Résumé : Les conséquences individuelles et populationnelles associées au syndrome de stress post-traumatique (SSPT) sont de plus en plus connues dans la littérature. Toutefois, peu d’études ont documenté cette problématique dans une population générale de personnes âgées ayant vécu différents types d’évènements traumatiques. Les objectifs de ce mémoire sont de documenter l’association entre le syndrome de stress post-traumatique, la qualité de vie et les coûts du système de santé dans une population de personnes âgées de 65 ans et plus qui consultent en médecine générale. Ce projet de mémoire consiste à l’analyse secondaire des données provenant de l’Étude sur la Santé des Aînés (ESA)-Services qui a été conduite entre 2011-2013 et qui inclut une population de personnes âgées de 65 ans et plus qui consultent en médecine générale au Québec. Les données de l’étude ESA-Services ont été appariées aux données individuelles provenant des bases de données administratives de la Régie d’Assurance Maladie du Québec (RAMQ). Le SSPT a été mesuré à partir de l’échelle du SSPT. La qualité de vie auto-rapportée a été mesurée à partir de trois instruments : l’EQ-5D-3L, l’Échelle Visuelle Analogue et l’Échelle de Satisfaction de Vie. L’évaluation des coûts a été effectuée selon la perspective du système de santé. L’utilisation des services de santé a été mesurée à partir des données individuelles provenant des bases de données administratives. Des régressions linéaires multivariées ont été utilisées pour vérifier l’association entre le SSPT et la qualité de vie. Des modèles généralisés avec distribution gamma ont été utilisés pour évaluer l’association entre le SSPT et les coûts reliés à l’utilisation des services de santé. Une augmentation des symptômes du SSPT était associée avec une plus faible qualité de vie liée à la santé (EQ-5D-3L) et à une plus faible satisfaction de la vie (Échelle de Satisfaction de Vie). Nos résultats ont aussi montré que la présence du SSPT était associée avec des coûts totaux du système de santé plus élevés. Nous suggérons la conduite d’études supplémentaires afin de mieux comprendre l’association entre le SSPT et ses conséquences sur le bien être des individus et sur le système de santé. / Abstract : Individual and societal consequences associated with post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSS) have been documented in the literature. However, few studies have documented these issues in a population of older adults who have experienced different types of traumatic events. The objectives of this thesis are to document the quality of life and healthcare costs associated with PTSS in a population of older adults aged 65 years and over. Secondary data analyses were carried out on data from the ESA (Étude sur la Santé des Aîné(e)s)-Services study conducted between 2011-2013 and included a general population of older adults aged 65 years and over who consulted in the general medicine sector in Quebec. Data from the ESA-Services study was linked with individual information from the RAMQ (Régie d’Assurance Maladie du Québec) administrative database. PTSS was measured using the PTSS scale. Self-reported quality of life was measured using three instruments: EQ-5D-3L, Visual Analog Scale and Satisfaction With your Life Scale. Costs associated with health service use were estimated from the healthcare system perspective. Healthcare use was measured using data available in the RAMQ administrative database. Multivariate linear regressions were used to study the association between the PTSS and quality of life. Generalized models with gamma distribution were used to evaluate the healthcare costs associated with PTSS. An increase in PTSS symptoms was found to be associated with a lower health-related quality of life (EQ-5D-3L) and a lower life satisfaction (Satisfaction With Life Scale). Our results also showed that the presence of PTSS was associated with higher total healthcare costs. We suggest that further studies be conducted to better understand the association between PTSS and its consequences on individual well-being and on the healthcare system.

The decision to vertically integrate services and deliver care has both management and policy concerns for healthcare in the United States. The change in reimbursement, which was enacted with the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, influenced the availability of post acute services for acute hospital inpatients. Prior to this change, post acute services were reimbursed based on cost similar to the pre DRG era of Medicare reimbursement. The change in payment had the potential to make discharging patients more difficult resulting in a prolonged length of stay without additional payment and at increased costs for hospitals. As a result of this change hospitals made arrangements to provide care for this population. The choices included vertical integration, contracting or hybrid arrangement and simply relying on the spot market. This makes or buy decision is a focus of this study. Were hospital decisions different after the BBA, than before this legislation?This study utilizes Oliver Williamson's transaction cost economics theory as the framework for the study and is a replication of a prior study by Chiu (1995) hybrid arrangement and simply relying on the spot market. This makes or buy decision is a focus of this study. Were hospital decisions different after the BBA, than before this legislation?This study utilizes Oliver Williamson's transaction cost economics theory as the framework for the study and is a replication of a prior study by Chiu (1995) The Williamsons theory is based on the proposition that three transaction dimensions determine the most efficient method of operation for a firm: uncertainty, frequency, and asset specificity. Depending on the "market", organizations may elect to arrange services through the spot market, contract for services, or vertically integrate the service. The study uses data from the American Hospital Association survey as well as the Area Resources files to determine if individual hospitals have made contract arrangements, vertically integrated, or relied on the spot market to provide skilled nursing services. Data is collected before and after the BBA and analyzed using multiple regression analysis and then subjected to significance testing. Sixteen hypotheses are tested that focus on the three dimensions of transaction cost theory. Findings support the importance of transaction frequency and asset specificity, while only weak support is offered for transaction uncertainty. The results differ from the Chiu study, which found strong support for uncertainty and weak support for frequency. This study is unique in that it examines data from two time periods surrounding a major reimbursement change in Medicare. It makes an important contribution to the empirical testing of transaction cost economics and the decision to vertically integrate in health care.

Objective: The objective of this study was to compare the use of different comorbidity measures to predict future healthcare utilization and expenditures for diabetic patients. Methods: This was a retrospective study that included 8,704 diabetic patients enrolled continuously for three years in the Department of Defense TRICARE program. Administrative claims data were used to calculate six comorbidity measures: number of distinct medications, index-year healthcare expenditures, two versions of the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), and two versions of the Chronic Disease Score (CDS). Linear regression models were used to estimate three health outcomes for one- and two-year post-index periods: healthcare expenditures (COST), number of hospitalizations (HOS), and number of emergency department visits (ED). Logistic regression models were used to estimate binary outcomes (above or below the 90th percentile of COST; [greater than or equal to] 1 HOS or none; [greater than or equal to] 1 ED or none). Comparisons were based on adjusted R², areas under the receiver-operator-curve (c statistics), and the Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit tests. Results: The study population had a mean age of 51.0 years (SD = 10.5), and 46.3 percent were male. After adjusting for age and sex, the updated CCI was the best predictor of one-year and two-year HOS (adjusted R² = 8.1%, 9.3%), the number of distinct medications was superior in predicting one-year and two-year ED (adjusted R² = 9.9%, 12.4%), and the index-year healthcare expenditures explained the most variance in one-year and two-year COST (adjusted R² = 35.6%, 31.6%). In logistic regressions, the number of distinct medications was the best predictor of one-year and two-year risks of emergency department use (c = 0.653, 0.654), but the index-year healthcare expenditures performed the best in predicting one-year and two-year risks of hospitalizations (c = 0.684, 0.676) and high-expenditure cases (c = 0.810, 0.823). The updated CCI consistently outperformed the original CCI in predicting the outcomes of interest. Conclusions: In a diabetic population under age 65, the number of distinct medications and baseline healthcare expenditures appeared to have superior or similar powers compared to the CCI or CDS for the prediction of future healthcare utilization and expenditures. The updated CCI was a better predictor than the original CCI in this population. / text

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:53:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 MarceloCS_DISSERT.pdf: 2801303 bytes, checksum: 8118c830c7f441ce1b3190bca6570c77 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-03-28 / The relevance of rising healthcare costs is a main topic in complementary health companies in Brazil. In 2011, these expenses consumed more than 80% of the monthly health insurance in Brazil. Considering the administrative costs, it is observed that the companies operating in this market work, on average, at the threshold between profit and loss. This paper presents results after an investigation of the welfare costs of a health plan company in Brazil. It was based on the KDD process and explorative Data Mining. A diversity of results is presented, such as data summarization, providing compact descriptions of the data, revealing common features and intrinsic observations. Among the key findings was observed that a small portion of the population is responsible for the most demanding of resources devoted to health care / A relev?ncia do aumento dos custos assistenciais ? um fen?meno que consiste em uma das principais discuss?es na ?rea da sa?de suplementar. Em 2011, estas despesas representaram mais de 80% das mensalidades dos planos de sa?de no Brasil. Considerando as despesas administrativas, observa-se que as empresas atuantes neste mercado trabalham, em m?dia, no limiar entre lucro e preju?zo. Esta disserta??o, com base no processo de descoberta de conhecimento (KDD) e minera??o de dados, realizou uma investiga??o dos custos assistenciais de uma operadora de plano de sa?de. Os resultados propiciam descri??es compactas dos dados, revelando caracter?sticas comuns e intr?nsecas das observa??es. Dentre as principais conclus?es observa-se que uma reduzida parcela da popula??o ? respons?vel por demandar a maior parte dos recursos destinados aos cuidados com sa?de

nÃo hà / Este trabalho teve por objetivo realizar um estudo analÃtico relativo à sustentabilidade financeira dos beneficiÃrios da carteira de uma operadora de planos de saÃde. A amostra investigada no estudo à de uma operadora de plano de saÃde vinculada ao Banco do Nordeste do Brasil S.A. (BNB) e à composta por 38.875 usuÃrios, ativos, entre os anos de 2011 e 2013. Especificamente, buscou-se nesse trabalho aplicar tÃcnicas de classificaÃÃo de insustentabilidade financeira de beneficiÃrios de uma operadora de planos de saÃde, identificando o modelo de melhor ajustamento e os principais determinantes de insustentabilidade. As tÃcnicas estatÃsticas de classificaÃÃo supervisionada empregadas foram a regressÃo logÃstica, as Ãrvores de classificaÃÃo e o classificador de vizinhos mais prÃximos. AlÃm disso, foi empregada a curva ROC para comparar os desempenhos das tÃcnicas utilizadas, sendo a Ãrea abaixo da curva (AUC), a principal medida observada. Os resultados obtidos mostraram que a maior parte da amostra à composta por beneficiÃrios sustentÃveis. O modelo de regressÃo logÃstica obteve precisÃo de 68,43% com AUC de 0,7501, as Ãrvores obtiveram 67,76% e AUC de 0,6855, enquanto o classificador dos vizinhos mais prÃximos teve uma precisÃo de 67,22% e AUC de 0,7258. As variÃveis apontadas como mais importantes pelos dois primeiros modelos, considerando uma anÃlise conjunta, sÃo a Idade e o Tipo de Plano, dentre aquelas que definem o perfil do usuÃrio e a Receita, Consulta e Odontologia, daquelas que definem o histÃrico de utilizaÃÃo do usuÃrio / This study aimed to carry out an analytical study on the financial sustainability of the beneficiaries of the portfolio of managed care plans. The sample investigated in the study is a health plan operator linked to the Banco do Nordeste do Brazil SA (BNB) and consists of 38,875 members, assets, between the years 2011 and 2013. Specifically, we sought to apply techniques that work financial unsustainability classification of beneficiaries of a managed care plans, identifying the model best fit and the main determinants of unsustainability. The technical classification statistics were supervised employed logistic regression, classification trees and the classifier closest neighbors. Furthermore, the ROC curve was used to compare the performance of the techniques used, and the area under the curve (AUC), the main extent observed. The results showed that most of the sample is composed of organic recipients. The logistic regression model obtained precision of 68.43% with AUC of 0.7501, the trees obtained 67.76% and AUC of 0.6855, while the classifier of the closest neighbors had an accuracy of 67.22% and AUC of 0.7258. The variables identified as most important by the first two models, considering a joint analysis, are the Middle and the Plan type, among those that define the user profile and the Revenue Consultation and Dentistry, those that define the user use history

Despite substantial healthcare costs, patient outcomes are sub-optimal in the United States and Canada compared to other countries that spend proportionally less on healthcare. This has led to recognition of the need to improve healthcare value, utilization of tools including clinical practice guidelines and development of initiatives such as the Choosing Wisely Campaign to achieve this goal. In spite of the intuitive appeal of these interventions designed to increase physician awareness of evidence and empower patients to engage in shared decision-making, they have had limited success in changing practice and physician prescribing behaviours. Using a mixed-methods approach, this thesis represents a purposeful attempt to understand the failure of existing approaches through an examination of the factors that influence clinical decision making. Specifically, the thesis integrates quantitative and qualitative methodologies to develop a deeper understanding of clinical decision-making. Consisting of a clinical vignette based survey, the quantitative study explores decision-making in four specific commonly encountered case contexts. After choosing the preferred management option, participants rated the influence of different factors on their decisions. Follow-up questions explored knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding incorporating cost considerations into decision-making. The results of the study were explored further in the qualitative component of the mixed study. The results indicate that clinical decision-making is influenced by an interrelated set of socioecological factors with evidence and clinical practice guidelines playing a secondary role. Because lack of knowledge is not a major factor in guideline discordant care, strategies to improve knowledge will have minimal effect in improving care. The qualitative study included an inquiry into the need for teaching and learning on the topic of cost and cost-effectiveness and sought input from physicians working in diverse settings on methods and topics that need to be included in medical education. The contributions of this thesis include a deeper understanding of the factors that influence clinical decision-making and suggestions for enhancing medical education. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Despite the highest health-care expenditure in the world, patient health outcomes are suboptimal in the United States (US). Additionally, out-of-pocket patient costs are increasingly a cause of financial distress to American patients. Although Canada spends comparatively less than the US on healthcare, it is one of the top ten countries for healthcare spending as a proportion of the gross domestic product. In spite of this level of spending, patient outcomes in the US and Canada are worse when compared to many other economically developed countries that spend relatively less on healthcare. A substantial portion of healthcare spending is for services that do not improve patient outcomes while services proven to improve patient outcomes are underused. Utilizing sequential quantitative and qualitative studies this thesis is a purposeful attempt to identify and examine the factors that influence clinical decision making by physicians. The knowledge gained in this study may help inform the development and evaluation of strategies targeted at increasing adoption of evidence-based practices leading to improved health-outcomes at affordable costs.

The incidence of cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) is steadily increasing. Most of the patients have thin CMM with a good prognosis and a 5-year survival of about 90%. The prognosis is highly related to tumour thickness and clinical stage at diagnosis. Effective systemic treatment for patients with metastatic disease has only recently been available. This thesis aims to increase knowledge of trends in tumour thickness, prognostic factors, socioeconomic differences and medical costs in patients with CMM. The population-based Swedish melanoma register is the main source of data in all papers in the thesis. Papers I-III include patients from all of Sweden while paper IV is delimited to the County of Östergötland. Cox regression and logistic regression are the main multivariable methods used. Paper IV is focused on stage-specific costs of CMM by comparing direct healthcare costs to a general population. For men, there has been a shift over time towards thinner tumours at diagnosis accompanied by an improved survival. Women are still diagnosed with considerably thinner tumours and they experience a better survival than men. Tumour ulceration, tumour thickness and Clark’s level of invasion all showed significant independent long-term prognostic information in T1 CMMs. By combining these factors, three distinct prognostic subgroups were identified. Lower level of education was associated with reduced CMM-specific survival, which may at least partially be attributed to a more advanced stage at diagnosis. The direct healthcare costs for CMM patients were significantly higher than for the general population, independent of clinical stage. CMM patients diagnosed in clinical stage III-IV were associated with particularly high costs. Even though the survival among Swedish patients with CMM is among the highest in the world and still seems to improve, the results of this thesis emphasise the need of improved early detection strategies. This may be of particular concern in men, older women, and groups with a low level of education. The results also imply that the costs for the management of CMM patients may be reduced if early detection efforts are successful and lead to a more favourable stage distribution. The finding of a better risk stratification of thin CMMs may help to improve the management of this large patient group.

In comparison to the European healthcare system, the U.S. healthcare system has lower quality care, higher costs, and covers a smaller percentage of the population. Despite the high costs, the U.S. healthcare system remains dysfunctional. The purpose of this exploratory single case study was to identify the strategies that some healthcare managers in a hospital setting in the midwestern region of the United States use to improve efficiency while decreasing healthcare costs. Complex adaptive systems theory was used to frame this study that included face-to-face interviews with 6 highly experienced healthcare managers. Data were collected from audio recorded interviews and publicly available documents, and the audio recordings were transcribed and analyzed using deductive and open coding techniques to identify themes regarding strategies used by managers to find effective ways for improvement. Three strategies emerged as themes, including improving the accuracy of information and reports, implementing precise and accurate information, and improving quality. The findings of this study may directly benefit healthcare managers and compel positive social change by facilitating successful strategies to improve efficiency and reduce costs. The successful strategies identified in the study might provide a new direction to healthcare managers attempting to adopt new methods. The findings may also contribute to social change by providing solutions that may improve overall organizational performance in a hospital setting.

Advances and integration of information and communication technologies into healthcare systems offer new opportunities to improve public health worldwide. In Sweden, there are already unique possibilities for epidemiological research from registers because of a long tradition of centralized data collection into population-based registers and their allowance for linkage. The growing efficiency of automated digital storage provides growing volumes of archived data that increases the potential of analyses further. The purpose of this thesis can be divided into two parallel themes: illustrations and discussions of the use and usefulness of population-based registers on the one hand, and specific research questions in epidemiology and healthcare research on the other. The research questions are addressed in separate papers. From the Swedish Cancer Registry, 25 years of incidence data on testicular cancer was extracted for a large cohort. Record linkage to survey data on serum cholesterol showed a highly significant positive association, suggesting that elevated serum cholesterol concentration is a risk factor for testicular cancer. Since the finding is the first of its kind and because of wide confidence intervals further studies are needed to confirm the association. Östergötland County council’s administra-tive database (the Care Data Warehouse in Östergötland (CDWÖ)) provided data for preva-lence estimations of four common chronic diseases. The prevalence rate agreed very well with previous estimates for diabetes and fairly well with those for asthma. For hypertension and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the observed rates were lower than previous prevalence estimates. Data on several consecutive years covering all healthcare levels are needed to achieve valid prevalence estimates. CDWÖ data was also used to analyse the impact of diabetes on the prevalence of ischemic heart disease. Women had higher diabetes/non-diabetes prevalence rate ratios across all ages. The relative gender difference remained up to the age of 65 years and thereafter decreased considerably. The age-specific direct healthcare cost of diabetes was explored using data from the CDWÖ, the county council’s Cost Per Patient database and the Swedish Prescribed Drug Register. The cost per patient and the relative magnitude of different cost components varied considerably by age, which is important to consider in the future planning of diabetes management. The Cancer Registry was established mainly as a basis for epidemiological surveillance and research, exemplified in this thesis by a study on testicular cancer. In contrast, the newly established and planned healthcare databases in different Swedish counties are mainly for managerial purposes. As is shown in this thesis, these new databases may also be used to address problems in epidemiology and healthcare research.

No description available.