findings from the new paper, published by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, indicate that reducing birth control refills would be more effective for preventing undesired pregnancies among female veterans. The money saved on healthcare costs would more than outweigh the expense of providing multiple pill packs at one time.

  • Revamping the Daily Pill: Research to Begin on Monthly Pill

    Although lowering side effects plays an important role in oral contraceptive compliance, one of the biggest challenges for patients is adhering to the daily schedule of the pill. Forgetting one to three pills per cycle is a frequent problem among 15-51% of users, particularly among adolescents. Lyndra Therapeutics has received a $13 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and is setting out to remove the daily pill compliance challenge. The company is in early development of a monthly oral contraceptive to provide women with a discreet, noninvasive, reversible contraception option.