BACKGROUND Findings from previous studies on an association between obesity and colorectal cancer (CRC) screening are inconsistent and very few studies have utilized national level databases in the United States (US). METHODS A cross-sectional study was conducted using data from the 2005 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey to describe CRC screening rate by obesity status. RESULTS Of a 15,76...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the impact of Medicare Part D coverage gap (donut hole) on adherence to diabetes medications. STUDY DESIGN Retrospective cohort analysis based on pharmacy claims data. METHODS The sample included 12,881 Medicare Part D beneficiaries with diabetes who entered the coverage gap in 2008. Sample patients had 3 different levels of coverage in the donut hole: no coverage, gen...

This paper presents a new consequentialist deontic logic in which the relation of preference over sets of possible worlds and the relation of conditional dominance are both transitive. This logic validate the principle that absolute ought can be derived from conditional ought whenever the conditional statement is the agent’s absolute ought. Ought about conditionals is not implied by conditional...

Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) Access to Care data indicate a five-percentage-point decline in the share of Medicare beneficiaries having Medigap coverage between 1996 and 1999; this was matched by a commensurate rise in the share enrolled in Medicare HMOs, contributing to an increase in the percentage with drug coverage. During this period, high-income beneficiaries, and to a lesse...

Blacks and whites are compared with respect to selected provisions of the OA6DHI programtype of benefiezary, age of beneficiaries, size of benefits, and size of covered earnfngs-for the period from 1960 to 1973. There have been substantial increases in the number of black beneficiaries since 1960, and in most beneficiary groupe blacks have increased proportionately more than whites. Black8 are ...

Interest in implementation science and recent calls for consequentialist epidemiology urge epidemiologists to produce work more immediately applicable to public health practice. A clear vocabulary for such approaches is lacking. Here, we present a potential taxonomy of causal effects, distinguishing between "exposure effects" more relevant to patients and individuals; and "population interventi...

This paper describes and evaluates the budgeting and planning processes in public hospitals in Kenya. We used a qualitative case study approach to examine these processes in two hospitals in Kenya. We collected data by in-depth interviews of national level policy makers, hospital managers, and frontline practitioners in the case study hospitals (n = 72), a review of documents, and non-participa...

due to its location in the dry belt, the vast country of iran has always been faced with the problem of water shortages. in such a climate one should take measures to increase the productivity and improve the efficiency of irrigation through expansion of water-conserving technology in the agricultural sector, as this is the largest and most important consumer of water. therefore this study aime...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE More than 2 million Americans have atrial fibrillation, and without antithrombotic therapy, their stroke rate is increased 5-fold. In randomized controlled trials, warfarin prevented 65% of ischemic strokes (hazard ratio [HR], 0.35; 95% CI, 0.26 to 0.48) compared with no antithrombotic therapy. However, the effectiveness of warfarin therapy outside of clinical trials is u...

BACKGROUND In 2010, the Danish Government launched the Danish national return-to-work (RTW) programme to reduce sickness absence and promote labour market attainment. Multidisciplinary teams delivered the RTW programme, which comprised a coordinated, tailored and multidisciplinary effort (CTM) for sickness absence beneficiaries at high risk for exclusion from the labour market. The aim of this ...