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Weighing the Value of Clinical Decision Support Tools
A study from the RAND corporation, published in JAMA, found clinical decision support tools increased the proportion of tests for Medicare fee-for-service patients rated as appropriate.
The Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 passed by Congress made it mandatory for institutions to use appropriate clinical decision support (CDS) tools to qualify for Medicare reimbursement. Additionally, CDS is also a part of Stage 2 Meaningful Use requirements for electronic medical records. The hope was that CDS would help reduce healthcare spending associated with unnecessary and expensive imaging such as MRI and CT scans.
However, a recent study from the RAND corporation, published in JAMA, found that these computer-based programs that match a patient's characteristics against treatment criteria and recommend a treatment, actually increased the proportion of tests for Medicare fee-for-service patients rated as appropriate. "In our full report to Congress, we've outlined a series of improvements to the decision support tools that we expect can lead to greater reductions in unnecessary tests," siad Peter S. Hussey, lead author of the study and a senior policy researcher at RAND.
Read more on ScienceDaily: http://bit.ly/1JlxtO1
Patient Care Experience Declines After Private Equity Hospital Acquisitions
January 31st 2025Private equity hospital acquisitions in the US were associated with declines in patient care experience, particularly in overall hospital ratings, willingness to recommend, and staff responsiveness.
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Unlocking Access: Exploring Mental Health Care Among Medicaid Managed Care Enrollees
January 23rd 2025On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with the author of a study published in the January 2025 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® to examine the association between quantitative network adequacy standards and mental health care access among adult Medicaid enrollees.
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