Findings from an Online Survey Assessing the Burden and Management of Seasonal Allergic Rhinoconjunctivitis in US Patients.

BACKGROUND: Seasonal allergic rhinoconjunctivitis (SARC) affects ≥16% of the US population annually. Telephone and in-office surveys have demonstrated negative effects of allergic rhinitis (AR) symptoms on sleep, daily activities, productivity, concentration, and emotions. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to assess the patient-perceived burden of SARC in relation to newer treatments, increased access to treatments, and changing management protocols. METHODS: An online survey of symptom experience, impact on daily life, and management was conducted in US respondents who suffer (or whose child suffers) from SARC symptoms. RESULTS: A total of 1001 surveys were completed: 500 adults (≥18 years old) and 501 children (12-17 years old, documented by their parents). Similar to earlier AR surveys, SARC symptoms negatively affected the patient's (and family's) quality of life, and were most severe in the spring. Before being treated, >50% of respondents reported daily symptoms during their season; 75% to 80% considered their symptoms moderate to severe. Patients saw a variety of health care professionals (including pharmacists) and used over-the-counter and prescription medications for symptoms. Those using prescription medications were generally more satisfied with treatment and less likely to switch or discontinue treatment. Nasal and/or ocular symptoms drove adherence, seeing a health care professional, and reviewing and/or changing treatment. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of patients with SARC report moderate-to-severe symptoms that significantly impair their quality of life. However, patients appear to be taking more responsibility for their (child's) condition, and patient expectations for therapy are increasingly being met. Continued efforts will be needed to examine the contribution of better information and/or increased access to and availability of medications to control the disease.

Medicare claims data as public use files: a new tool for public health surveillance.

Claims data are an important source of data for public health surveillance but have not been widely used in the United States because of concern with personally identifiable health information and other issues. We describe the development and availability of a new set of public use files created using de-identified health care claims for fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries, including individuals 65 years and older and individuals with disabilities younger than 65 years, and their application as tools for public health surveillance. We provide an overview of these files and their attributes; a review of beneficiary de-identification procedures and implications for analysis; a summary of advantages and limitations for use of the public use files for surveillance, alone and in combination with other data sources; and discussion and examples of their application for public health surveillance using examples that address chronic conditions monitoring, hospital readmissions, and prevalence and expenditures in diabetes care.

Measuring migraine-related quality of care across 10 health plans.

OBJECTIVES: To refine a previously published standardized quality and utilization measurement set for migraine care and to establish performance benchmarks. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective application of the migraine measurement set to health plan data in order to assess patterns of health service utilization. METHODS: Measurement specifications were applied to data from 10 health plans for measurement year 2009. RESULTS: Of the 2.9 million continuously enrolled members of the health plans, 138,004 (4.7%) met inclusion criteria for the migraine population. Of these, 26% did not have a migraine diagnosis, but were utilizing migraine drugs; 12% had a computed tomography scan within the year (range 8%-25% across plans); and 8% had magnetic resonance imaging (range 6%-11%). Nearly 18% of the migraineurs had 1 or more visits to an emergency department/urgent care center for migraine; few (6%) were followed up with primary care visits. Approximately one-fourth of the migraineurs were not being routinely monitored by a physician. Medication utilization also was examined for members of the migraine population with pharmacy benefits. A significant proportion (42%) were given a migraine preventive, 38% had at least 1 prescription for a triptan, and 2% of those on triptans were potentially overutilizing the medication. Among patients aged 18 to 49 years who were given triptans, 3% had a cardiac contraindication; this percentage rose to 7% for patients aged 50 to 64 years. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates the value of standardized measures in identifying potential quality issues for migraine care, including underdiagnosis, overutilization of imaging, and underutilization of preventive drugs.

Physician specialty societies and the development of physician performance measures.

Efforts to increase accountability in the delivery of care include attempts to measure performance of individual doctors. Although physician specialty societies may be best positioned to define best practices, they have not yet played a major role in the development of measures. We examined specialty society involvement in measure development through interviews and review of Web sites. We found that a minority (35 percent) of societies were engaged in developing performance measures. Key barriers included member reluctance, lack of resources for development, and problems with data collection; facilitators included strong leadership and the perception of increasing pressure for accountability.

Closing the gap between science and practice: the need for professional leadership.

Major opportunity exists to better align clinical science and clinical practice. To do so will require efforts not only to develop clinical practice guidelines, but to facilitate their application in practice. The American College of Cardiology operates a program to develop and assess the effectiveness of tools that facilitate the application of guidelines in practice. Here we review what we have learned about the process of guideline implementation, lay out the major research questions that need to be addressed, and argue that professional societies play a critical role in moving from guideline development to application.

Utilization management as a cost-containment strategy.

Utilization management (UM) is now an integral part of most public and private health plans. Hospital review, until recently the primary focus of UM, is associated with a reduction in bed days and rate of hospital cost increases. These reductions appear to have had limited impact on aggregate health care costs because of increases in unmanaged services. In the future, with electronic connectivity between payers and providers and the use of clinical guidelines and computer-based decision-support systems, the need for prospective case-level reviews will be reduced. With these changes, UM programs are likely to become more acceptable to providers and patients.