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David W Baker

Publications and source records attributed to David W Baker.

52 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed2003

Declining payments for emergency department care, 1996-1998.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: We describe recent trends in payments from different payer classes and assess their relative importance to the financial solvency of emergency departments. METHODS: We used Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data from 1996 and 1998. The unit of analysis was the ED visit. Primary outcome measures were ED charges and payments. The independent variable of interest was payer class, and therefore, we limited our analysis to those either uninsured or covered by Medicare, Medicaid, or private insurance. RESULTS: From 1996 to 1998, a declining percentage of total charges were paid, from 60.3% to 53.0% (difference -7.3%; 95% confidence interval [CI] -11.3% to -3.5%). Although the percentage of total charges paid by Medicaid, Medicare, and the uninsured remained constant, the percentage of total charges paid by the privately insured declined from 75.1% to 63.4% (difference -11.7%; 95% CI -16.6% to -6.7%). Overall, adjusted mean ED charge increased from 695 dollars to 798 dollars (difference 103 dollars; 95% CI 61 dollars to 146 dollars). Two payer classes experienced statistically significant increases in adjusted mean charge: the uninsured, from 544 dollars to 740 dollars (difference 196 dollars; 95% CI 62 dollars to 330 dollars), and the privately insured, from 658 dollars to 813 dollars (difference 151 dollars; 95% CI 103 dollars to 199 dollars). Although the adjusted mean payment rate for the uninsured remained stable, the adjusted mean payment rate for the privately insured declined from 77.7% to 65.7% (difference -12.0%; 95% CI -13.4% to -10.7%). CONCLUSION: The ability of EDs to provide emergency care to all regardless of ability to pay is increasingly threatened by declining overall payment rates. Cost shifting to fund care for the uninsured is an increasingly untenable financing strategy.

Emergency Service, Hospital↗
PubMed2003

The effect of publicly reporting hospital performance on market share and risk-adjusted mortality at high-mortality hospitals.

BACKGROUND: It is unclear whether publicly reporting hospitals' risk-adjusted mortality affects market share and mortality at outlier hospitals. OBJECTIVES: To examine hospitals' market share and risk-adjusted mortality from 1991 to 1997 at hospitals participating in Cleveland Health Quality Choice (CHQC). RESEARCH DESIGN: Time series. SUBJECTS: Changes in market share were examined for all patients hospitalized with acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, gastrointestinal hemorrhage, obstructive pulmonary disease, pneumonia, or stroke at all 30 nonfederal hospitals in Northeast Ohio. Patients insured by Medicare were used to examine changes in mortality. MEASURES: Trends in market share (proportion of patients with the target conditions discharged from a given hospital) and risk-adjusted 30-day mortality. RESULTS: CHQC identified several hospitals with consistently higher than expected mortality. The five hospitals with the highest mortality tended to lose market share (mean change -0.6%, 95% CI -1.9-0.6), but this was not significant. The only outlier hospital with a large decline in market share had declining volume for 2 years before being declared an outlier. Risk-adjusted mortality declined only slightly at hospitals classified by us as "below average" (-0.8%; 95% CI, 2.9-1.8%) or "worst" (-0.4%; 95% CI -2.3-1.7). However, risk-adjusted mortality at one hospital changed from consistently above expected to consistently below expected shortly after first being declared an outlier. CONCLUSION: Despite CHQC's strengths, identifying hospitals with higher than expected mortality did not adversely affect their market share or, with one exception, lead to improved outcomes. This failure may have resulted from consumer disinterest or difficulty interpreting CHQC reports, unwillingness of businesses to create incentives targeted to hospitals' performance, and hospitals' inability to develop effective quality improvement programs.

Consumer Behavior↗
PubMed2003

The effect of race/ethnicity and desirable social characteristics on physicians' decisions to prescribe opioid analgesics.

OBJECTIVE: Racial/ethnic disparities in physician treatment have been documented in multiple areas, including emergency department (ED) analgesia. The purpose of this study was to determine if physicians were predisposed to different treatment decisions based on patient race/ethnicity and if physicians' treatment predispositions changed when socially desirable information about the patient (occupation, socioeconomic status, and relationship with a primary care physician) was made explicit. METHODS: The authors developed three clinical vignettes designed to engage physicians' decision-making processes. The patient's race/ethnicity was included. Each vignette randomly included or omitted explicit socially desirable information. The authors mailed 5,750 practicing emergency physicians three clinical vignettes and a one-page questionnaire about demographic and practice characteristics. Chi-square tests of significance for bivariate analyses and multiple logistic regression were used for multivariate analyses. RESULTS: A total of 2,872 (53%) of the 5,398 potential physician subjects participated. Patient race/ethnicity had no effect on physician prescription of opioids at discharge for African Americans, Hispanics, and whites: absolute differences in rates of prescribing opioids at discharge were less than 2% for all three conditions presented. Making socially desirable information explicit increased the prescribing rates by 4% (95% CI = 0.1% to 8%) for the migraine vignette and 6% (95% CI = 3% to 8%) for the back pain vignette. CONCLUSIONS: Patient race/ethnicity did not influence physicians' predispositions to treatment plans in clinical vignettes. Even knowing that the patient had a high-prestige occupation and a primary care provider only minimally increased prescribing of opioid analgesics for conditions with few objective findings.

Analgesics, Opioid↗
PubMed2003

Intermittent lack of health insurance coverage and use of preventive services.

OBJECTIVES: This study examined the association between intermittent lack of health insurance coverage and use of preventive health services. METHODS: Analyses focused on longitudinal data on insurance status and preventive service use among a national sample of US adults who participated in the Health and Retirement Study. RESULTS: Findings showed that, among individuals who obtain insurance coverage after histories of intermittent coverage, relatively long periods may be necessary to reestablish clinically appropriate care patterns. Increasing periods of noncoverage led to successively lower rates of use of most preventive services. CONCLUSIONS: Intermittent lack of insurance coverage-even across a relatively long period-results in less use of preventive services. Studies that examine only current insurance status may underestimate the population at risk from being uninsured.

Episode of Care↗
PubMed2003

Racial and ethnic disparities in emergency department analgesic prescription.

OBJECTIVES: We examined racial and ethnic disparities in analgesic prescription among a national sample of emergency department patients. METHODS: We analyzed Black, Latino, and White patients in the 1997-1999 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Surveys to compare prescription of any analgesics and opioid analgesics by race/ethnicity. RESULTS: For any analgesic, no association was found between race and prescription; opioids, however, were less likely to be prescribed to Blacks than to Whites with migraines and back pain, though race was not significant for patients with long bone fracture. Differences in opioid use between Latinos and Whites with the same conditions were less and nonsignificant. CONCLUSIONS: Physicians were less likely to prescribe opioids to Blacks; this disparity appears greatest for conditions with fewer objective findings (e.g., migraine).

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Association of educational status with heart rate recovery: a population-based propensity analysis.

PURPOSE: An abnormally attenuated heart rate recovery after exercise is a predictor of mortality that is thought to reflect decreased parasympathetic activity. Lower educational level may be associated with automatic imbalance. We sought to assess the association of educational level with heart rate recovery. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Among 5246 healthy adults from a population-based cohort who underwent exercise testing, 874 (17%) did not graduate from high school, 1823 (35%) completed high school, and 2549 (49%) attended at least some college. An abnormal heart rate recovery was defined as a difference of </=42 beats per minute between the peak heart rate and that after 2 minutes of recovery. Propensity scores were used to account for differences by educational status. RESULTS: An abnormal heart rate recovery was more common among adults who did not graduate from high school compared with those who attended at least some college (50% [440/874] vs. 28% [701/2549]; odds ratio [OR]: 2.7; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.3 to 3.1; P <0.001). After using propensity scores, lower educational status remained associated with an abnormal heart rate recovery (OR = 1.9; 95% CI: 1.6 to 2.4; P <0.001). During 12-years of follow-up, there were 327 deaths. Poor educational status was associated with greater mortality (9% [80/874] vs. 6% [247/4372]; unadjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 1.9; 95% CI: 1.4 to 2.5; P <0.001). However, after accounting for age, sex, and heart rate recovery, educational status was a weaker predictor (HR = 1.3; 95% CI: 1.0 to 1.7). CONCLUSIONS: Educational status is independently associated with an abnormal heart rate recovery.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Prevention of heart failure.

BACKGROUND: The number of people in the United States with heart failure (HF) is expected to rise dramatically as the population ages unless efforts to prevent HF improve. METHODS AND RESULTS: PubMed/MEDLINE searches were conducted to identify treatment trials of hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, asymptomatic left ventricular systolic dysfunction, and diabetes that reported HF incidence. Treatment of hypertension reduces the incidence of HF by approximately 50%, even among very elderly patients. Diuretics, beta-blockers, and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors appear more effective than calcium channel blockers and doxazosin. Hydroxy methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG CoA) reductase inhibitors reduce the incidence of HF by approximately 20% among patients with hypercholesterolemia and coronary artery disease. ACE inhibitors reduce HF incidence by 37% among patients with reduced systolic function and by 23% among patients with coronary artery disease and normal systolic function. Observational studies have shown lower HF incidence among people with diabetes with better glycemic control. Unfortunately, all of these effective therapies appear to be underused, and control of hypertension is particularly poor. CONCLUSIONS: If clinical practice can live up to the potential shown from clinical trials, the suffering and economic toll imposed by HF can be dramatically reduced. Improved control of hypertension, primary prevention of myocardial infarction, and more widespread use of secondary prevention measures are essential.

Adrenergic beta-Antagonists↗
PubMed2002

Health literacy and preventive health care use among Medicare enrollees in a managed care organization.

BACKGROUND: Many older adults in Medicare managed care programs have low health literacy, and this may affect use of preventive services. OBJECTIVES: To determine whether older adults with inadequate health literacy were less likely to report receiving influenza and pneumococcal vaccinations, mammograms, and Papanicolaou smears than individuals with adequate health literacy after adjusting for other covariates. RESEARCH DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey; home interviews with community dwelling enrollees. SUBJECTS: Medicare managed care enrollees 65 to 79 years old in four US cities (n = 2722). MEASURES: Short Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults and self-reported preventive service use. RESULTS: In bivariate analyses, self-reported lack of preventive services was higher among individuals with inadequate health literacy than those with adequate health literacy: never had an influenza vaccination: 29% versus 19% (P = 0.000); never had a pneumococcal vaccination: 65% versus 54% (P = 0.000); no mammogram in the last 2 years: 24% versus 17% (P = 0.017); never had a Papanicolaou smear: 10% versus 5% (P = 0.002). After adjusting for demographics, years of school completed, income, number of physician visits, and health status, people with inadequate health literacy were more likely to report they had never received the influenza (OR, 1.4; 95% CI, 1.1-1.9) or pneumococcal vaccination (OR, 1.3; 95% CI, 1.1-1.7), and women were less likely to have received a mammogram (OR, 1.5; 95% CI, 1.0-2.2) or Papanicolaou smear (OR, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.0-3.1). CONCLUSIONS: Among Medicare managed care enrollees, inadequate health literacy is independently associated with lower use of preventive health services.

Aged↗
PubMed2002

Mortality trends during a program that publicly reported hospital performance.

BACKGROUND: It is unclear whether publicly reporting hospitals' risk-adjusted mortality leads to improvements in outcomes. OBJECTIVES: To examine mortality trends during a period (1991-1997) when the Cleveland Health Quality Choice program was operational. RESEARCH DESIGN: Time series. SUBJECTS: Medicare patients hospitalized with acute myocardial infarction (AMI; n = 10,439), congestive heart failure (CHF; n = 23,505), gastrointestinal hemorrhage (GIH; n = 11,088), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD; n = 8495), pneumonia (n = 23,719), or stroke (n = 14,293). MEASURES: Risk-adjusted in-hospital mortality, early postdischarge mortality (between discharge and 30 days after admission), and 30-day mortality. RESULTS: Risk-adjusted in-hospital mortality declined significantly for all conditions except stroke and GIH, with absolute declines ranging from -2.1% for COPD to -4.8% for pneumonia. However, the mortality rate in the early postdischarge period rose significantly for all conditions except COPD, with increases ranging from 1.4% for GIH to 3.8% for stroke. As a consequence, the 30-day mortality declined significantly only for CHF (absolute decline 1.4%, 95% CI, -2.5 to -0.1%) and COPD (absolute decline 1.6%, 95% CI, -2.8-0.0%). For stroke, risk-adjusted 30-day mortality actually increased by 4.3% (95% CI, 1.8-7.1%). CONCLUSION: During Cleveland's experiment with hospital report cards, deaths shifted from in hospital to the period immediately after discharge with little or no net reduction in 30-day mortality for most conditions. Hospital profiling remains an unproven strategy for improving outcomes of care for medical conditions. Using in-hospital mortality rates to monitor trends in outcomes for hospitalized patients may lead to spurious conclusions.

Aged↗
PubMed2002

Loss of health insurance and the risk for a decline in self-reported health and physical functioning.

BACKGROUND: Millions of Americans are intermittently uninsured. The health consequences of this are not known. SETTING: National survey. PARTICIPANTS: Six thousand seventy-two participants in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) age 51 to 61 years old with private insurance in 1992. MEASUREMENTS: Loss of insurance coverage between 1992 and 1992 and development of a major decline in overall health or a new physical difficulty between 1994 and 1996. RESULTS: In 1994, 5768 (95.0%) people continued to have private insurance, 229 (3.8%) reported having lost all insurance, and 75 (1.2%) converted to having only public insurance. Over the subsequent 2 years (1994-1996), the risk for a major decline in overall health was 15.6% for those who lost all insurance versus 7.2% for those with continuous private insurance (P <0.001). After adjusting for baseline sociodemographics, health behaviors, and health status, the adjusted relative risk for a major decline in health for those who lost coverage was 1.82 (95% CI, 1.25-2.59) compared with those with continuous private insurance. Those who lost insurance also had a higher risk for developing a new mobility difficulty compared with those with continuous private insurance (28.5% vs. 20.4%, respectively; P= 0.02), but this was not significant in multivariate analysis (adjusted RR, 1.26; 95% CI, 0.90-1.68). CONCLUSIONS: Loss of insurance has adverse health consequences even within 2 years after becoming uninsured. Studies of insurance coverage should routinely measure the number of Americans uninsured at any time over the preceding 2 years as a more accurate measure of the population at risk from being uninsured.

Female↗
PubMed2002

Usual source of care and nonurgent emergency department use.

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether dissatisfaction with one's usual source of care (USC) and perceived access difficulties to one's USC were associated with nonurgent emergency department (ED) use. METHODS: Variables that measured USC satisfaction and access were identified in the 1996 cohort of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), a nationally representative sample administered by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The main outcome measured was nonurgent ED use at least once during 1996. RESULTS: A total of 9,146 adults had a USC other than the ED, had at least one contact with the health care system or were unable to get needed care, and had complete data for all the variables in the final model. Dissatisfaction with the USC, dissatisfaction with the USC staff, lack of confidence in the USC's ability, difficulty scheduling an appointment, difficulty reaching the USC by phone, and long waiting times with an appointment were all associated with having a nonurgent ED visit in 1996 (all at p < 0.05). The positive associations between both dissatisfaction and perceived access barriers and nonurgent ED use persisted even in multiple logistic regression that adjusted for age, sex, race, education, health status, employment status, income, insurance, region of residence, and rural vs. urban residence. CONCLUSIONS: Patients who are dissatisfied with their USC or perceive access barriers to their USC are more likely to have a nonurgent ED visit.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Functional health literacy and the risk of hospital admission among Medicare managed care enrollees.

OBJECTIVES: This study analyzed whether inadequate functional health literacy is an independent risk factor for hospital admission. METHODS: We studied a prospective cohort of 3260 Medicare managed care enrollees. RESULTS: Of the participants, 29.5% were hospitalized. The crude relative risk (RR) of hospitalization was higher for individuals with inadequate literacy (n = 800; RR = 1.43; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.24, 1.65) and marginal literacy (n = 366; RR = 1.33; 95% CI = 1.09, 1.61) than for those with adequate literacy (n = 2094). In multivariate analysis, the adjusted relative risk of hospital admission was 1.29 (95% CI = 1.07, 1.55) for individuals with inadequate literacy and 1.21 (95% CI = 0.97, 1.50) for those with marginal literacy. CONCLUSIONS: Inadequate literacy was an independent risk factor for hospital admission among elderly managed care enrollees.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Aspirin use among adults with diabetes: recent trends and emerging sex disparities.

BACKGROUND: Despite high cardiovascular risk among adults with diabetes mellitus, aspirin use has been low. METHODS: To assess recent self-reported regular aspirin use among adults 35 years or older with diabetes, we used statewide telephone surveys conducted in 7 states in 1997 and 20 states in 1999 and 2001 including 875, 3205, and 4272 subjects in 1997, 1999, and 2001, respectively. RESULTS: Aspirin use increased from 37.5% in 1997 to 48.7% in 2001. In 2001, 74.2% (95% confidence interval [CI], 70.9%-77.5%) of diabetic adults with cardiovascular disease, but only 37.9% (95% CI, 35.1%-40.7%) of those without cardiovascular disease, used aspirin regularly, including less than 40% with diagnosed hypertension or hypercholesterolemia or who smoked. After adjusting for cardiac risk factors and socioeconomic characteristics, among those without cardiovascular disease, aspirin use was less common in women aged 35 to 49 years (adjusted rate ratio [RR], 0.35; 95% CI, 0.24-0.51) and 50 to 64 years (RR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.53-0.88) and in men aged 35 to 49 years (RR, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.43-0.85) compared with men 65 years and older. For those with diagnosed cardiovascular disease, aspirin use was lower among women (RR, 0.81 compared with men; 95% CI, 0.70-0.90) and adults younger than 50 years (RR compared with those >/=65 years, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.61-0.98). The disparity in aspirin use between men and women appeared between 1997 and 2001. CONCLUSIONS: Aspirin use among adults with diabetes has increased. However, many high-risk individuals, especially women and those younger than 50 years, do not use this effective and inexpensive therapy.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The effect of external feedback on the management of medicare inpatients with congestive heart failure.

The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of 2 feedback strategies on the adherence to congestive heart failure (CHF) guidelines. Thirty-two hospitals in 4 states were randomized to receive either a written feedback intervention (low-intensity intervention [LII]) or an intervention involving feedback, a physician liaison, and quality improvement tools (high-intensity intervention [HII]). CHF quality indicators were assessed, and quality managers were interviewed at baseline and remeasurement. No significant changes in quality indicators were found as a result of either intervention. Seventy-eight percent of quality managers indicated that hospital project implementation had not begun until shortly before remeasurement. HII quality managers perceived the CHF project as significantly more successful compared with LII quality managers (63% versus 13%, P < .01). Evaluation of the effects of external feedback on practice behavior requires sufficient time for organizational and individual clinician change to occur. Physician liaisons may play a role in facilitating this change.

Aged↗