Chuan Fen Liu

..This study examined the incremental cost-effectiveness of a collaborative care intervention for depression compared with consult-liaison care...

..To document time allocated to care management activities and care manager workload capacity using data collected for studies of telephone care management of depression...

..Our goal was to provide a reliable and valid pharmacy-based case-mix classification system for chronic diseases found in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) population...

..To examine longitudinal changes in Medicare-eligible veterans' reliance on the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare system for primary and specialty care over 4 years...

..In CL care, study clinicians informed the primary care provider of the diagnosis and facilitated referrals to psychiatry residents practicing in the primary care clinic...

..This study examined whether variation in patient and facility characteristics determined those differences...

..The study used EBQI methods for CCM redesign, tested the effectiveness of the locally adapted model as implemented, and assessed the contextual factors shaping intervention effectiveness...

....

..To examine differences in use of Veterans Health Administration (VA) and Medicare outpatient services by VA primary care patients...

..Our results provide some evidence that a reduction in nursing line authority may adversely impact nursing costs...

..Compared to those with depression alone, depressed patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) experience more severe psychiatric symptomatology and factors that complicate treatment...

..This study evaluated whether nursing hours per patient day (HPPD) and skill mix are associated with higher inpatient care costs within acute medical/surgical inpatient units using data from the Veterans Health Administration...

..We examined whether the presence of pharmacists in primary care clinics was associated with higher OHA adherence...

..We describe the rationale, design, and characteristics of the baseline cohort of the first randomized clinical trial to study the impact of group versus individual hearing aid fitting and follow-up visits...

..00 per additional hearing aid user compared with the control group. For this population of older veterans, screening for hearing loss with the tone-emitting otoscope is cost-effective...

..The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is an ideal environment in which to test the efficacy of a pharmacy-based approach...

..Depression treatment requires close monitoring to achieve optimal, long-term control. Use of multiple sources of health care can affect coordination and continuity of treatment for depression...

....

..We describe the rationale and design of the first randomized clinical trial to study the long-term effects of routine screening for hearing loss. We also describe the baseline characteristics of the randomized cohort...

..Administrators and researchers conducting cost analyses need to carefully consider the purpose, methods, characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses when selecting a method for assessing cost...

..To compare the ability of generic comorbidity and risk adjustment measures, a diabetes-specific measure, and a self-reported functional status measure to explain variation in health care expenditures for individuals with diabetes...

..To examine the impact of a medication copayment increase on adherence to diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidemic medications...

..We also assessed whether these factors differed between disability-eligible veterans and age-eligible veterans...

..Additional research is needed to corroborate these findings in other nurse samples and settings...

..S. noninstitutionalized civilian population...

..Differences in rankings may reflect differences in comparability of data capture across facilities between pharmacy and diagnosis data sources, and unstable estimates due to small numbers of patients in a facility...

..Models that combined two or more risk adjusters predicted expenditures better than single-measure models, but are more difficult and expensive to apply...

..Depression treatment performance measures dependent on diagnoses and antidepressant prescriptions from administrative databases exclude undiagnosed patients with significant, treatable, symptomatology...

..To compare VA inpatient and outpatient utilization and expenditures of veterans seeking primary care in community-based outpatient clinics (CBOCs) and VA medical centers (VAMCs) in fiscal years 2000 (FY00) and 2001...

..Results suggest that capitated contract clinics did not shift costs to specialty care and appeared to be an economically efficient mechanism for improving veterans' access to primary care while meeting VA quality of care standards...

..Nursing care is delivered in geographically-based units, with wide variation in staffing levels. In particular, staffing in intensive care is much richer than in nonintensive care acute units...

..CONCLUSIONS: Obtaining preferred treatment appears to contribute to improved treatment outcome. Continued attempts to assess for and accommodate treatment preferences might result in better response to depression treatment...

..H. pylori treatment for patients chronically receiving acid suppressive treatment with a prior documented ulcer significantly reduces expenditures if GERD and Barrett's esophagus are absent...