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Background: Patient, physician, and environmental factors were identified, and the authors examined the contribution of these factors to demographic and health variation in colonoscopy follow-up after a positive fecal occult blood test/fecal immunochemical test (FOBT/FIT) screening., Methods: In total, 76,243 FOBT/FIT-positive patients were identified from 120 Veterans Health Administration (VHA) facilities between August 16, 2009 and March 20, 2011 and were followed for 6 months. Patient demographic (race/ethnicity, sex, age, marital status) and health characteristics (comorbidities), physician characteristics (training level, whether primary care provider) and behaviors (inappropriate FOBT/FIT screening), and environmental factors (geographic access, facility type) were identified from VHA administrative records. Patient behaviors (refusal, private sector colonoscopy use) were estimated with statistical text mining conducted on clinic notes, and follow-up predictors and adjusted rates were estimated using hierarchical logistic regression., Results: Roughly 50% of individuals completed a colonoscopy at a VHA facility within 6 months. Age and comorbidity score were negatively associated with follow-up. Blacks were more likely to receive follow-up than whites. Environmental factors attenuated but did not fully account for these differences. Patient behaviors (refusal, private sector colonoscopy use) and physician behaviors (inappropriate screening) fully accounted for the small reverse race disparity and attenuated variation by age and comorbidity score. Patient behaviors (refusal and private sector colonoscopy use) contributed more to variation in follow-up rates than physician behaviors (inappropriate screening)., Conclusions: In the VHA, blacks are more likely to receive colonoscopy follow-up for positive FOBT/FIT results than whites, and follow-up rates markedly decline with advancing age and comorbidity burden. Patient and physician behaviors explain race variation in follow-up rates and contribute to variation by age and comorbidity burden. Cancer 2017;123:3502-12. Published 2017. This article is a US Government work and is in the public domain in the USA., (© 2017 American Cancer Society.)

We evaluate consumption responses to the non-linear Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit. We compare propensity-matched older patients with diabetes and Part D Standard or low-income-subsidy (LIS) coverage. We evaluate monthly adherence to branded oral anti-diabetics, with high end-of-year donut hole prices (>$200) for Standard patients and consistent, low (≤$6) prices for LIS. As an additional control, we examine adherence to generic anti-diabetics, with relatively low, consistent prices for Standard patients. If Standard patients are forward looking, they will reduce branded adherence in January, and LIS-Standard differences will be constant through the year. Contrary to this expectation, branded adherence is lower for Standard patients in January and diverges from LIS as the coverage year progresses. Standard-LIS generic adherence differences are minimal. Our findings suggest that seniors with chronic conditions respond myopically to the nonlinear Part D benefit, reducing consumption in response to high deductible, initial coverage and gap prices. Thus, when the gap is fully phased out in 2020, cost-related nonadherence will likely remain in the face of higher spot prices for more costly branded medications. These results contribute to studies of Part D plan choice and medication adherence that suggest that seniors may not make optimal healthcare decisions. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., (Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Background: Advanced practice providers (APPs), including nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) are cost-effective substitutes for physicians, with similar outcomes in primary care and surgery. However, little is understood about APP roles in inpatient medicine., Objective: Describe APPs role in inpatient medicine., Design: Observational cross-sectional cohort study., Setting: One hundred twenty-four Veterans Health Administration (VHA) hospitals., Participants: Chiefs of medicine (COMs) and nurse managers., Measurements: Surveys included inpatient medicine scope of practice for APPs and perceived healthcare quality. We conducted bivariate unadjusted and multivariable adjusted analyses., Results: One hundred eighteen COMs (95.2%) and 198 nurse managers (75.0%) completed surveys. Of 118 medicine services, 56 (47.5%) employed APPs; 27 (48.2%) used NPs only, 15 (26.8%) PAs only, and 14 (25.0%) used both. Full-time equivalents for NPs was 0.5 to 7 (mean = 2.22) and PAs was 1 to 9 (mean = 2.23). Daily caseload was similar at 4 to 10 patients (mean = 6.5 patients). There were few significant differences between tasks. The presence of APPs was not associated with patient or nurse manager satisfaction. Presence of NPs was associated with greater overall inpatient and discharge coordination ratings by COMs and nurse managers, respectively; the presence of PAs was associated with lower overall inpatient coordination ratings by nurse managers., Conclusions: NPs and PAs work on half of VHA inpatient medicine services with broad, yet similar, scopes of practice. There were few differences between their roles and perceptions of care. Given their very different background, regulation, and reimbursement, this has implications for inpatient medicine services that plan to hire NPs or PAs., (© 2014 Society of Hospital Medicine.)

Ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), limited-service alternatives for treating surgery patients not requiring an overnight stay, are a health-care service innovation that has proliferated in the U.S. and other countries in recent years. This paper examines the effects of ASC competition on revenues, costs, and profit margins of hospitals that also provided these services as a subset of their general services in Arizona, California, and Texas during the period 1997-2004. We identified all ASCs operating during the period in the 49 Dartmouth Hospital Referral Regions in the three states. The results of fixed effects models suggested that ASCs are meaningful competitors to general hospitals. We found downward pressure on revenues, costs, and profits in general hospitals associated with ASC presence., (Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Measuring health services provided to patients can be difficult when patients see providers across multiple health systems and all visits are rarely captured in a single data source covering all systems where patients receive care. Studies that account for only one system will omit the out-of-system health-care use at the patient level. Combining data across systems and comparing utilization patterns across health systems creates complications for both aggregation and accuracy because data-generating processes (DGPs) tend to vary across systems. We develop a hybrid methodology for aggregation across systems, drawing on the strengths of the DGP in each system, and demonstrate its validity for answering research questions requiring cross-system assessments of health-care utilization. Positive and negative predictive probabilities can be useful to assess the impact of the hybrid methodology. We illustrate these issues comparing public sector (administrative records from the US Department of Veterans Affairs system) and private sector (billing records from the US Medicare system) patient level data to identify primary-care utilization. Understanding the context of a particular health system and its effect on the DGP is important in conducting effective valid evaluations.

This paper estimates frontier cost functions for US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals in FY2000 that are consistent with economic theory and explicitly account for cost differences across patients' risk, level of access to care, quality of care, and hospital-specific characteristics. Results indicate that on average VA hospitals in FY2000 operate at efficiency levels of 94%, as compared to previous studies on US private sector hospitals that average closer to 90% efficient. Using these cost frontiers, management systems potentially could be implemented to enhance the equitable allocation of the VA medical care global budget and systematically distribute funds across hospitals and networks. The paper also provides recommendations to improve the efficiency of delivering health care services applicable to public sector organizations., (Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Background: Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN 1) is an autosomal-dominant syndrome associated with neoplasia of pituitary, pancreas, parathyroid, and foregut lineage neuroendocrine tissue. Although enteropancreatic carcinoid has been well described in patients with MEN 1, it was believed that bronchopulmonary carcinoid was relatively uncommon, occurring in approximately 5% of patients. It is unclear whether the increased screening of asymptomatic patients with MEN 1 will facilitate early diagnosis of this tumor and improve patient prognosis., Methods: The authors reviewed the patient records and, when available, thoracic computed tomographic (CT) images of 129 MEN 1-affected adult members of a single family to determine the prevalence and prognosis of bronchopulmonary nodules and carcinoid., Results: Among 129 patients, a diagnosis of bronchopulmonary carcinoid was noted in the records for 6 individuals (1 male and 5 females; 5%). Thoracic CT scans also were available for review from 32 of those patients. Twelve patients (38%) had pulmonary nodules evident on CT scans. Only hypergastrinemia was significantly more common in patients with pulmonary nodules; otherwise, the spectrum of neoplasia was similar between individuals with and without pulmonary lesions. Histologic diagnoses were available in four patients (three female) with abnormal CT images, and carcinoid was confirmed in each patient. No deaths or distant metastases occurred among the patients despite long-term follow-up (mean, 127 months)., Conclusions: The findings suggested that bronchopulmonary carcinoid is more prevalent in patients with MEN 1 than was recognized previously. Furthermore, the diagnosis did not appear to portend a poor prognosis in the majority of affected patients., ((c) 2004 American Cancer Society)

Background: Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN-1) is an autosomal dominant tumor syndrome associated with parathyroid, gastroenteropancreatic (GEP), and pituitary neoplasia. Gastrinoma and GEP malignancy are common life-threatening endocrine complications of MEN-1. An effective management strategy for these disorders remains to be determined. The authors attempted to determine the role of the somatostatin analogue, octreotide, in ameliorating features of hypergastrinemic GEP neoplasia associated with MEN-1., Methods: Five MEN-1 patients with hypergastrinemia and either symptoms of GEP neoplasia or hepatic metastases received a trial of octreotide, 100 microg subcutaneously, three times daily for 3 months., Results: Treatment with octreotide was associated with a rapid symptomatic and biochemical response. In all patients serum gastrin fell to < 25% of the pretreatment value. The serum glycoprotein-alphasubunit (a marker of enterochromaffin-like [ECL] cell hyperplasia, gastric carcinoidosis, and disseminated enteropancreatic malignancy) was elevated at baseline in three patients. In each case the serum glycoprotein-alphasubunit normalized after treatment with octreotide. Hepatic metastases were present in two patients at baseline. The size of the metastases diminished by up to 15% during the period of octreotide treatment. Four patients reported symptoms prior to treatment: lethargy, easy fatigability, and generalized musculoskeletal discomfort. A marked symptomatic improvement occurred in each case. No patient experienced side effects related to octreotide therapy and all elected to remain on treatment after completion of the trial., Conclusions: Octreotide is a safe and effective adjunct to surgical strategies for the management of GEP neoplasia in hypergastrinemic MEN-1 patients., (Copyright 1999 American Cancer Society.)

This paper explores the relationship between cost and quality of hospital care. A total operating cost function is estimated for 137 US Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals for 1988-1993 using three rate-based measures of quality as regressors. The high likelihood of the existence of measurement error in quality in the cross section leads to the application of novel instrumental variable techniques. Results suggest that mortality and readmission indices are adjusted inadequately for illness severity. The measure on the failure to follow up inpatient discharges with outpatient care, however, appears to increase cost. The results of this paper underscore a number of practical difficulties and challenges facing government or other systems in evaluating the relative performance of their hospitals., (Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Background: Enteropancreatic malignancy is an important cause of morbidity and mortality associated with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN 1). However, the risk factors and mechanisms of the tumorigenesis of this malignancy are poorly understood., Methods: The authors conducted a retrospective study of factors associated with the development of malignant enteropancreatic tumor in 69 patients with MEN 1 belonging to a single family., Results: Metastatic enteropancreatic tumor and gastrinoma were identified in 20% and 36% of patients, respectively. Compared with MEN 1 patients who did not have an immediate family history of enteropancreatic malignancy, MEN 1 patients with a first-degree relative affected by enteropancreatic malignancy had an increased risk of developing disseminated tumor (odds ratio, 3.7; P < 0.05). In addition, hypergastrinemia and advanced age were both associated with a significant increase in the risk of enteropancreatic malignancy. Elevated serum glycoprotein alpha subunit levels were associated with enterochromaffin-like cell hyperplasia, gastric carcinoid formation, and disseminated enteropancreatic tumor in hypergastrinemic patients (P < 0.05)., Conclusions: Disease modifier factors act in concert with the MEN 1 gene to modulate the development of enteropancreatic neoplasia. It is possible to identify MEN 1 patients at high risk for developing aggressive enteropancreatic tumors. Heritable disease modifier factor(s) affecting enteropancreatic malignancy appear to reside at loci distinct from that of the MEN 1 gene.

Medicare's Prospective Payment System pays U.S. teaching hospitals for the indirect costs of medical education based on a regression coefficient in a cost function. In regression studies using health care data, it is common for explanatory variables to be measured imperfectly, yet the potential for measurement error is often ignored. In this paper, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs data is used to examine issues of health care production estimation and the use of regression estimates like the teaching adjustment factor. The findings show that measurement error and persistent multicollinearity confound attempts to have a large degree of confidence in the precise magnitude of parameter estimates.