Improving health in the USA: progress and challenges

Who's at Risk When the Power Goes Out? The At-home Electricity-Dependent Population in the United States, 2012

OBJECTIVES

Natural and man-made disasters can result in power outages that can affect certain vulnerable populations dependent on electrically powered durable medical equipment. This study estimated the size and prevalence of that electricity-dependent population residing at home in the United States.

METHODS

We used the Truven Health MarketScan 2012 database to estimate the number of employer-sponsored privately insured enrollees by geography, age group, and sex who resided at home and were dependent upon electrically powered durable medical equipment to sustain life. We estimated nationally representative prevalence and used US Census population estimates to extrapolate the national population and produce maps visualizing prevalence and distribution of electricity-dependent populations residing at home.

RESULTS

As of 2012, among the 175 million persons covered by employer-sponsored private insurance, the estimated number of electricity-dependent persons residing at home was 366 619 (95% confidence interval: 365 700-367 537), with a national prevalence of 218.2 per 100 000 covered lives (95% confidence interval: 217.7-218.8). Prevalence varied significantly by age group (χ = 264 289 95, P < .0001) and region (χ = 12 286 30, P < .0001), with highest prevalence in those 65 years of age or older and in the South and the West. Across all insurance types in the United States, approximately 685 000 electricity-dependent persons resided at home.

CONCLUSIONS

These results may assist public health jurisdictions addressing unique needs and necessary resources for this particularly vulnerable population. Results can verify and enhance the development of functional needs registries, which are needed to help first responders target efforts to those most vulnerable during disasters affecting the power supply.

Utility of early postoperative imaging after combined endoscopic and open ventral skull base surgery

PURPOSE

Immediate postoperative imaging is frequently obtained after combined skull base surgery (SBS) with endoscopic endonasal and open transcranial approaches. The importance of early postoperative imaging for detecting complications in these patients is still debatable. In this study, we investigated the clinical utility of early postoperative imaging after combined SBS for determination of postoperative complications.

METHODS

A retrospective chart analysis of 21 cases of combined SBS between 2009 and 2015 was performed. Data on postoperative computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and the hospital course were collected. We separated interpretations of postoperative imaging into two groups: (1) when using the radiologist's interpretation alone, and (2) when using the surgeon's knowledge of the case in conjunction with imaging.

RESULTS

Forty-two postoperative scans were obtained (21 CT, 21 MRI) within 48 hours of surgery. There was a significant statistical difference between imaging interpretation by surgeons and radiologists for CT interpretation only. For CT interpretation the true positive (TP), false positive (FP), true negative (TN), and false negative (FN) rates for radiologists (TP, 0/21; FP, 6/21; TN, 11/21; FN, 4/21) slightly deviated from surgeons' interpretation (TP, 1/21 [p = 0.9999]; FP, 0/21 [p = 0.0207]; TN, 17/21 [p = 0.1000]; FN, 3/21 [p = 1.000]). Rates for MRI interpretation by both groups were nearly identical, with no significant difference found. Overall, four patients experienced seven postoperative complications, which led to a complication rate of 19.0% (4/21). The patients exhibited clinical symptoms in all instances of postoperative complications that required further intervention.

CONCLUSION

The benefit of early postoperative imaging to detect complications after combined SBS was limited. In this cohort of patients, positive imaging findings' effects on patient management were dictated by the presence of supporting clinical symptoms.

Opportunities to maximize value with integrated palliative care

Palliative care involves aggressively addressing and treating psychosocial, spiritual, religious, and family concerns, as well as considering the overall psychosocial structures supporting a patient. The concept of integrated palliative care removes the either/or decision a patient needs to make: they need not decide if they want either aggressive chemotherapy from their oncologist or symptom-guided palliative care but rather they can be comanaged by several clinicians, including a palliative care clinician, to maximize the benefit to them. One common misconception about palliative care, and supportive care in general, is that it amounts to “doing nothing” or “giving up” on aggressive treatments for patients. Rather, palliative care involves very aggressive care, targeted at patient symptoms, quality-of-life, psychosocial needs, family needs, and others. Integrating palliative care into the care plan for individuals with advanced diseases does not necessarily imply that a patient must forego other treatment options, including those aimed at a cure, prolonging of life, or palliation. Implementing interventions to understand patient preferences and to ensure those preferences are addressed, including preferences related to palliative and supportive care, is vital in improving the patient-centeredness and value of surgical care. Given our aging population and the disproportionate cost of end-of-life care, this holds great hope in bending the cost curve of health care spending, ensuring patient-centeredness, and improving quality and value of care. Level 1 evidence supports this model, and it has been achieved in several settings; the next necessary step is to disseminate such models more broadly.

Variations in payment patterns for surgical care in the centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

BACKGROUND

We investigated provider and regional variation in payments made to surgeons by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) by indexing payments to unique beneficiaries treated and examined the proportion of charges that resulted in payments. Understanding variation in care within CMS may prove actionable by identifying modifiable, and potentially unwarranted, variations.

METHODS

We analyzed the Medicare Part B Provider Utilization and Payment Data released by CMS for 2012. We included Medicare B participants in the fee-for-service program. We calculated for each provider the ratio of number of services provided to individual beneficiaries, and the ratio of total submitted charges to total Medicare payments. We also categorized each provider into deciles of total Medicare payments, and calculated the means per decile of total Medicare payment for surgeons and urologists. To determine any associations with ratio of services to beneficiaries, we conducted multivariate linear regressions.

RESULTS

The 20th, 40th, 60th, and 80th percentiles for the services-per-beneficiary ratios are 1.6, 2.2, 3.1, and 5.0, respectively (n = 83,376). Greater-earning surgeons offered more services per beneficiary, with a precipitous increase from the lowest decile to the highest. Charges were consistently greater than payments by a factor of 3. In our multivariate analysis of services per beneficiary ratio, female providers had lower ratios (P < .01), and we noted significant regional variation in the ratio of services per unique beneficiary (P < .001 for each of the 10 Standard Federal Regions).

CONCLUSION

We found significant variation in patterns of payments for surgical care in CMS.