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Background: The objective of this study was to evaluate an ongoing initiative to improve colorectal cancer (CRC) screening uptake in the New York State (NYS) Medicaid managed care population., Methods: Patients aged 50 to 75 years who were not up to date with CRC screening and resided in 2 NYS regions were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 cohorts: no mailed reminder, mailed reminder, and mailed reminder + incentive (in the form of a $25 cash card). Screening prevalence and the costs of the intervention were summarized., Results: In total, 7123 individuals in the Adirondack Region and 10,943 in the Central Region (including the Syracuse metropolitan area) were included. Screening prevalence in the Adirondack Region was 7.2% in the mailed reminder + incentive cohort, 7.0% in the mailed reminder cohort, and 5.8% in the no mailed reminder cohort. In the Central Region, screening prevalence was 7.2% in the mailed reminder cohort, 6.9% in the mailed reminder + incentive cohort, and 6.5% in the no mailed reminder cohort. The cost of implementing interventions in the Central Region was approximately 53% lower than in the Adirondack Region., Conclusions: Screening uptake was low and did not differ significantly across the 2 regions or within the 3 cohorts. The incentive payment and mailed reminder did not appear to be effective in increasing CRC screening. The total cost of implementation was lower in the Central Region because of efficiencies generated from lessons learned during the first round of implementation in the Adirondack Region. More varied multicomponent interventions may be required to facilitate the completion of CRC screening among Medicaid beneficiaries., (© 2018 American Cancer Society.)

Order processing and parts issuing are within the scope of an inventory management system and, as such, it was logical to incorporate the Purchase Order Management Menu into the biomedical engineering inventory management system. The Purchase Order Management function was implemented using the services of a biomedical engineering technician who is a staff member. Software development time (two months) was the only resource that was necessary to incorporate this function into the inventory system. This function, implemented on a PC, provided locally functions that had not been available on the mainframe-based hospital purchasing system. These functions directly addressed the needs of the users, who in this case are the staff members of the department of biomedical engineering at University Hospital, Stony Brook, New York.

Manual recording of physiological data in patients receiving anesthesia or intensive care infrequently meets medical requirements or legal documentation standards. Automated recording allows the generation of reliable data that can be integrated into the patient's medical record. Such a system is beginning to function at University Hospital at Stony Brook, New York. Bedside medical devices (pulse oximeters, non-invasive blood pressure monitors, capnographs, infusion pumps and physiological monitors) from 18 operating rooms and 16 beds in the Anesthesia Intensive Care Unit are connected to a baseband Ethernet system. Data from the above devices are stored in a MicroVAX computer system. Data compression and interpretation, computation of derived values, statistical analysis of data from two related parameters are done by the bedside graphical microcomputer workstation. The MicroVAX computer and the workstation are also connected to the Ethernet system. The overall architecture of the automatic record system conforms to emerging standards for information exchange between bedside monitors and computer systems. Health care recipients and providers are likely to reap the benefits.