Defining the role of pharmacists in addressing the social determinants of health

As one of the overreaching goals of Healthy People 2030, addressing the social determinants of health (SDOH) to reduce health disparities is a nationwide concern, with objectives informed by interdisciplinary teams of experts. However, there remains much discussion regarding the roles of healthcare providers in addressing SDOH. While current guidance suggests that all members of the healthcare team must be empowered to address SDOH, current guidance explicitly references physicians, nurses, social workers and staff, and do not specifically include pharmacists. While pharmacists are taught about the impact of SDOH in pharmacy curricula, actionable strategies for pharmacists to address SDOH in practice have not been clearly outlined. Pharmacists have multifaceted interactions with patients and may be influential in meeting individual patient needs, identifying social risk factors, and addressing upstream causes of health disparities. This paper proposes a framework for the role of pharmacists in addressing the SDOH through strategies at the patient, practice, and community levels. The concepts presented in this paper are meant to serve as a launch point for discussion and to promote the inclusion of pharmacists in the conversations around sustainable efforts to achieve health equity. This framework is not intended to limit the scope of pharmacists in addressing SDOH – on the contrary, it is our hope that this outline may be used to expand the education of future healthcare professionals regarding their role in addressing the social determinants of health.     

Healthcare utilization and direct costs of non-infectious comorbidities in HIV-infected patients in the USA

Objective: To estimate the incremental healthcare utilization and costs associated with common non-infectious comorbid conditions among commercially and Medicaid-insured HIV-infected patients in the US.

Methods: US administrative claims were used to select adult HIV patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), cardiovascular disease (CVD) events, or fracture/osteoporosis, three common comorbidities that have been associated with HIV and HIV treatment, between 1 January 2004 and 30 June 2013. Propensity score matched controls with no CKD, no CVD events, and no fracture/osteoporosis were identified for comparison. All-cause healthcare utilization and costs were reported as per patient per month (PPPM).

Results: The commercial cohort comprised 381 CKD patients, 624 patients with CVD events, and 774 fracture/osteoporosis patients, and 1013, 1710, and 2081 matched controls, respectively; while the Medicaid HIV cohort comprised 207 CKD and 271 CVD cases, and 516 and 735 matched controls, respectively. There was insufficient Medicaid data for fracture analyses. Across both payers, HIV patients with CKD or CVD events had significantly higher healthcare utilization and costs than controls. The average incremental PPPM costs in HIV patients with CKD were $1403 in the commercial cohort and $3051 in the Medicaid cohort. In those with CVD events, the incremental costs were $2655 (commercial) and $4959 (Medicaid) for HIV patients compared to controls (p?Conclusions: The results suggested a considerable increase in healthcare utilization and costs associated with CKD, CVD and fracture/osteoporosis comorbidities among HIV patients in the past decade. Because these conditions have been associated with treatment, it is critical to consider their impact on costs and outcomes when optimizing patient care.     

New direction for clinical pharmacy in China: adopting a “form follows function” approach to improve future healthcare outcomes

Clinical pharmacy is an important development in modern pharmacy practice. In China, the recent recognition of clinicalpharmacists by the Ministry of Health is an important step that can lead to a successful change in the functional role of the pharmacists to directly improve the health care outcomes. To optimize this role change, we propose that a “form follows function” structure be implemented. We believe that a “form” consisting of three components is highly desirable and should be established with careful coordination: (1) a formal education/training curriculum; (2) a professional organization to lead the clinical improvements in practice/research; and (3) an accrediting body for quality education/training and practice. By incorporating the clinical pharmacy experiences in USA and other countries as well as adopting this “form follows function” approach, we predict a bright future for the clinical pharmacists in China as valuable members of health care team to positively impact the health care outcomes.     

Clinical Outcomes and Healthcare Resource Utilization for Gastrointestinal Acute Graft-versus-Host Disease after Allogeneic Transplantation for Hematologic Malignancy: A Retrospective US Administrative Claims Database Analysis

Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is the leading cause of nonrelapse mortality among patients who receive allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT). In its acute form (aGVHD), GVHD involves the skin, liver, and gastrointestinal (GI) tract, with GI involvement most strongly associated with poor prognosis. This retrospective cohort study used US healthcare claims data for 2008 to 2015 to identify patients who developed GI aGVHD after allo-HCT performed as curative treatment for hematologic malignancy and compared them with patients who did not develop aGVHD in terms of outcomes related to survival, infections, healthcare resource utilization (HRU), and costs. Whereas the patients without aGVHD saw a 66% improvement in 1-year survival between 2009 and 2015, this effect was not observed in patients with GI aGVHD. Compared with patients without evidence of aGVHD, patients with GI aGVHD were 3.9-fold more likely to develop an infection in the year after allo-HCT. Similarly, patients who developed GI aGVHD were 4.3-fold more likely to have an inpatient admission after allo-HCT discharge, and such an admission cost on average 47% more than an admission for patients without aGVHD. Our findings confirm that GI involvement in aGVHD is associated with higher mortality, risk of infection, HRU, and cost compared with absence of aGVHD.     

Healthcare provider perceptions of disparities in perioperative care

IntroductionMany strategies to alleviate racial/ethnic disparities in surgical care target healthcare providers. Yet limited data exists about the perception of disparities among the range of clinical staff who work in perioperative settings. Such information could help initiate conversations about disparities in perioperative care and, if necessary, implement interventions to alleviate them. Our aim was to evaluate the association between sociodemographic characteristics, clinical position (physicians and non-physicians) and perception of perioperative disparities at a large tertiary care center.MethodsWe surveyed perioperative staff at the institution using an anonymous online survey. Primary outcome was respondents' perception of disparities in perioperative care at the institution due to patients' insurance status/type, ability to speak English, education, and racial/ethnic minority status. The association between clinical position (physician vs. non-physician) and perception of disparities was assessed in bivariate and then multivariable analysis, adjusting for respondents' race, sex, age, and years at the institution. Secondary outcomes included perception of disparities in perioperative care in the United States due to patients’ insurance status/type, ability to speak English, education, and racial/ethnic minority status.Results217 completed questions that could be analyzed. Among these responders, 101 were physicians (46.5%), 165 (76.0%) were white, and 144 (66.4.%) were female. Bivariate and multivariate analysis revealed that physicians had higher perception of disparities in perioperative care at the institution based on patients’ ability to speak English, education, and racial/ethnic minority status. Physicians also had higher perceptions of disparities in perioperative care in the United States than non-physicians.ConclusionsPhysicians reported higher perceptions of disparities in perioperative care than non-physicians, potentially explained by differences in training or contact with patients. Such findings serve as a first step at examining and discussing disparities in perioperative care and warrant further study.     

Engaging new refugee in Australian communities at risk for chronic hepatitis B infection into care: A peer‐educator intervention

Chronic Hepatitis B (CHB) infection and subsequent liver complications are rising in prevalence in Australia due to increased migration from endemic regions. Nearly 50% of all those living with CHB in Australia are undiagnosed, leading to missed opportunities for liver cancer and cirrhosis prevention. Health literacy around CHB among refugee communities such as Afghan, Rohingyan, and Sudanese populations (all with a high prevalence of CHB) is low, partly due to a paucity of targeted health promotion programmes; despite the release of the Victorian Hepatitis B Strategy (2016–2020). We developed a peer‐education intervention in these three communities to deliver CHB focused radio programmes and community forums in their own language, following a needs assessment consisting of semistructured interviews and surveys. Effectiveness of this intervention was measured through paired comparison of disease‐knowledge assessment pre and post forum. Community forums were held between 2015 and 2016, with 25 attendees at the Rohingyan forum (68% male), 10 attendees at the Afghan forum (90% male) and 0 attendees at the Sudanese forum. Participants demonstrated a significant improvement in CHB knowledge between pre‐ and post‐forum surveys (p‐value < 0.05). A peer‐educator approach was a cost‐effective health promotion strategy in building CHB knowledge and dispelling misconceptions within the Afghan and Rohingya communities. There were significant barriers in the engagement of the South Sudanese community, which will inform future strategies for health promotion.     

基于患者调查的深圳市罗湖医院集团化改革的成效初探

目的:从患者的角度对深圳市罗湖区医院集团改革实施后的成效进行探索。方法:采用问卷调查法,对罗湖区医院集团内的3家区属医院和23家社康中心的患者进行调查。结果:发放问卷990份,回收有效问卷936份,有效回收率为94.55%。认为家庭医生技术水平、服务态度、转诊服务以及解释和沟通能力等方面较好或非常好的患者占总调查人数的90%以上;给予社康中心服务水平、转诊便捷性、转诊流程、专家坐诊机制等较好或非常好评价的患者占总调查人数的80%以上。结论:罗湖医院集团建设初期成果有所显现,患者对家庭医生和社康中心的满意度较高,患者生病后通常所选的医疗机构中,选择社康中心的比例较集团成立前明显增加;未来应进一步发挥医疗集团优势,完善相关配套政策,长期成效值得进一步观察。     

中国流动人口就医行为选择及其影响因素研究

背景　2017年我国流动人口规模达2.445亿,并由快速增长期逐渐进入调整期。流动人口医疗卫生服务供给与需求之间的结构性矛盾长期存在,其健康权益和医疗需求无法得到充分满足。目的　分析我国流动人口就医行为选择及其影响因素,为提高流动人口基本医疗服务可及性提供决策依据。方法　于2020年7月利用2017年全国流动人口动态监测调查数据,筛选出≥1个月、≥16岁的流动人口169 989例纳入研究,基于 Andersen医疗卫生服务利用模型构建分析框架,采用逐步回归法构建Logistic模型以探析流动人口就医行为选择的影响因素。结果　纳入的169 989例流动人口的两周患病率为6.47%（10 996/169 989）,两周患病就诊率为59.38%（6 529/10 996）,其中基层医疗卫生机构就诊者占比65.46%（4 274/6 529）。Logistic回归分析结果显示,倾向特征（性别、年龄、文化程度）、流动特征（流动范围、流动时间、落户意愿）、使能资源（地区、城乡、到最近医疗机构时长、家庭人均年收入、医疗保险）和需求因素（自评健康、慢性病患病、健康档案）4方面14项指标是流动人口就医行为选择的影响因素（P<0.05）。结论　流动人口就医主动性整体较差,基层医疗卫生机构就诊率较高。应尽快优化异地就医政策,构建距离科学的就医格局,并大力开展流动人口健康教育与健康促进项目,以引导其合理就医并理性选择就医机构。