{"title":"How a few simple words improve patients' health.","authors":"Richard Feifer","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Recent studies have shown that nearly one quarter of Americans read at or below a fifth grade level, yet medical leaflets and other healthcare data are often written at or above the 10th grade level. Poor health literacy contributes to a host of healthcare problems, including increased health costs, medication errors, adverse drug events and noncompliance. There are steps that can be taken to bridge the health literacy gap between healthcare providers and patients, resulting in an improved physician/patient relationship, better patient health and reduction in healthcare costs.</p>","PeriodicalId":79681,"journal":{"name":"Managed care quarterly","volume":"11 2","pages":"29-31"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2003-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"22570531","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Is it ethical to give out unreadable information?","authors":"Mark Hochhauser","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":79681,"journal":{"name":"Managed care quarterly","volume":"11 2","pages":"33-6"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2003-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"22570533","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Mission possible: creating a technology infrastructure to help reduce administrative costs.","authors":"Michael Alper","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Controlling administrative costs associated with managed care benefits has traditionally been considered a \"mission impossible\" in healthcare, with the unreasonably high cost of paperwork and administration pushing past the $420 billion mark. Why administrative costs remain a critical problem in healthcare while other industries have alleviated their administrative burdens must be carefully examined. This article looks at the key factors contributing to high administrative costs and how these costs can be controlled in the future with \"mission possible\" tools, including business process outsourcing, IT outsourcing, technology that helps to bring \"consumerism\" to managed care, and an IT infrastructure that improves quality and outcomes.</p>","PeriodicalId":79681,"journal":{"name":"Managed care quarterly","volume":"11 3","pages":"11-4"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2003-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"24411172","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A gold standard of treatment and cure for chlamydia.","authors":"Herman Hurwitz","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>With the number of sexually transmitted disease (STD) cases on the rise, STDs have proved to be costly to the health of men and women who suffer from them, as well as to the nation's healthcare budget. Individuals afflicted with a STD, such as syphilis, herpes, gonorrhea, or chlamydia, are at a greater risk of contracting HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Because managing the STD epidemic may be among the best tools for preventing the spread of HIV, managed care must focus its efforts on prevention, early detection, and effective treatment.</p>","PeriodicalId":79681,"journal":{"name":"Managed care quarterly","volume":"11 3","pages":"8-10"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2003-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"24411171","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Single-payer, defined contribution or portable HRAs: will market-based models prevail?","authors":"Amit K Gupta","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Rising healthcare costs have created a crisis situation in employee health benefits. For the first time in a decade, the call for a single-payer healthcare system has been renewed. Although the single-payer system might help expand access to care and reduce administrative costs, the potential costs and bureaucracy make its implementation unrealistic. Consumer-centric health benefit models such as defined contribution and portable HRAs are the first attempts by the private sector to involve consumers in the healthcare decision process. Portable HRAs, which treat health benefits as portable assets to be managed and saved over a lifetime, have the potential to reduce employer costs while improving the quality and continuity of care, with equal access to care for all.</p>","PeriodicalId":79681,"journal":{"name":"Managed care quarterly","volume":"11 2","pages":"32-3"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2003-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"22570532","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sarah B Keating, Dana N Rutledge, Arlene Sargent, Polly Walker
{"title":"A test of the California competency-based differentiated role model.","authors":"Sarah B Keating, Dana N Rutledge, Arlene Sargent, Polly Walker","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>To address the incongruence between the expectations of nursing service and education in California, the Education Industry Interface Task Force of the California Strategic Planning Committee for Nursing developed descriptions to assist employers and educators in clearly differentiating practice and educational competencies. The completion of the Competency-Based Role Differentiation Model resulted in the need to test the model for its utility in the service setting, in education, and for career planning for nurses. Three alpha demonstration sites were selected based on representative geographical regions of California. The sites were composed of tri-partnerships consisting of a medical center, an associate degree in nursing program, and a baccalaureate nursing program. Observers rated senior students and new graduates in medical-surgical units on their behaviors in teacher and leadership care provider and care coordinator roles. The alpha demonstration study results were as expected. That is, senior students practice predominantly at a novice level in teacher and management/leadership care provider functions and new graduates practice predominately at the competent level. New graduates are more likely to take on novice and competent care coordinator roles. The CBRDM may be useful for practice and education settings to evaluate student and nurse performance, to define role expectations, and to identify the preparation necessary for the roles. It is useful for all of nursing as it continues to define its levels of practice and their relationship to on-the-job performance, curriculum development, and carrier planning.</p>","PeriodicalId":79681,"journal":{"name":"Managed care quarterly","volume":"11 1","pages":"40-6"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2003-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"22422485","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The US healthcare system--a diagnosis.","authors":"Lonny Reisman","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":79681,"journal":{"name":"Managed care quarterly","volume":"11 1","pages":"51-3"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2003-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"22422488","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Hospital errors: the tip of the medical-error iceberg.","authors":"Lonny Reisman","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":79681,"journal":{"name":"Managed care quarterly","volume":"11 2","pages":"36-8"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2003-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"22570534","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
William E Berger, Lanny Rosenwasser, J Spencer Atwater
{"title":"Access to allergy care: implications for quality healthcare and public safety.","authors":"William E Berger, Lanny Rosenwasser, J Spencer Atwater","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Some managed care companies are considering reducing or eliminating coverage for several second-generation antihistamines prescribed to treat patients with allergic rhinitis, chronic idiopathic hives, and other allergy-related conditions. Treatment options for all patients with allergic and immunologic diseases should reflect accepted standards of medical care. Prescription policies limiting coverage and/or use of second-generation antihistamines are medically inappropriate, below current national standards of practice in the field of allergic and immunologic diseases, and may increase health expenditures in the long-term. Any action to reduce or limit coverage will not only diminish the quality of medical care for allergy patients but have significant health and safety implications for the general public.</p>","PeriodicalId":79681,"journal":{"name":"Managed care quarterly","volume":"11 2","pages":"8-11"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2003-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"22570528","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}