Biomedical subjects

James T Walkup

Publications and source records attributed to James T Walkup.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Psychological Research With Administrative Data Sets: An Underutilized Strategy for Mental Health Services Research.

A key element in the identity of professional psychologists is their commitment to base practice on the best knowledge available about a problem being tackled. Although administrative data (e.g., records of provider billing and procedures) can often shed light on the dark areas of the complex U.S. health care system, psychologists make notably little use of them. Experience teaches that decisions must often be made despite the absence of "gold standard" knowledge from the well-designed, controlled studies learned in graduate school. Increased involvement of psychologists in work using administrative data can improve service provision but requires that psychologists adopt unaccustomed approaches to research. The authors discuss administrative data's strengths and limitations, recent progress made in using them, how psychologists can acquire and use low-cost information from administrative data, and examples of questions that can be answered.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2005

Use of psychotherapy for depression in older adults.

OBJECTIVE: The authors examine national patterns in psychotherapy for older adults with a diagnosis of depression and analyze correlates of psychotherapy use that is consistent with Agency for Health Care Policy and Research guidelines for duration of treatment. METHOD: Linked Medicare claims and survey data from the 1992-1999 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey were used. The data were merged with the Area Resource File to assess the effect of provider-supply influences on psychotherapy treatment. An episode-of-care framework approach was used to analyze psychotherapy use and treatment duration. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to predict psychotherapy use and its consistency. RESULTS: The authors identified 2,025 episodes of depression treatment between 1992 and 1999. Overall, psychotherapy was used in 25% (N=474) of the episodes, with 68% of episodes with psychotherapy involving services received only from psychiatrists. (Percentages were weighted for the complex design of the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey.) Use of psychotherapy was correlated with younger patient age, higher patient educational attainment, and availability of local psychotherapy providers. Among episodes in which psychotherapy was used, only a minority (33%, N=141) involved patients who remained in consistent treatment, defined as extending for at least two-thirds of the episode of depression. Availability of local providers was positively correlated with consistent psychotherapy use. In analyses with adjustment for provider-related factors, patients' socioeconomic and demographic characteristics did not affect the odds of receiving consistent psychotherapy. CONCLUSIONS: Use of psychotherapy remains uncommon among depressed older adults despite its widely acknowledged efficacy. Some of the disparities in psychotherapy utilization suggest supply-side barriers. Increasing the geographic availability of mental health care providers may be one way of increasing access to psychotherapy for depressed older adults.

Age Factors↗

PubMed2004

Sensitivity of an AIDS case-finding algorithm: who are we missing?

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine the sensitivity of an AIDS case-finding algorithm. METHOD: This study applied the AIDS case-finding algorithm to paid Medicaid claims linked to New Jersey AIDS surveillance data and assesses its sensitivity across subgroups of patients. FINDINGS: Of the 7183 cases with confirmed AIDS, based on the state's registry information, 95% (n = 6818) were correctly detected using all Medicaid claims, including pharmacy. For patients in a community-based waiver program, covered by Medicare, diagnosed with a severe mental illness, or continuously enrolled in Medicaid, with regular contact with the medical system, the algorithm identified almost all patients. To further evaluate algorithm performance, it was used with 2 groups of interest to researchers. For AIDS patients in the last 6 months of life, 88% were correctly detected without use of pharmacy claims and 95% when pharmacy claims were included. For pregnant women, data from the 6 months before the latest delivery date identify 27% of pregnant women without pharmacy claims and 41% when pharmacy claims were included. Using claims made after the latest delivery date, 81% of pregnant women were detected without pharmacy claims and 93% when pharmacy claims were included CONCLUSION: Results demonstrate that a multilevel screen can be used with Medicaid claims to effectively to detect most patients with AIDS. Detection is lower for some subgroups, and the absence of pharmacy claims can compromise detection.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

PubMed2004

Mental illness and length of inpatient stay for medicaid recipients with AIDS.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the associations between comorbid mental illness and length of hospital stays (LOS) among Medicaid beneficiaries with AIDS. DATA SOURCE AND COLLECTION/STUDY SETTING: Merged 1992-1998 Medicaid claims and AIDS surveillance data obtained from the State of New Jersey for adults with >or=1 inpatient stay after an AIDS diagnosis from 1992 to 1996. STUDY DESIGN: Observational study of 6,247 AIDS patients with 24,975 inpatient visits. Severe mental illness (SMI) and other less severe mental illness (OMI) diagnoses at visits were ascertained from ICD-9 Codes. About 4 percent of visits had an SMI diagnosis; 5 percent had an OMI diagnosis; 43 percent did not have a mental illness diagnosis, but were patients who had been identified as having an SMI or OMI history; and 48 percent were from patients with no identified history of mental illness. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The overall mean hospital LOS was 12.7 days. After adjusting for measures of HIV disease severity and health care access in multivariate models, patients presenting with primary and secondary severe mental illness (SMI) diagnoses had approximately 32 percent and approximately 11 percent longer LOS, respectively, than did similar patients without a mental illness history (p<0.001 for each). But in these adjusted models of length of stay: (1) diagnosis of OMI was not related to LOS, and (2) in the absence of a mental illness diagnosed at the visit, an identified history of either SMI or OMI was also not related to LOS. In adjusted models of time to readmission for a new visit, current diagnosis of SMI or OMI and in the absences of a current diagnosis, history of SMI or OMI all tended to be associated with quicker readmission. CONCLUSIONS: This study finds greater (adjusted) LOS for AIDS patients diagnosed with severe mental illness (but not for those diagnosed with less severe mental comorbidity) at a visit. The effect of acute severe mental illness on hospitalization time may be comparable to that of an acute AIDS opportunistic illness. While previous research raises concerns that mental illness increases LOS by interfering with treatment of HIV conditions, the associations here may simply indicate that extra time is needed to treat severe mental illnesses or arrange for discharge of afflicted patients.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

PubMed2004

Use of newer antiretroviral treatments among HIV-infected medicaid beneficiaries with serious mental illness.

OBJECTIVES: The study compares rates of protease inhibitor (PI) use during the 3 years following the introduction of these newer treatments among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected individuals with and without serious mental illness and examines persistence of use of these therapies across these subgroups. METHOD: We used merged autoimmune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)/HIV surveillance and Medicaid claims data to examine use of PIs and non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs) among New Jersey Medicaid beneficiaries with AIDS between 1996 and 1998. Based on the ICD-9-CM diagnoses assigned by a high-credibility source in 1 inpatient or 2 outpatient claims, we identified patients with schizophrenia (ICD-9-CM code 295) and those with severe affective disorder (combining patients with recurrent major depressive disorder [ICD-9-CM code 296.3] or bipolar disorder [296.4, 296.5, 296.6, 296.7, or 296.8]). These groups were compared with those patients with no serious mental illness. RESULTS: In this sample, patients with schizophrenia (68.3%) and those with severe affective disorder (75.6%) were more likely to have initiated new antiretroviral therapy than were those without serious mental illness (64.3%). Patients with severe affective disorder, but not those with schizophrenia, were significantly less persistent (p <.01) in their use of PI/NNRTI therapy than those without serious mental illness. CONCLUSIONS: No evidence was found that the presence of a serious mental illness discourages physicians from initiating new antiretroviral therapy, perhaps reflecting a comparatively high level of integration of these patients into the health care system. Patients with schizophrenia are as persistent in their use of PI/NNRTI therapy as those without a serious mental illness. Lower rates of medication compliance by those with severe affective disorder justify increased efforts to support optimal adherence.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

PubMed2003

Diagnosis and treatment of depression in the elderly medicare population: predictors, disparities, and trends.

OBJECTIVES: To develop nationally representative estimates of rates of diagnosis of depression; to determine rates and type of treatment received by those diagnosed with depression; and to ascertain socioeconomic differences and trends in treatment rates of depression, including the effect of supplemental insurance coverage, for elderly Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries. DESIGN: Analysis of merged interview and Medicare claims data for multiple years from merged Medicare claims and interview data from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS), a nationally representative survey of Medicare participants. SETTING: Community dwellers. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty thousand nine hundred sixty-six community-dwelling respondents aged 65 and older in the MCBS cost and use files for 1992 through 1998. MEASUREMENTS: Diagnoses recorded in Medicare claims were used to identify individuals who received a diagnosis of depression from a healthcare provider; pharmacy and claims data were used to identify receipt of antidepressants and psychotherapy by those diagnosed. RESULTS: The rate of depression diagnosis more than doubled, reaching 5.8% in 1998. Overall, about two-thirds of those diagnosed received treatment in each year; but those aged 75 and older, those of "Hispanic or other" ethnicity, and those without additional coverage to supplement Medicare were significantly less likely to receive treatment, controlling for other characteristics. If treated, members of these disadvantaged subgroups were less likely to receive psychotherapy. CONCLUSION: Although depression has been thought until recent years to be underrecognized in the elderly, rates of diagnosis increased dramatically in the 1990s, with concomitant increases in treatment. Nevertheless, significant disparities by age, ethnicity, and supplemental insurance coverage persist in treatment of those diagnosed. Because depression is a major source of potentially treatable morbidity in older people, increased efforts are needed to ensure access to appropriate treatment across all subgroups of older people and to remove economic barriers to treatment.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed2003

Diffusion of new generation antidepressant treatment among elderly diagnosed with depression.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: This study analyzes the prevalence of new generation antidepressant treatment including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) use from 1992 to 1997 among the elderly diagnosed with depression, using a large, nationally representative survey of Medicare beneficiaries. Relationships between use of new generation antidepressant treatment and socioeconomic characteristics, physical comorbidity, insurance coverage, and care sector (mental health specialty vs. general health services) are explored. RESEARCH DESIGN: Merged survey data, Medicare claims, and detailed self-reports from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey were used to explore use of new generation antidepressant treatment.SUBJECTS Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 and older living in the community, enrolled in fee-for-service Medicare throughout the year and diagnosed with depression. RESULTS: In 1997, among an estimated 1.1 million community dwelling older adults with diagnosis of depression in health care claims, nearly two thirds received antidepressant treatments. Among those diagnosed with depression and treated with antidepressants, the use of new generation antidepressants increased from 35% in 1992 to 77% in 1997. The rates of use increased among all subgroups examined. In the early years after the introduction of these new antidepressant medications (1992-1994), there were socioeconomic disparities in use of these medications, with less use by less educated and poor patients. However, these differences abated over time. CONCLUSIONS: An increasing proportion of elderly treated for depression with antidepressants received the new generation antidepressants. The diffusion of these new medications lagged for those with low socioeconomic status defined by education and income. This diffusion process conforms to a general model of diffusion in which during the initial years following introduction of a new treatment, especially one which is costly, early adopters of the treatment are likely to disproportionately represent those of higher socioeconomic status.

Age Factors↗

PubMed2002

Assessment and treatment of depression in disability claimants: a cost-benefit simulation study.

The economic burden of depression includes direct costs of treatment, as well as absenteeism and reduced productivity. In this study, we consider the costs and benefits of an intervention to assess and treat depressive symptoms in long-term disability claimants with nonpsychiatric medical illnesses. Cost-benefit simulations were conducted using data from a study sample of long-term disability claimants (N = 1229) and estimates of both the costs of treatment of depressive symptoms and the savings in claims payments for those who return to work as a result of treatment. We show that the savings that stem from returning a very few claimants to work can offset the assumed cost of a comprehensive program for the assessment of depressive symptoms in all claimants and intensive treatment of those with depressive symptoms. The economic and public health benefits both point toward the value of such an intervention for disability claimants.

Comorbidity↗