BACKGROUND For individuals with chemotherapy-related anemia, the clinical effectiveness of epoetin alfa (EPO) dosed once weekly ([QW], 40,000 units per dose) has been demonstrated to be indistinguishable from that observed with thrice-weekly dosing ([TIW], 10,000 units per dose). Whether the advantage of less-frequent administration justifies the higher EPO dosage used in the weekly regimen in ...

BACKGROUND Databases derived from primary care electronic health records (EHRs) are ideally suited to study clinical influences on referral patterns. This is the first study outside the United Kingdom to use an EHR database to describe rates of referral per patient from family physicians to specialists. OBJECTIVE To use a primary care EHR database to describe referrals to specialist physicia...

(EHRs) are clearly part of family medicine’s future. However, the information available on EHRs to date has focused on the practicalities of buying and implementing a system. Minimal attention has been paid to understanding how family physicians use EHRs with patients in the examination room. In our work both as clinicians practicing with EHR systems and as researchers studying the communicatio...

OBJECTIVE Determine incremental increases in healthcare expenditures and utilization associated with allergic rhinitis (AR). METHODS Patients reporting a diagnosis of AR were extracted from the 2007 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey medical conditions file and linked to the consolidated expenditures file. AR patients were then compared to non-AR patients determining differences in healthcare u...

OBJECTIVE To examine the impact of access to primary care physicians (PCPs), geographic availability of orthopaedic surgeons, socioeconomic status (SES), proportion of older population (≥65 years) and proportion of rural population on orthopaedic surgeon office visits and orthopaedic surgery. DESIGN Population multilevel study. SETTING Ontario, Canada. PARTICIPANTS Ontario residents 18 ye...

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to describe how pediatric providers collect and use family health history (FHH) and their perceptions about My Family Health Portrait (MFHP) as a pediatric health promotion and disease prevention tool. STUDY DESIGNL: A random sample of 148 pediatric providers was invited to participate in a semistructured qualitative interview. Transcripts were reviewed ...

Today’s health care consumers are expected to be proactive, self-managed and informed members of the health care team. One way for patients to become more involved in their care is to bring a list of questions to each visit. For example, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality advises patients to “Write down your questions before your visit. List the most important ones first to make sur...

OBJECTIVES We compared the health care expenditures of immigrants residing in the United States with health care expenditures of US-born persons. METHODS We used the 1998 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey linked to the 1996-1997 National Health Interview Survey to analyze data on 18398 US-born persons and 2843 immigrants. Using a 2-part regression model, we estimated total health care expendit...

INTRODUCTION This project implemented an integrated patient self-reported screening tool in a patient portal and assessed clinical workflow and user experience in primary care practices. METHODS An electronic health risk assessment based on the CMS Annual Wellness Visit (AWV) was developed to integrate self-reported health information into the patient's electronic health record (EHR). Patient...

OBJECTIVES To characterize variation in pediatricians' telephone referral practices, to identify differences in the types of referrals made during telephone versus office visit encounters, and to examine the impact of referring by telephone on coordination and outcomes of the referral as assessed by physicians. METHODS We conducted a prospective study of a consecutive sample of referrals (N =...