| Hot Topic: Learning from Medicare: Coverage Policy |
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| Medicare’s decisions about the coverage of new medical technology have the potential to impact patterns of care across the country. HCFO-funded research provides valuable insights to policymakers on the nature and impact of Medicare’s coverage process as well as its impact on the broader health care landscape.
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| HCFO Releases a New Findings Brief Examining Medication Adherence and Medicare Spending Among Beneficiaries with Diabetes |
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| Much of the research to date on the effects of medication adherence has focused on health outcomes and medical costs. Analyses of the studies examining the relationship between improved adherence and lower spending have suffered from methodological shortcomings, making findings somewhat controversial. HCFO-funded researcher, Bruce Stuart, Ph.D., University of Maryland at Baltimore, and colleagues designed a medication adherence study with an eye toward addressing prior methodological
limitations. Their analyses explored the role of health behaviors in combination with medication adherence to control costs. In their analysis, the researchers concluded that higher medication adherence among diabetic Medicare beneficiaries resulted in lower medical spending.
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| New Data for Researchers |
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| The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality released two reports on all-cause readmissions by payer and age, and Emergency Department visits in rural and non-rural community hospitals. The National Center for Health Statistics released a new data brief on inpatient care for septicemia or sepsis.
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| Grantee Spotlight: Mythreyi Bhargavan, Ph.D. |
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Mythreyi Bhargavan, Ph.D., served as the principal investigator on a HCFO-funded grant that focused on the role of physician financial self-interest (FSI) in the context of imaging procedures.
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| New Grantee Publications |
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Jack Hadley, Ph.D., and colleagues published “Medical
Spending and the Health of the Elderly,” May 2011, in Health Services Research Early View Online.
Yu-Chu Shen, Ph.D., and Renee Hsia, M.D., published “Association
Between Ambulance Diversion and Survival Among Patients with Acute Myocardial
Infarction,” June 2011, in the Journal
of the American Medical Association.
Steven Pizer, Ph.D., and Julia Prentice, Ph.D., published “Time
is Money: Outpatient Waiting Times and Health Insurance Choices of Elderly
Veterans in the United States,” May 2001, in the Journal of Health Economics Early View Online.
Neal Wallace, Ph.D., and colleagues published “The
Individual and Program Impacts of Eliminating Medicaid Dental Benefits in the
Oregon Health Plan,” June 2011, in the American
Journal of Public Health Online.
Todd Gilmer, Ph.D., and Richard Kronick, Ph.D., published “Differences
in the Volume of Services and In Prices Drive Big Variations in Medicaid
Spending Among U.S. States and Regions,” July 2011 in Health Affairs.
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| News and Events |
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Findings from a HCFO study led by Ha Tu, M.P.A., of the Center for Studying Health System Change were featured in a Los Angeles Times article on employer interest in on-site health clinics for employees. The article mentioned the finding that there has been increased employer interest in workplace clinics and that they hold promise, but are unlikely to realize large cost
savings.
HCFO-funded work led by Yu-Chu Shen, Ph.D., of the Naval Postgraduate School, has been highlighted in several media outlets. Her research found that patients whose nearest emergency department (ED) was on divert for 12 or more hours on the day they suffered AMI had a mortality rate 2.8 percentage points higher than those patients whose nearest ED was not on divert the day of their heart attack. This finding was published in Journal of the American Medical Association, and presented at the
AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting. It has generated significant interest and visibility in the media.
HCFO-research led by Jack Hadley, Ph.D., of George Mason University, has recently been highlighted in multiple media outlets. The study found that, on average, greater medical spending was associated with better health status of Medicare beneficiaries. A list of the media outlets featuring this article is on the HCFO web site.
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