The end of an era in otitis research.
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Child↗
Biomedical subjects
Stephen Berman
Publications and source records attributed to Stephen Berman.
Will pediatricians adopt the new rotavirus vaccine?
OBJECTIVES: Our objective was to determine the following among US pediatricians: (1) perceptions regarding burden of rotavirus disease and need for a vaccine; (2) intentions for recommending a newly licensed rotavirus vaccine; (3) perceived barriers to implementation; and (4) factors associated with plans for vaccine adoption. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A network of 431 pediatricians was recruited from a random sample of American Academy of Pediatrics' members. The network was designed to be representative of the American Academy of Pediatrics with respect to region of the country, practice type, and practice setting. During January and February 2006, physicians were surveyed by Internet or mail. The survey contained a paragraph summarizing results of the new rotavirus vaccine trial. Respondents were asked about intentions to use the vaccine and anticipated barriers. RESULTS: The survey response rate was 71%. Of the respondents, 52% strongly agreed and 37% somewhat agreed with the need for a rotavirus vaccine. If recommended for routine use, 50% would strongly recommend and 34% would recommend but not strongly; 52% would begin to use within 6 months and 27% from 6 months to 1 year. The top 3 "definite" barriers to implementation included concerns about uniform coverage of vaccine by insurers, lack of adequate reimbursement, and parental reluctance because of withdrawal of previous rotavirus vaccine. In multivariate analysis, factors associated with very likely adoption of the vaccine included perception of a high burden of rotavirus disease and a high level of confidence in prelicensure studies of vaccine safety. The presence of physician concerns about safety of the new vaccine and the perception of parental concerns about vaccine safety in general were negatively associated with adoption. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of pediatricians reported willingness to implement the new rotavirus vaccine, most within 6 months. Major barriers to optimal implementation included provider concerns about reimbursement issues and parental acceptance of the vaccine.
Attitude of Health Personnel↗
Influenza vaccine effectiveness in healthy 6- to 21-month-old children during the 2003-2004 season.
OBJECTIVE: To assess the clinical effectiveness of influenza vaccine in preventing influenza-like illness (ILI) office visits. STUDY DESIGN: We analyzed billing and immunization registry data for healthy 6- to 21-month-olds from 5 Denver, Colorado pediatric practices (n = 5193). ILI and pneumonia/influenza (a subset of ILI) were defined from International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification codes for office visits occurring during peak influenza season. Partially vaccinated (PV) and fully vaccinated (FV) patients were defined as having 1 shot and 2 shots, respectively, more than 14 days before the first ILI visit. The likelihood of an ILI visit was determined using a Cox proportional hazards model accounting for patient characteristics, practice site, and immunization status. RESULTS: A total of 28% of the patients had an ILI office visit, and 5% had a pneumonia/influenza visit. Hazard ratios (HRs) for FV versus UV were 0.31 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.3 to 0.4) for ILI and 0.13 (95% CI = 0.1 to 0.2) for pneumonia/influenza, corresponding to a vaccine effectiveness (1 - HR x 100) of 69% for ILI and 87% for pneumonia/influenza. The corresponding HRs for PV versus UV were 1.0 (95% CI = 0.9 to 1.2) and 1.1 (95% CI = 0.8 to 1.5). CONCLUSIONS: Although 2 doses of vaccine were 69% effective against ILI office visits and 87% effective against pneumonia/influenza office visits, 1 dose did not prevent office visits during the 2003-2004 influenza season.
Female↗
Weighing the risks of consumer-driven health plans for families.
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Adult↗
Influenza among healthy young children: changes in parental attitudes and predictors of immunization during the 2003 to 2004 influenza season.
BACKGROUND: In Colorado, the 2003 to 2004 influenza season was unusually early and severe and received substantial media attention. OBJECTIVES: Among parents of healthy young children, to determine how parental knowledge and attitudes regarding influenza infection and immunization changed during the 2003 to 2004 influenza season and to identify factors predictive of influenza immunization. METHODS: The study was conducted in 5 metropolitan Denver pediatric practices. A total of 839 healthy children age 6 to 21 months and their parents were randomly selected for participation. Parents were surveyed by telephone before (August 18 to October 7, 2003) and after (March 31 to June 10, 2004) the influenza season. RESULTS: Among 828 eligible parents, 472 (57%) completed the preseason survey; 316 (67%) of these parents subsequently completed the postseason survey. All analyses were performed for the 316 subjects who completed both preseason and postseason surveys. Compared with their attitudes before the influenza season, 48% of parents interviewed after the season viewed their child as more susceptible to influenza, 58% viewed influenza infections as more severe, and 66% perceived fewer risks associated with influenza vaccine. Ninety-five percent of parents reported hearing in the media about Colorado's influenza outbreak, and having heard about the outbreak in the media was associated with viewing influenza infections as more severe. A total of 258 parents (82%) immunized their child against influenza. In multivariate analyses, positive predictors of immunization included a physician recommendation for immunization and a preseason to postseason increase in the perception that immunization was the social norm. Negative predictors of immunization included high perceived barriers to immunization, less parental education, and preseason intention not to immunize. CONCLUSIONS: Parent attitudes about influenza infection and immunization changed substantially during the 2003 to 2004 influenza season, with changes favoring increased parental acceptance of influenza vaccination for young children. During an intensively publicized influenza outbreak, a physician recommendation of vaccination was an important predictor of influenza immunization.
Colorado↗
Increased rates of morbidity, mortality, and charges for hospitalized children with public or no health insurance as compared with children with private insurance in Colorado and the United States.
BACKGROUND: There has been a gradual decrease in the proportion of children covered by private health insurance in Colorado and the United States with a commensurate increase in those with public insurance or having no insurance which may impact access to care and outcomes. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this work was to determine whether children with public or no health insurance have differences in hospital admission rates, morbidity, mortality, and/or charges that might be improved if standards of primary care comparable to those of children with private insurance could be achieved. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective comparison of hospitalization-related outcomes for children < 18 years of age in Colorado from 1995-2003 and in the United States in 2000. Population-based rates for hospital admission were determined stratified by age, race/ethnicity, disease grouping, and health insurance status. RESULTS: Compared with those with private insurance, children in Colorado and the United States with public or no insurance have significantly higher rates of total hospital admission, as well as admission for chronic illness, asthma, diabetes, vaccine-preventable disease, psychiatric disease, and ruptured appendix. These children have higher mortality rates, higher severity of illness, are more likely to be admitted through the emergency department and have significantly higher hospital charges per insured child. Higher hospitalization rates occur in children who are nonwhite and/or Hispanic and those who are younger. If children with public or no health insurance in the United States in 2000 had the same hospitalization outcomes as children with private insurance, $5.3 billion in hospital charges could have been saved. CONCLUSIONS: There is an opportunity to achieve improved health outcomes and decreased hospitalization costs for children with public or no health insurance if private insurance standards of health care could be achieved for all US children.
Adolescent↗
A national survey of pediatrician knowledge and attitudes regarding human papillomavirus vaccination.
OBJECTIVE: A human papillomavirus vaccine was licensed in June 2006. The vaccine is quadrivalent, protecting against 2 human papillomavirus strains that cause cervical cancer and 2 that cause genital warts. The objective of this study was to determine physician characteristics, knowledge, and attitudes associated with an intention to recommend human papillomavirus vaccination. METHODS: Between August and October 2005, a cross-sectional survey was administered to a national network of 431 pediatricians. The network was developed from a random sample of American Academy of Pediatrics members and was designed to be representative of the organization's membership with respect to urban/rural location, practice type, and region. The survey was conducted before human papillomavirus vaccine licensure and therefore focused on a candidate quadrivalent human papillomavirus vaccine and a range of potential vaccination recommendations. The main outcome measure was intention to recommend a quadrivalent human papillomavirus vaccine to young adolescent (10- to 12-year-old) females. RESULTS: Survey response rate was 68%. If endorsed by national health organizations, 46% of respondents would recommend vaccination for 10- to 12-year-old females, 77% for 13- to 15-year-old females, and 89% for 16- to 18-year-old females. Corresponding rates for males were 37%, 67%, and 82%, respectively. Whereas 60% of respondents thought that parents would be concerned that human papillomavirus vaccination may encourage risky sexual behaviors, 11% reported that they themselves had this concern. Respondents who believed that other new adolescent immunization recommendations (eg, meningococcal, pertussis) would facilitate human papillomavirus vaccine implementation were more likely to intend to recommend vaccination. CONCLUSIONS: Although a national sample of pediatricians expressed a high level of acceptance of human papillomavirus vaccination in older adolescent females, fewer than one half anticipated giving human papillomavirus vaccine to younger female patients. Provider concerns about parental vaccine acceptance will need to be addressed to optimize human papillomavirus vaccination implementation.
Attitude of Health Personnel↗
Missed opportunities for influenza vaccination in children with chronic medical conditions.
OBJECTIVES: To assess the frequency and characteristics of missed opportunities for influenza immunization in children with chronic medical conditions and, among unimmunized children in that group, to explore parent-reported reasons for not vaccinating their child. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. Data were obtained from billing and immunization registry databases and telephone interviews of parents. SETTING: Four pediatric practices in metropolitan Denver, Colo, during the 2002-2003 influenza season. PARTICIPANTS: Children aged 6 to 72 months with 1 or more chronic medical conditions. Main Outcome Measure A missed opportunity for influenza immunization, defined as having a billed encounter, being eligible for immunization, and not receiving vaccine. Subjects with asthma were analyzed separately from those with other conditions. RESULTS: We identified 926 children with chronic conditions: 820 (89%) with asthma only and 106 (11%) with other conditions. Missed opportunities occurred at 78% of all vaccine-eligible visits for children with asthma and 74% of all visits for children with other conditions. For children with asthma, 92% of vaccine-eligible visits in December and January resulted in a missed opportunity vs 69% in October and November; for children with other conditions, corresponding frequencies were 86% vs 68%, respectively. For children with asthma, 86% of non-well-child visits resulted in a missed opportunity, compared with 62% of well-child visits; similar frequencies were seen among children with other chronic conditions. Parents of unimmunized children reported lack of a physician recommendation and low perceived susceptibility to influenza as the primary reasons for not immunizing their child. CONCLUSION: Missed opportunities contribute significantly to low influenza immunization rates among children with chronic medical conditions.
Adolescent↗
Long-term sequelae of ventilating tubes: implications for management of otitis media with effusion.
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Child↗
Implementation of universal influenza immunization recommendations for healthy young children: results of a randomized, controlled trial with registry-based recall.
BACKGROUND: An Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices policy of encouraging influenza vaccination for healthy 6- to 23-month-old children was in effect during the 2003-2004 influenza season, which was unusually severe in Colorado. We collaborated with 5 pediatric practices to attempt universal influenza immunization in this age group. OBJECTIVES: The objectives were (1) to assess the maximal influenza immunization rates that could be achieved for healthy young children in private practice settings, (2) to evaluate the efficacy of registry-based reminder/recall for influenza vaccination, and (3) to describe methods used by private practices to implement the recommendations. METHODS: The study was conducted in 5 private pediatric practices in Denver, Colorado, with a common billing system and immunization registry. Although recommendations by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices included children who were 6 to 23 months of age at any point during the influenza season, our practices chose not to recall children 22 to 23 months of age, because they would have become >24 months of age during the study period. Therefore, our study population consisted of all healthy children 6 to 21 months of age from the 5 practices (N = 5193), who were randomized to intervention groups (n = 2595) that received up to 3 reminder/recall letters or to control groups (n = 2598) that received usual care. The primary outcome was receipt of >or=1 influenza immunization, as noted either in the immunization registry or in billing data. RESULTS: Immunization rates for >or=1 dose of influenza vaccine for the intervention groups in the 5 practices were 75.9%, 75.4%, 68.1%, 55.6%, and 44.3% at the end of the season. Overall, 62.4% of children in the intervention groups and 58.0% of children in the control groups were immunized (4.4% absolute difference), with absolute differences, compared with control values, ranging from 1.0% to 9.1% according to practice. However, before intensive media coverage of the influenza outbreak began (November 15, 2003), absolute differences, compared with control values, ranged from 5.1% to 15.3% and were 9.6% overall. Before November 15, significant effects of recall were seen for children in the intervention groups, in both the 12- to 21-month age category (10.4% increase over control) and the 6- to 11-month category (8.1% increase over control); at the end of the season, however, significant effects of recall were seen only for the older age group (6.2% increase over control). The rates of receipt of 2 vaccine doses >or=1 month apart for eligible children ranged from 21% to 48% among the practices. Four of the 5 practices held influenza immunization clinics during office hours, evenings, or weekends, and these clinics achieved higher coverage rates. CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrated that, in an epidemic influenza year, private practices were able to immunize the majority of 6- to 21-month-old children in a timely manner. Although media coverage regarding the epidemic blunted the effect of registry-based recall, recall was effective in increasing rates early in the epidemic, especially for children between 1 and 2 years of age. The practices that achieved the highest immunization rates were proactive in planning influenza clinics to handle the extra volume of immunizations required.
Colorado↗
Challenge of transforming our private and public pediatric health care systems to emphasize value.
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Appendicitis↗
Impact of a decline in Colorado Medicaid managed care enrollment on access and quality of preventive primary care services.
BACKGROUND: Beginning in 1997 the Colorado Medicaid program de-emphasized managed care and shifted children from enrollment in a health maintenance organization (HMO), which required an enrollee to have an assigned primary care physician, to either the unassigned fee-for-service (UFFS) program in which the enrollee was not required to have a primary care physician (PCP) or to the primary care physician program (PCPP) in which the enrollee was required to select a participating PCP if one was available. The proportion of Medicaid enrollee-months in HMOs dropped from 75.4% in 1997 to 29% in 2003, whereas the proportion of enrollee-months in UFFS programs during this time period increased from 18.6% to 45.6%, and the proportion in the PCPP increased from 5.5% to 25.3%. This shift of children from HMO managed care to the UFFS program provided a natural experiment to assess the impact of not having an assigned PCP on pediatric primary care services. OBJECTIVE: We sought to assess whether an elective shift of children from Medicaid HMO managed care plans with an assigned PCP to the UFFS program without an assigned PCP restricted access to a primary care medical home, recommended health supervision visits, and age-appropriate immunizations. METHODS: Published Colorado Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set (HEDIS) data for 1999-2003 were reviewed to determine if Colorado children enrolled in Medicaid managed care programs with an assigned PCP (HMO and PCPP) compared with the UFFS program were more likely to have any type of visit with a PCP, to have recommended health supervision visits, and to be fully immunized. In the analysis, "HMO total" refers to the average of all children participating in HMO plans. Kaiser Permanente was considered a benchmark because it had the highest immunization rates of all HMOs. "Total Colorado" refers to the average of all children enrolled in Medicaid including the managed care and UFFS options. For 2-year-olds, the 4:3:2:1:1 combination immunization included 4 diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis vaccines, 3 oral poliovirus vaccines or inactivated polio vaccines, 2 hepatitis B vaccines, 1 Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine, and 1 measles-mumps-rubella vaccine. RESULTS: In 1999 the percentages of children 12 to 24 months of age having any type of visit with a PCP were >80% for the PCPP, Kaiser Permanente, and UFFS programs. However, although the proportion with any visit remained >85% in 2001 for children enrolled in the PCPP and Kaiser Permanente program, the percentage dropped 13.9% to 66.2% for children in the UFFS program. In 2001 the percentage of children with any type of PCP visit enrolled in the UFFS program (66.2%) was significantly lower than the total Colorado (73.6%) as well as the PCPP (85.7%) and Kaiser Permanente program (97.7%). Children 12 to 24 months of age enrolled in the PCPP in 2001 were 1.3 times more likely to have any type of visit with a PCP compared with those enrolled in the UFFS program. Children in the PCPP in 2001, 2002, and 2003 were 1.4, 1.9, and 2.6 times more likely, respectively, to have all 6 of the recommended health supervision visits compared with children enrolled in the UFFS program. Children 3 to 6 years old in the PCPP in 2001, 2002, and 2003 were 1.3, 1.5, and 1.4 times more likely, respectively, to have an annual health supervision visit compared with children enrolled in the UFFS program. In 1999, 2001, 2002, and 2003 2-year-old children enrolled in the PCPP were 2.0, 1.4, 1.5, and 1.8 times more likely, respectively, to be up-to-date with 4:3:2:1:1 vaccines compared with children enrolled in the UFFS program. In 1999, 2001, 2002, and 2003 adolescents enrolled in the PCPP were 1.8, 1.6, 1.3, and 1.6 times more likely, respectively, to be up-to-date with 2 measles-mumps-rubella vaccines compared with children enrolled in the UFFS program. CONCLUSIONS: This study documents the diminishing ability of the Colorado Medicaid program to provide children access to the benefits of a medical home, including visits with PCPs, recommended health supervision visits, and immunizations as care was shifted to the UFFS program from HMO managed care. The high up-to-date immunization rates achieved by Kaiser Permanente suggest that differences in immunization rates reflect the effectiveness of the care processes rather than the characteristics of the Medicaid population.
Child↗
Tax cuts, budget deficits, and Medicaid cuts: does "starving the beast" mean that children's health must take two steps backward?
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Budgets↗
The fragility of the U.S. vaccine supply.
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Adult↗
The case for interdepartmental research in primary care.
Research problems in human biology, clinical medicine, and health services delivery are complex, and increasingly require collaborative approaches. Despite the commitment of general internists, general pediatricians, and family physicians to comprehensive, coordinated, and longitudinal care, their substantial overlap in research topics, methods, and data sources, and their shared emphasis on research conducted in community-based settings, the three primary care disciplines rarely collaborate in research. The research enterprises of most primary care departments and divisions in the United States are small "cottage industries," while interdepartmental research units are rare. Interdepartmental research units can develop and maintain the critical mass of investigators, trainees, and staff that is necessary for an intellectually vibrant and financially sound primary care research enterprise. The University of Colorado Health Sciences Center School of Medicine has developed a successful interdepartmental research effort in primary care that includes joint fellowship training and faculty development programs and a Primary Care Research Unit that supports the analysis of secondary databases, practice-based research networks, and interdisciplinary research projects. Key elements of this collaboration include shared projects among faculty and trainees, proactive negotiation about resources, and shared research space, staff, and faculty. Such a collaboration provides the breadth of perspectives necessary to address complex health care problems, and the pragmatic infrastructure necessary to sustain research themes and careers.
Colorado↗
Otitis media, hearing loss, and language learning: controversies and current research.
This article reviews research on the possible linkage of otitis media with effusion (OME) to children's hearing and development, identifies gaps, and directions for research, and discusses implications for healthcare practices. About half of children with an episode of OME experience a mild hearing loss while about 5-10% of children have moderate hearing loss. Recent prospective and randomized clinical trials suggest none to very small negative associations of OME to children's later language development. Based on both retrospective and prospective longitudinal studies, associations between OME and perceiving speech in noise and tasks that require equal binaural hearing have been reported but have not been adequately studied with regard to functional outcomes. Thus, on average, for typically developing children, OME may not be a substantial risk factor for later speech and language development or academic achievement. However, these conclusions should be interpreted cautiously, since most of these studies used OME rather than hearing loss as the independent variable (although hearing loss rather than OME is hypothesized to affect language development) and many studies did not control for important confounding variables such as socioeconomic status (SES).
Attention↗
Developing programs for homeless veterans: understanding driving forces in implementation.
Between 1992 and 2003, services for homeless veterans at the Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System went from inappropriate utilization of hospital medical and psychiatric beds, to a continuum of residential treatment, transitional housing, and employment programs through arrangements with private agencies. The authors use elements of Hasenfeld and Brock's Political Economy Model (1991) to explain this transformation in service delivery that was spearheaded by a VA social work leadership team. It is argued that three driving forces crucial to program implementation were present: technological certainty, economic stability, and concentration of power. Evidence of the implementation's impact includes creation of new homeless program beds, a reduction in use of medical/psychiatric beds, and a large number of formerly homeless veterans with housing and employment at program discharge. Study limitations and implications for future studies are discussed.
Employment↗
Identification and recall of children with chronic medical conditions for influenza vaccination.
OBJECTIVES: Despite long-standing recommendations to provide annual influenza vaccination to children with chronic medical conditions, immunization rates are <10% in most primary care settings. Many obstacles impede implementation of these recommendations, including the challenge of identifying targeted children and the need to immunize yearly in a short time interval. The objective of this study was to assess the accuracy of billing data for identifying children who have high-risk conditions (HRCs) and need influenza vaccination and 2) to evaluate the efficacy of reminder/recall for children with HRCs. METHODS: The study was conducted in 4 private pediatric practices in metropolitan Denver, Colorado, that share a computerized billing system and also participate in an immunization registry. For all children aged 6 to 72 months, registry records were linked with the billing database. Patients with >or=1 encounters for an HRC in the previous 24 months were selected, with HRCs identified from International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification diagnostic codes. Using medical records as the "gold standard," we reviewed 327 randomly selected records to determine the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of billing data for identifying HRCs. For children with an HRC, we then conducted a randomized, controlled trial of reminder/recall for influenza vaccination. The primary outcome of the recall trial was receipt of influenza vaccine. RESULTS: Billing data had a sensitivity of 72% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 48%-95%), specificity of 95% (95% CI: 90%-100%), and overall accuracy of 90% (95% CI: 84%-96%) in determining which children had an HRC. Of the 17,273 patients aged 6 to 72 months, 2007 had >or=1 HRCs (12% overall; range: 9%-14% per practice). Asthma/reactive airways disease accounted for 87% of all HRCs. Reminder/recall significantly increased influenza immunization in children with HRCs, with a vaccination rate of 42% in those recalled, compared with 25% in control subjects. Recalled subjects were more likely to have an office visit (68% vs 60%) and less likely to have a missed opportunity to immunize (28% vs 37%) compared with control subjects. CONCLUSIONS: Diagnosis-based billing data accurately identified children who had HRCs and needed annual influenza vaccination, and registry-driven reminder/recall significantly increased influenza immunization in targeted children.
Child↗