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Background: Current evidence for dexmedetomidine-suspected fever (DSF) is limited. Lack of recognition may lead to costly or potentially harmful interventions for critically ill patients. Objective: The primary objective was to characterize escalations of care related to DSF. Secondary objectives were to describe the incidence, severity, and consequences associated with DSF. Methods: A retrospective review was conducted in critically ill adults who developed fever ≥39°C within 12 h from initiation of dexmedetomidine, with resolution of fever to Results: Eighteen of 3943 patients screened in 4099 encounters met criteria for DSF (0.4%). The majority were white (83.3%), male (66.7%), and underwent cardiac surgery (61.1%). Median (interquartile range [IQR]) time to fever onset and resolution were 5.5 (3.6-7.6) and 1.3 (1.0-2.9) h. Nine patients (50%) underwent infectious workup including antimicrobial initiation (n = 1, 5.6%), broadening of antimicrobials (n = 4, 22.2%), or culture collection (n = 9, 50%). Eleven patients (61.1%) underwent attempted temperature reduction. Twelve patients (66.7%) underwent diagnostic imaging. Incidence of multidrug-resistant organism and C. difficile infection were low (11.1 and 16.7% of fever patients, respectively). Conclusion and Relevance: Incidence of DSF was low and more common in cardiac surgery patients. Unrecognized DSF led to an escalation of care in most patients. Dexmedetomidine exposure should be considered as a potential cause of fever in critically ill adults.

Objective To inform providers and policy-makers about the potential costs of providing physical health care in mental health clinics. Methods Cost data were collected through interviews with 22 behavioral health clinics participating in New York State Office of Mental Health's health monitoring and health physicals programs. The interview data was combined with financial reporting data provided to the state to identify per interaction costs for two levels of physical health services: health monitoring and health monitoring plus health physicals. Results This study gives detailed information on the costs of clinics' health integration programs, including per interaction costs related to direct service, charting and administration, and total care coordination. Average direct costs per client interaction were 3 times higher for health physicals than for health monitoring. Conclusions Costs of integrating physical care services are not trivial to mental health clinics, and may pose a barrier to widespread adoption. Provision of limited health monitoring services is less expensive for clinics, but generates proportionally large non-clinical costs than health physicals. The relative health impact of this more limited approach is an important area for future study. Also, shifting reimbursement to include health care coordination time may improve program sustainability.

Objective:To promote integrated general medical care for individuals with serious mental illness, the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) established regulations allowing specialty mental health clinics to provide Medicaid-reimbursable health monitoring (HM) and health physicals (HP). This study examined clinics’ enrollment in this program to understand its potential to reach individuals with serious mental illness.Methods:Information on enrollment and characteristics of clinics (N=500) was obtained from OMH administrative databases. Clinic enrollment in the HM/HP program was examined for the program’s first five years (2010–2015). Logistic regression models accounting for the clustering of multiple clinics within agencies were used to examine characteristics associated with enrollment.Results:A total of 291 of 500 (58%) licensed clinics in New York State in 2015 enrolled in the HM/HP program, potentially reaching 62% of all Medicaid enrollees with serious mental illness seen in specialty mental ...

Faced with budgetary constraints, the U.S. Army must decide how to best invest for readiness. It cannot afford to modernize all units with current medical equipment and sustain all units with consumable medical items at all times. This report describes the current Army medical materiel strategy, equipping costs, readiness levels, and recommendations for optimizing the Army medical materiel strategy.

Many of U.S. Transportation Command's customer movements in peacetime are crucial for preparing it for future wartime requirements. However, some customers perceive the cost of movements as being too high and could choose a different service provider. This report analyzes adjustments to cost recovery that could better align customer peacetime decisions with the wartime mission.

Motor vehicle crashes account for a large number of deaths and injuries. In the United States, in 2015, more than 35,000 people were killed and approximately 2.44 million were injured in motor vehicle crashes. In 2010, the economic costs associated with motor vehicle crashes in the United States were substantial, estimated to be $242 billion. Fortunately, a wide range of evidence-based interventions, including both policies and programs, can help prevent motor vehicle-related injuries and deaths. In 2014, RAND researchers developed an online tool, the Motor Vehicle Prioritizing Interventions and Cost Calculator for States (MV PICCS), to help determine the costs and effectiveness of various interventions to reduce injuries and deaths from motor vehicle crashes and what interventions together generate the largest reductions in injuries and deaths for a given implementation budget. A 2015 update added two new interventions and produced a series of reports about allocating traffic safety funds. The 2017 update, MV PICCS 3.0, determined whether to add new interventions, updated information on the interventions' effectiveness and costs, and redesigned the tool's user interface to be more user-friendly.

Motor vehicle crashes account for a large number of deaths and injuries. In the United States, in 2015, more than 35,000 people were killed and approximately 2.44 million were injured in motor vehicle crashes. In 2010, the economic costs associated with motor vehicle crashes in the United States were substantial, estimated to be $242 billion. Fortunately, a wide range of evidence-based interventions, including both policies and programs, can help prevent motor vehicle-related injuries and deaths. In 2014, RAND researchers developed an online tool, the Motor Vehicle Prioritizing Interventions and Cost Calculator for States (MV PICCS), to help determine the costs and effectiveness of various interventions to reduce injuries and deaths from motor vehicle crashes and what interventions together generate the largest reductions in injuries and deaths for a given implementation budget. A 2015 update added two new interventions and produced a series of reports about allocating traffic safety funds. The 2017 update, MV PICCS 3.0, determined whether to add new interventions, updated information on the interventions' effectiveness and costs, and redesigned the tool's user interface to be more user-friendly.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's interactive Motor Vehicle Prioritizing Interventions and Cost Calculator for States (MV PICCS) can help state decisionmakers prioritize motor vehicle injury–prevention interventions. For each intervention, MV PICCS calculates the expected number of injuries prevented and lives saved and the costs of implementation. This new version provides a more user-friendly interface and updated data.

The federal government plays a critical role in achieving national health security by providing strategic guidance and funding research to help prevent, respond to, mitigate, and recover from disasters, epidemics, and acts of terrorism. In this article we describe the first-ever inventory of nonclassified national health security-related research funded by civilian agencies of the federal government. Our analysis revealed that the US government's portfolio of health security research is currently weighted toward bioterrorism and emerging biological threats, laboratory methods, and development of biological countermeasures. Eight of ten other priorities identified in the Department of Health and Human Services' National Health Security Strategy-such as developing and maintaining a national health security workforce or incorporating recovery into planning and response-receive scant attention. We offer recommendations to better align federal spending with health security research priorities, including the creation of an interagency working group charged with minimizing research redundancy and filling persistent gaps in knowledge.

This brief describes an interactive tool that can help statedecisionmakers choose policies that are effective in reducing motor vehicle accidents in their states and appropriate to state budgets, saving lives and reducing economic and societal loss.

According to analysis with a free new tool, allocating increased federal traffic safety funding by cost-effectiveness ratios rather than equally among states would save more than double the number of lives and prevent almost five times the injuries.

This report documents production of an online tool to help assess costs and effectiveness of implementing up to 14 interventions and select those most effective in reducing death and injury from motor vehicle crashes for a given implementation budget.

Objective. —To evaluate the persistence of effects on health and development at age 5 years of the Infant Health and Development Program, an early childhood intervention that was provided to low-birth-weight (LBW) premature infants from neonatal discharge through age 3 years. Design. —Randomized, controlled, multicenter trial, stratified by two LBW groups: lighter (≤2000 g) and heavier (2001 to 2500 g). Setting. —Eight socioeconomically heterogeneous clinical sites. Participants. —Of 985 eligible infants weighing 2500 g or less and at 37 weeks' or less gestational age, 377 infants were randomly assigned to the intervention group and 608 to the follow-up only group. About two thirds of the infants in each group were in the lighter LBW stratum, and one third were in the heavier LBW stratum. Intervention. —The intervention group received home visits (from neonatal discharge through age 3 years) as well as center-based schooling (from 1 to 3 years of age). Children in both groups received pediatric surveillance. Main Outcome Measures. —Cognitive development, behavioral competence, and health status. Results. —At age 5 years, the intervention group had full-scale IQ scores similar to children in the follow-up only group. However, in the heavier LBW stratum, children in the intervention group had higher full-scale IQ scores (3.7 points higher;P=.03) and higher verbal IQ scores (4.2 points higher;P=.02). No significant differences between intervention and follow-up only groups in cognitive measures at age 5 years were noted in the lighter LBW infants. The intervention and follow-up groups were similar in behavior and health measures regardless of LBW stratum. Conclusion. —The early childhood intervention provided in the first 3 years of life had effects on heavier LBW premature infants' IQ and verbal performance at age 5 years that were not observed for lighter LBW premature infants. The intervention did not affect health or behavior at age 5 years in either LBW stratum. (JAMA. 1994;272:1257-1262)