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Biomedical subjects

D Shaller

Publications and source records attributed to D Shaller.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1996

Data organizations and data networks in Minnesota.

The state of Minnesota offers examples of data-driven organizations as well as a statewide effort to electronically link these into an integrated network. The examples provided by Blue Cross Blue/Shield of Minnesota demonstrate an array of analytical tools to improve quality and enhance financial performance. Blue Cross/ Blue Shield of Minnesota uses a clinical severity measurement system to aid in the development of an inpatient hospital reimbursement methodology which enables hospitals to better manage the quality of care delivered to the patient population. They also make use of population-based utilization analysis in a collaborative environment with providers to improve quality and efficiency of care. The Minnesota Health Data Institute was created by the state legislature to support the information needs of the health care stakeholders in Minnesota. One of its first initiatives is to develop a uniform method of comparing health care plans.

Computer Communication Networks↗
PubMed1992

The Olmsted County Benchmark Project: primary study findings and potential implications for corporate America.

Since 1965, expenditures for medical care in the United States have increased 10-fold. As a result, corporate outlays for health benefits have skyrocketed. Employers have instituted various cost-containment measures based in part on reports of wide variations in rates of utilization and the assumption that unnecessary or inappropriate utilization of medical care contributes to increasing costs. Frequently, however, employers lack adequate means for identifying sources of variation or for evaluating its appropriateness. In this article, we report on a project in which hospital utilization among several US corporate populations was compared with that for a geographically defined benchmark population to assist employers in the assessment of their rates of utilization and expenditures and to identify specific areas that merit further investigation. Our findings illuminate the difficulties in constructing valid rates from medical-care claims data and emphasize potential biases due to problems of comparability between populations. We also address the potential value of such comparison for helping corporations identify areas in which cost-containment efforts may be most effective and yet not jeopardize the quality of medical care.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Chronic progressive eosinophilic fasciitis: report of a 20-year failure to attain remission.

A retrospective diagnosis of eosinophilic fasciitis was made in a patient with disabling contractural disease of 20 years' duration. Chronic moderate-dose corticosteroid therapy had failed to halt either clinical or histological progression of the disease, but rapid worsening of skin thickening and contracture followed withdrawal of prednisone. Muscle wasting was severe in spite of normal serum creatine kinase levels; urinary excretion of creatinine was consistently elevated.

Adult↗