Center for Health Services and Outcomes Research - CHSOR

09/23/2021

08/25/2021

This study co-authored among others by CHSOR members Eric Bass and Samantha Pitts aimed to identify available evidence from systematic reviews on engagement strategies used to help children, adolescents, and their caregivers manage chronic conditions.

The findings suggest that engagement strategies for children and adolescents with chronic disease are focused on direct patient care, particularly for asthma, and that more research is needed to address engagement for broader populations, expanded outcomes, and at health-system and community-levels.

Among other authors are Asar Das and Ritu Sharma.

Patient and family engagement is important for family-centered care, particularly for children and adolescents with chronic disease. We aimed to 1) id…

08/25/2021

This study co-authored by CHSOR Director Albert Wu investigated how well self-reported measures of physical, emotional, and social functioning predict perceived overall health among adult acute respiratory distress syndrome survivors.

The findings suggest that there is a moderate correlation between predicted and actual health perception, with about half of survivors reporting a perception that differed from predictions by more than the minimal clinically important difference for the EQ-5D-VAS.

Perceived health is one of the strongest determinants of subjective well-being, but it has received little attention among survivors of acute respirat…

08/19/2021

This study co-authored by CHSOR member Craig Pollack and published August 12 in Health Services Research examined the associations of primary care physician care continuity with cancer-specific survival and end-of-life care intensity.

The findings suggest that among Medicare beneficiaries with advanced poor-prognosis cancer, primary care physician continuity was associated with modestly improved survival without raising overall aggressive end-of-life care.

Among Medicare beneficiaries with advanced poor-prognosis cancer, P*P continuity was associated with modestly improved survival without raising overall aggressive end-of-life care.

08/19/2021

This study co-authored by CHSOR member Jennifer Wolff reviewed definitions, concepts, and evidence regarding person and family engagement for persons with multiple chronic conditions.

he findings suggest that conceptual models of engagement differ with respect to areas of emphasis (e.g., systems or clinical encounters) as well as attention to vulnerable populations; involvement of family; consideration of cost-benefit tradeoffs; and attention to outcomes that matter most.

Existing evidence has predominantly described individual-level strategies rather than those that target organizations, systems, or policies.

Another author is Judith Vick.

Objective To review definitions, concepts, and evidence regarding person and family engagement for persons with multiple chronic conditions (MCC) in order to identify opportunities to advance the fi...

08/18/2021

Congratulations to Sarah who is also a CHSOR member!

Longtime Hopkins Nursing faculty member co-developed the visionary CAPABLE program to help older adults age in place

08/11/2021

This study co-authored by CHSOR member Sydney Dy described the adaptation of the in-person curriculum of the three-Act Model, a narrative approach to goals of care discussions centered on patients' individual stories, to a streamlined, online format, in the setting of the Covid19 pandemic.

The findings suggest that after completing the adapted online three-Act Model training, nearly all learners were scored to be proficient in goals of care communication skills and reported high satisfaction with the online curriculum.

The three-Act Model, a narrative approach to goals of care (GOC) discussions centered on patients’ individual stories, has proven to be effective as m…

08/11/2021

This working paper co-authored by CHSOR member Dan Polsky used consumer-level data to estimate a model of the California ACA exchange, in which four firms dominate the market and risk adjustment is in place to manage selection.

The findings suggest that the impact of inertia is not sensitive to provider network generosity, despite greater consumer attachment to plans with more differentiated provider networks.

We study how inertia interacts with market power and adverse selection in managed competition health insurance markets. We use consumer-level data to estimate a

08/11/2021

“Price transparency alone won’t be the panacea to cure the hospital pricing ailment, but it can give some payers an opportunity to identify high-price hospitals and improve network design to purchase health care more efficiently,” said Ge Bai, an expert on health-care pricing at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health [CHSOR member] and an author on the study.

But parents largely aren't on board with vaccine mandates for kids.

08/04/2021

This study co-authored among others by CHSOR members Hsien-Yen Chang, Jonathan Weiner, Hadi Kharrazi, and Kenneth Shermock aimed to create new medication risk markers for identifying and prioritizing patients within a population and to identify patients who met these new markers, assess their clinical characteristics, and compare them with criteria that are widely used for medication therapy management.

The study identified novel markers of medication use risk that can be determined using insurance claims and can be useful to identify patients for comprehensive medication management programs and to prioritize patients who would benefit from clinical pharmacist intervention. These markers were associated with higher costs, acute care utilization, and gaps in medication use compared with the overall population and within certain subgroups.

Among other authors is Christopher Kitchen.

BACKGROUND: Pharmacists optimize medication use and ensure the safe and effective delivery of pharmacotherapy to patients using comprehensive medication management (CMM). Identifying and prioritizi...

08/04/2021

This research letter co-authored by CHSOR member Dan Polsky explored the extent of narrow networks across Medicare Advantage, types of counties where they are common, enrollment in narrow network plans, and how networks are associated with Medicare Advantage insurers star ratings.

The findings suggest that narrow physician networks are positively associated with star ratings and that the plans may use narrow networks to achieve a higher star rating by selectively contracting with physicians and/or actively managing the quality of physicians in their network.

Among other authors are Aditi Sen, Mark Meiselbach, and Kelly Anderson.

This cross-sectional study examines the extent of narrow networks across Medicare Advantage, types of counties where they are common, enrollment in narrow network plans, and how networks are associated with star ratings.

08/02/2021

“The FDA has set a worrisome precedent here and the horse is out of the barn,” Caleb Alexander, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health [CHSOR member] and co-author of the piece, told POLITICO. Already, two more drug manufacturers have applied to use amyloid as a surrogate measure for a drug’s success, rather than evidence of delaying or improving symptoms of the disease.

Pfizer to soon submit booster shot data — Pazdur defends FDA’s accelerated approval program