Biomedical subjects

Larry D Gamm

Publications and source records attributed to Larry D Gamm.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2004

Mental health and substance abuse services among rural minorities.

This paper provides a brief overview of current conditions and prospects for increased access to mental health and substance abuse services among rural minorities. First, it addresses challenges in ensuring rural minorities access to needed services. Second, it considers steps to increase rural minority participation in the mental health and substance abuse workforce. The dual emphasis is on (1) reaching now the isolated, rural, and frontier minority populations in need of these services and (2) building a rural health workforce that is reflective of rural minority cultures and offers continually higher quality and sustainable services to rural and minority populations.

Health Services Accessibility↗

PubMed2003

The role of value in provider-patient-payer relationships.

Value is becoming a topic of interest to 3 key players in the healthcare field-patients, payers, and providers. This article examines various value definitions and puts forth a composite value definition incorporating cost, quality, and worth elements. A value triad is created to demonstrate how value can be a linking mechanism between patient, payers and providers. Examples are then provided to assist managers in examining the value associated with payers and patients.

Attitude to Health↗

PubMed2003

Evaluating the effectiveness of community health partnerships: a stakeholder accountability approach.

Community health partnerships (CHPs) are promoted as effective cooperative interorganizational relationships to improve community health status while conserving resources. However, relatively little is known about the effectiveness of these partnerships in achieving their goals. Using concepts from a network effectiveness framework (Provan and Milward, 2001) and a network accountability framework (Gamm, 1998), the authors propose that successful CHPs are those that are effective in multiple levels (community, network, organization/particpants) and/or accountability dimensions (political, commercial, clinical/patient, and community). The combined frameworks serve to identify a number of community health stakeholders and associated interests that vary according to accountability dimensions to which CHPs respond. Using survey data from over 400 participants in 25 Community Care Networks, the authors assess the usefulness of the conceptual framework in evaluating CHP effectiveness. The results suggest that CHP participants recognize three different levels of analysis in their evaluation of network effectiveness: community, network, and organization/participant. Furthermore, the results show that respondents distinguish between two different organization/participant benefits: enabling and client services. While respondents rated the intangible resources or enabling benefits (e.g., legitimacy and learning) of partnership participation most highly, client services resulting from CHP participation (e.g., client services and referrals) received the lowest ratings. Community benefit (e.g., improving community health status) and network effectiveness (e.g., ability to provide efficient, high quality health and human services) received ratings that fall between the enabling and client services. Given the relatively good scores (above 60%) received by CHPs on all four effectiveness dimensions considered here, it appears that the majority of respondents find at least some evidence of network effectiveness across all three levels of network effectiveness and all four dimensions of accountability.

Community Health Planning↗

PubMed2002

Quality management practices in telehealth programs: a stakeholder accountability framework.

Improved technologies, distances between providers and patients, and an emphasis on cost-containment have encouraged the use of telehealth as a method of service delivery. Despite the increased use of this technology, few studies have been conducted on management of telehealth programs. Research on quality management is essential for disseminating and generalizing information on best practices in telehealth programs. This study focused on quality management practices used in telehealth programs, using a Stakeholder Accountability Framework. We propose that different indicators of quality are employed to satisfy the expectations of different internal and external stakeholders. A national survey of telehealth programs (N=93) was conducted in January, 2001. Wide variations in practices were found, with the most notable differences between not-for-profit and proprietary programs. The dimensions illustrated in the Stakeholder Accountability Framework were supported empirically. Implications of differences are examined as they relate to advancing quality in telehealth.

Data Collection↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Opportunities for administrators to promote disease management.

Studies of disease management (DM) have shown that patients who participate in such programs achieve better health status and make fewer emergency room visits. Private and government payers have recently increased their efforts to promote DM initiatives through financial incentives to healthcare providers. This article explores opportunities for administrators of health services organizations (HSO) to promote DM in the current political and economic environment. Our survey of professionals (DM leaders, physicians, and DM nurses) in six DM programs reveals these professionals' assessments of the key players and resources that they deem important to their respective DM programs. They view DM programs as heavily dependent on the support of physicians, nurses, and health plan leaders but relatively less so on the support of HSO administrators- a situation that may suggest opportunities for administrators to take on greater leadership in moving the HSO toward developing DM programs. Survey results also indicate a strong need for the integration of resources such as communication systems, electronic medical records, and DM reporting. Taken collectively, these needs suggest a number of strategies for the administrator to play a larger role in supporting the adoption and effective implementation of DM. In the article, we propose that DM programs can benefit substantially from an administrator who can demonstrate a thorough knowledge of DM-related government and private-payer initiatives and who has the ability to provide leadership to develop and implement viable DM programs. Valued contributions that the administrator should bring to the table include support of standardized DM processes, use of practice guidelines, and provision of pertinent information systems.

Administrative Personnel↗