OBJECTIVES First, to test a model of the drivers of frequent emergency department utilization conceptualized as falling within predisposing, enabling, and need dimensions. Second, to extend the model to include social networks and service quality as predictors of frequent utilization. Third, to illustrate the variation in thresholds that define frequent utilization in terms of the number of eme...

Utilization of monitored anesthesia care (MAC) for gastrointestinal endoscopy has increased markedly over the past decade, leading to significant additional health care expenditures. However, the extent to which certain patient-, provider-, and facility-level factors lead to MAC utilization is unclear. A systematic review of 13 studies evaluating influential factors associated with MAC utilizat...

OBJECTIVE To describe trends in national resource utilization for pediatric skin and soft tissue infection (SSTI) hospitalizations. METHODS This was a cross-sectional analysis of hospital discharges from 1997 to 2009 within the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Kids' Inpatient Database for children with isolated SSTIs. Outcomes examined included patient and hospital characteristics, num...

• Objective: To assess the impact of a drug utilization review (DUR) alert letter program on metformin discontinuation rates in patients with a metformin claim and an absolute contraindication to metformin

BACKGROUND Race/ethnic discrimination is associated with poorer mental and physical health, worse health behaviors, and increased mortality, in addition to overall race/ethnic disparities in health. More specifically, it has been suggested as a possible determinant of the significant race/ethnic differences in the quantity and quality of medical care received by individuals in the United States...

Under the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP) of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), hospitals with excess readmissions for select conditions and procedures are penalized. However, readmission rates are not risk adjusted for socioeconomic status (SES) or race/ethnicity. We examined how adding SES and race/ethnicity to the CMS risk-adjustment algorithm would affect hos...

the fungal disease, ascochyta blight, caused by ascochyta rabiei is a major yield limiting factor of chickpea (cicer arietinum l.) in many countries, including iran. identification of resistance sources against races or pathotypes of the fungus causing this disease is required for breeding resistant chickpea cultivars. reaction of six selected genotypes of iranian chickpea collection was evalua...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the impact of national implementation of age restriction on fluoroquinolone prescription in children and adolescents. METHODS Data collected from the database of Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service in South Korea, a national health insurance system to analyze fluoroquinolone prescribing practice in children and adolescents younger than 18 years, between 200...

BACKGROUND The importance of creating and sustaining a strong culture of patient safety has been recognized as a critical component of safe medication use. This study aims to assess changes in attitudes toward patient safety culture and frequency of quality-related event (QRE) reporting after guided implementation of a continuous quality improvement (CQI) program in a panel of community pharmac...

As policymakers debate adding a prescription drug benefit to Medicare, they must also seek ways to promote cost-effective use of drugs and minimize inappropriate prescribing. For more than a decade, all state Medicaid agencies and most private insurers have used computerized drug utilization review (DUR) programs to prevent or rectify potential prescribing errors. DUR can be retrospective, in w...