BACKGROUND The Texas Medicaid Program (Medicaid) defines billable time for labor analgesia as face-to-face time; therefore, anesthesia providers determine billed time. The authors' goal was to determine the influence of anesthesia providers on labor analgesia costs billed to Medicaid. METHODS Under the Freedom of Information Act, Medicaid provided data on claims paid for 6 months in 2001 for ...

Objective To compare clinical and economic outcomes of patients who received intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) therapies and were managed by a clinical management program vs the outcomes of matched controls using administrative claim data. Methods This retrospective cohort study used the PharMetrics Plus™ claim database between September 1, 2011 and June 30, 2014. Patients in the intervention...

PURPOSE Since properly placed and retained sealants can reduce the incidence of caries lesions and save subsequent restorative costs, the purpose of this study was to compare the subsequent restorative cost in a group of predominantly African American Medicaid children who received prior sealants to that of a group of children who did not receive sealants. METHODS Dental claims of 2 cohorts o...

BACKGROUND Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a highly prevalent disease whose sufferers consume a large amount of resources. Among community-dwelling Medicare beneficiaries, 12% reported that they had COPD in 2002. For clinicians, differentiating COPD from asthma may be difficult, but among patients with COPD and asthma, approximately 20% have both conditions. The economic impact ...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the number and type of warning letters issued by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to pharmaceutical manufacturers for promotional violations. METHODS Two reviewers downloaded, printed and independently evaluated warning letters issued by the FDA to pharmaceutical manufacturers from years 2003-2008. Misleading claims were broadly classified as clinical, Quality-o...

BACKGROUND One controversial issue in the larger cap-and-trade debate is the proper use and certification of carbon offsets related to changes in land management. Advocates of an expanded offset supply claim that inclusion of such activities would expand the scope of the program and lower overall compliance costs, while opponents claim that it would weaken the environmental integrity of the pro...