OBJECTIVE To describe the experiences of emergency department (ED) use among a population of Rhode Island Medicaid patients with chronic pain and a recent history of frequent ED use, who were eligible to participate in the Rhode Island Medicaid Pain Management program. METHODS  Qualitative interviews were conducted with twenty-four patients who were either enrolled, or eligible to be enrolled...

LB-8. Relative Effect of High-Dose Influenza Vaccination on Hospitalizations of Older Adults in United States Nursing Homes: Results From a Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial Stefan Gravenstein, MD, MPH; Monica Taljaard, PhD; Pedro Gozalo, PhD; Roshani Dahal, MPH; H. Edward Davidson, PharmD, MPH; Lisa Han, MPH; Jessica Ogarek, MS; Vincent Mor PhD; Medicine, Geriatrics, Case Western Reserve Uni...

With an increase in travel and an influx of immigrants and refugees from the tropics over the last few decades, clinicians in Rhode Island are more commonly encountering tropical diseases. The Federation for American Immigration Reform estimated that the average annual rate of increase in the foreign-born population in Rhode Island to be 2400 persons, with the Dominican Republic and Guatemala t...

BACKGROUND New HIV diagnoses related to injection drug use (IDU) have declined in the United States. Access to clean syringes and decreasing HIV transmission among injection drug users have been HIV prevention priorities of the Rhode Island (RI) HIV community. To examine trends in IDU-related new HIV diagnoses in RI, we performed a retrospective analysis of new HIV diagnoses according to HIV ri...

This issue brief examines an unprecedented use of state health insurance regulatory authority to promote health system reform. In 2004, the Rhode Island legislature created the Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner (OHIC) with authority not granted to state health insurance regulatory agencies in other states. Specifically, the legislation instructed OHIC to direct insurers toward policie...

Background The U.S. correctional population is disproportionately burdened with chronic health conditions, particularly mental health and substance use disorders. Though inmates receive health care, linkages to care upon release are often poor or nonexistent. Further, the magnitude of the justiceinvolved population strains state and Federal finances. The annual cost per offender awaiting trial ...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Accurate data on the distribution of stroke subtypes are essential for understanding the forces driving recent morbidity and mortality trends. The introduction of diagnosis-related groups (DRGs) in the 1980s may have affected the distribution of stroke subtypes as defined by International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9), discharge diagnosis codes. MET...

Rhode Island’s small size creates unique opportunities for public health. We can easily imagine how the Rhode Island Department of Health (HEALTH) might partner with primary care and specialty physicians to bring effective prevention and treatment to the entire population. We can also imagine how we might use primary care medical assets in non-traditional ways during emergencies when mobility i...

To assess genetic diversity and maternal origin of Turkish and Iranian native chicken breeds, we analyzed the mtDNA D-loop sequences of 222 chickens from 2 Turkish (Denizli and Gerze) and 7 Iranian (White Marandi, Black Marandi, Naked Neck, Common Breed, Lari, West Azarbaijan, and New Hampshire) native chicken breeds, together with the available reference sequences of G. gallus gallus in GenBan...