Proximity to safety-net clinics and HPV vaccine uptake among low-income,ethnic minority girls

Purpose

Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine uptake remains low. Although publicly funded programs provide free or low cost vaccines to low-income children, barriers aside from cost may prevent disadvantaged girls from getting vaccinated. Prior studies have shown distance to health care as a potential barrier to utilizing pediatric preventive services. This study examines whether HPV vaccines are geographically accessible for low-income girls in Los Angeles County and whether proximity to safety-net clinics is associated with vaccine initiation.

Methods

Interviews were conducted in multiple languages with largely immigrant, low-income mothers of girls ages 9 to 18 via a county health hotline to assess uptake and correlates of uptake. Addresses of respondents and safety-net clinics that provide the HPV vaccine for free or low cost were geo-coded and linked to create measures of geographic proximity. Logistic regression models were estimated for each proximity measure on HPV vaccine initiation while controlling for other factors.

Results

On average, 83% of the 468 girls had at least one clinic within 3-miles of their residence. The average travel time on public transportation to the nearest clinic among all girls was 21 min. Average proximity to clinics differed significantly by race/ethnicity. Latinas had both the shortest travel distances (2.2 miles) and public transportation times (16 min) compared to other racial/ethnic groups. The overall HPV vaccine initiation rate was 25%. Increased proximity to the nearest clinic was not significantly associated with initiation. By contrast, daughter's age and insurance status were significantly associated with increased uptake.

Conclusions

This study is among the first to examine geographic access to HPV vaccines for underserved girls. Although the majority of girls live in close proximity to safety-net vaccination services, rates of initiation were low. Expanding clinic outreach in this urban area is likely more important than increasing geographic access to the vaccine for this population.     

上海研究型医院的内涵和特征研究

从研究型医院在三级医疗体系中的角色和功能,在整个生物医学研究体系中的功能和定位,在知识产生、传播和应用中的作用等角度,概括研究型医院的内涵和特征,结合研究型医院贯彻其功能所需的基础条件和保障,提出了上海建设研究型医院的内涵和特征。     

Based on key measures, care quality for medicare enrollees at safety-net and non-safety-net hospitals was almost equal

Safety-net hospitals, which include urban hospitals serving large numbers of low-income, uninsured, and otherwise vulnerable populations, have historically faced greater financial strains than hospitals that serve more affluent populations. These strains can affect hospitals' quality of care, perhaps resulting in worse outcomes that are commonly used as indicators of care quality-mortality and readmission rates. We compared risk-standardized rates of both of these clinical outcomes among fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries admitted for acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, or pneumonia. These beneficiaries were admitted to urban hospitals within Metropolitan Statistical Areas that contained at least one safety-net and at least one non-safety-net hospital. We found that outcomes varied across the urban areas for both safety-net and non-safety-net hospitals for all three conditions. However, mortality and readmission rates were broadly similar, with non-safety-net hospitals outperforming safety-net hospitals on average by less than one percentage point across most conditions. For heart failure mortality, there was no difference between safety-net and non-safety-net hospitals. These findings suggest that safety-net hospitals are performing better than many would have expected.     

“十二五”期间新疆阿克苏地区乡镇卫生院经营状况分析*

目的了解阿克苏地区乡镇卫生院依托新农合十二五期间的经营状况,为本地区和同类地区制定乡镇卫生院相关政策提供依据。方法资料来源于新疆阿克苏地区90所乡镇卫生院2011—2015年的卫生年报数据。乡镇卫生院经营指标包括服务能力和效率、收入与支出、资产与负债及社会效益等。所获数据采用Excel 2010软件进行数据录入和处理。结果门急诊人次、出院人次年均增长率分别为27.6%和5.3%,出院者平均住院天数变化幅度不大。总收入、总支出年增长率分别为20.1%和21.3%,财务状况略有盈余,百元固定资产医疗收入年均增长率为6.9%。近三年来总资产年增长20.5%,业务经费自给率呈现逐步下降的趋势,从2011年的70.2%下降至2015年的49.5%,资产负债率呈上升趋势,从2011年的19.5%上升至2015年的29.5%。次均门诊费用、例均住院费用年均增长率为1.0%和5.4%。结论乡镇卫生院业务量持续增长,乡镇卫生院收支结构不合理,资产快速增加,设备利用率低,乡镇卫生院医疗费用控制严格。     

Do hospitals cross-subsidize?

Despite its salience as a regulatory tool to ensure the delivery of unprofitable medical services, cross-subsidization of services within hospital systems has been notoriously difficult to detect and quantify. We use repeated shocks to a profitable service in the market for hospital-based medical care to test for cross-subsidization of unprofitable services. Using patient-level data from general short-term hospitals in Arizona and Colorado before and after entry by cardiac specialty hospitals, we study how incumbent hospitals adjusted their provision of three uncontested services that are widely considered to be unprofitable. We estimate that the hospitals most exposed to entry reduced their provision of psychiatric, substance-abuse, and trauma care services at a rate of about one uncontested-service admission for every four cardiac admissions they stood to lose. Although entry by single-specialty hospitals may adversely affect the provision of unprofitable uncontested services, these findings warrant further evaluation of service-line cross-subsidization as a means to finance them.     

城市医院发展面临的主要矛盾及其改革走向

分析了城市医院目前面临的主要问题与矛盾,即投入补偿不足严重制约医院的生存和发展;卫生服务价格政策不合理迫使医院侧支循环;宏观规划及调控政策不配套严重影响正常的医疗秩序;医学高级人才严重不足制约医疗技术水平的提高和医院发展。在此基础上提出了城市医院深化改革的走向及发展对策:完善卫生经济政策,增加城市医院投入;调整卫生收费标准,理顺卫生服务价格;加快高级人才培养,提高队伍整体素质;深化卫生管理改革,全面提高诊疗水平;加强宏观规划调控,健全医疗服务体系。     

地市级公立医院品牌建设中的问题分析及策略探讨

通过品牌效应树立良好形象、赢得公众口碑、占据竞争优势已成为许多医院在推动可持续发展中的共识。文章通过分析医院品牌建设中存在的优势及劣势,面临的机遇和挑战,从地市级公立医院的视角探讨了品牌建设的定位和策略选择,以期寻找更加完善的医院品牌运行发展模式。     

县级医院效率特征及变动研究

目的:基于数据包络分析模型研究2008—2012年期间样本104家县级医院的效率特征及变动情况;方法:在传统C2R-DEA和BC2-DEA模型基础上,利用三阶段DEA模型剔除外部环境变量对其效率的影响;结果:样本医院的技术效率值区间为0.723~0.681,纯技术效率值区间为0.785~0.771,规模效率值区间为0.908~0.897,呈现低效率及逐年改善的发展趋势。讨论:新医改政策及措施在改善县级医院效率方面具有促进效应;医疗服务与管理能力的发展滞后于服务规模的发展,其服务与管理能力的提升逐步成为改善县级医院效率的主要途径。     

中小医院开展营销的实践与探索

作者分析了市场经济条件下中小医院经营的营销环境；介绍了该院通过积极转变营销观念，因地制宜实施营销战略，推进医院一对一营销，坚持人性化服务，使医院步入快速健康发展之路，其经验对中小医院的生存与发展有启示意义。     

Medicaid markets and pediatric patient safety in hospitals

OBJECTIVE: To examine the association of Medicaid market characteristics to potentially preventable adverse medical events for hospitalized children, controlling for patient- and hospital-level factors. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING: Two carefully selected Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) pediatric patient safety indicators (decubitus ulcers and laceration) are analyzed using the new pediatric-specific, risk-adjusting, patient safety algorithm from the AHRQ. All pediatric hospital discharges for patients age 0-17 in Florida, New York, and Wisconsin, and at risk of any of these two patient safety events, are examined for the years 1999-2001 (N=859,922). STUDY DESIGN: Logistic regression on the relevant pool of discharges estimates the probability an individual patient experiences one of the two PSI events. DATA EXTRACTION METHODS: Pediatric discharges from the 1999 to 2001 State Inpatient Databases (SIDs) from the AHRQ Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, merged with hospital-level data from the American Hospital Association's Annual Survey, Medicaid data obtained from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and state Medicaid offices, and private and Medicaid managed care enrollment data obtained from InterStudy, are used in the estimations. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: At the market level, patients in markets in which Medicaid payers face relatively little competition are more likely to experience a patient safety event (odds ratio [OR]=1.602), while patients in markets in which hospitals face relatively little competition are less likely to experience an adverse event (OR=0.686). At the patient-discharge and hospital levels, Medicaid characteristics are not significantly associated with the incidence of a pediatric patient safety event. CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis offers additional insights to previous work and suggests a new factor--the Medicaid-payer market--as relevant to the issue of pediatric patient safety.     

Adoption and perceived effectiveness of financial improvement strategies in critical access hospitals

Purpose: To ascertain the use and perceived success of strategies to improve the financial performance of Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs). Methods: Information about the use and perceived effectiveness of 44 specific strategies to improve financial performance was collected from an online survey of 291 CAH Chief Executive Officers and Chief Financial Officers. Responses were merged with financial and operational characteristics of the respondents’ hospitals obtained from Medicare cost reports. Use rates and perceived success and failure were calculated for each strategy. A cluster analysis was applied to classify strategies based on their use and success. Finally, CAH characteristics were examined to predict the use of individual strategies. Findings: Financial improvement strategies are pervasive among CAHs. The administrators who responded to the survey in this study reported using an average of 17.0 of the maximum 44 strategies listed in the survey questionnaire. Revenue/cost, human resource, and capital strategies were more frequently used than service expansion and reduction strategies. Overall, CAH characteristics did not explain the use or perceived success of specific strategies, but they did partially predict the number of strategies attempted. Conclusions: CAH administrators have used multiple strategies to improve financial performance with a wide variety of reported success. More research into the effectiveness of specific interventions is needed to help administrators select evidence‐based strategies.     

新世纪医院面临的挑战与对策

作者首先阐述了新世纪医院面临的挑战：一是社会保障制度改革对医院的影响；二是中国加入WTO后对我国医院产生的影响；三是人们需求多样性对医院建设的影响。其次提出了新世纪医院的发展策略；（1）树立新的理念；（2）强化四个意识，即管理意识、竞争意识、服务意识、创新意识；（3）医院建设要注重系统性，即以市场和战场为导向调整学科布局，适应市场需求抓好人才队伍建设，以新的质量观抓医疗质量建设；（4）建立灵活高效的管理机制，即建立快速高效的决策程序、建立以人为本的管理机制、以市场经济的规则改革分配机制，政府对非营利性医院要解决资金补偿问题。     

公立医院党建与业务工作宏观环境分析及对策探讨

PEST分析法作为现代管理中分析战略或组织外部环境的常用方法 ,旨在通过政治、经济、社会和技术这4个方面的因素分析从总体上把握宏观环境.文章引用PEST分析法从上述4个维度对公立医院当前党建与业务工作宏观环境进行分析并提出有效应对策略,包括:充分利用时代发展对公立医院提出的更高要求所带来的外部压力;转变传统工作观念;在...     

公立医院固定资产管理现状调查与分析

通过对衢州市公立医院固定资产管理现状的调查,全面了解衢州市公立医院固定资产规模、组成结构及使用情况,利用DEA分析方法进行效率评价,提出做好区域卫生规划以加强卫生资源管理、实现卫生资源效益最大化的对策建议。     

大型综合公立医院效率特征及变动研究

目的:从静态与动态两个层次分析大型综合公立医院的效率特征及变动趋势。方法:采用数据包络分析的C~2R-DEA和BC~2-DEA模型与Malmquist指数模型,利用50家大型公立医院2006—2012年的人员、设备、资产、医疗服务等投入—产出指标,构建适宜分析模型。结果:约10%~12%样本医院处在相对有效运行状态,其配置效率均值与规模效率均值分别为0.956与0.943,接近效率前沿,其效率表现相对较好;而纯技术效率均值、技术效率均值、成本效率均值与整体效率均值分别为0.796,0.784,0.714和0.714,与效率前沿差距较大,其效率表现相对较差。同时,样本医院处于规模报酬递减状态的医院由7.69%增加到26.31%,而处于规模报酬递增状态的医院由80.77%下降到58.34%;其技术进步与Malmquist生产率指数、技术效率指数、纯技术效率指数与规模效率指数的变化保持比较稳定的一致性,并呈现持续改善与稳步发展的趋势。结论:大型公立医院正面临着发展动力与激励机制的转换,不仅需要转变医院管理理念与发展模式,也需要构建有关结构、过程和结果的最佳效率评价标准,以促进包括政府职能在内的医院治理与发展模式的转变。     

Interoperability among hospitals treating populations that have been marginalized

Objective

To test whether differences in hospital interoperability are related to the extent to which hospitals treat groups that have been economically and socially marginalized.

Data Sources and Study Setting

Data on 2393 non-federal acute care hospitals in the United States from the American Hospital Association Information Technology Supplement fielded in 2021, the 2019 Medicare Cost Report, and the 2019 Social Deprivation Index.

Study Design

Cross-sectional analysis.

Data Collection/Extraction Methods

We identified five proxy measures related to marginalization and assessed the relationship between those measures and the likelihood that hospitals engaged in all four domains of interoperable information exchange and participated in national interoperability networks in cross-sectional analysis.

Principal Findings

In unadjusted analysis, hospitals that treated patients from zip codes with high social deprivation were 33% less likely to engage in interoperable exchange (Relative Risk = 0.67, 95% CI: 0.58–0.76) and 24% less likely to participate in a national network than all other hospitals (RR = 0.76; 95% CI: 0.66–0.87). Critical Access Hospitals (CAH) were 24 percent less likely to engage in interoperable exchange (RR = 0.76; 95% CI: 0.69–0.83) but not less likely to participate in a national network (RR = 0.97; 95% CI: 0.88–1.06). No difference was detected for 2 measures (high Disproportionate Share Hospital percentage and Medicaid case mix) while 1 was associated with a greater likelihood to engage (high uncompensated care burden). The association between social deprivation and interoperable exchange persisted in an analysis examining metropolitan and rural areas separately and in adjusted analyses accounting for hospital characteristics.

Conclusions

Hospitals that treat patients from areas with high social deprivation were less likely to engage in interoperable exchange than other hospitals, but other measures were not associated with lower interoperability. The use of area deprivation data may be important to monitor and address hospital clinical data interoperability disparities to avoid related health care disparities.     

广西壮族自治区财政对县级公立医院投入状况调查分析

医改后政府对县级公立医院卫生投入量在增加,但公立医院投入所占比例略有降低,投入方式、分担机制、监管机制等方面不完善。建议进一步做好区域卫生规划,合理增加投入量,完善卫生投入方式、分担机制、监管机制,积极推动县级公立医院改革。     

An empirical comparison of rural and urban safety-net hospitals

This study compares the characteristics of rural hospitals with urban safety-net hospitals and with "other urban hospitals" (non-teaching, non-safety-net urban hospitals that provide mainstream care in the United States). The objective is to examine if there are similarities between rural and urban safety-net hospitals, both of which serve underserved populations. The authors also wish to study if there are areas in which rural and urban safety-net hospitals are closer together compared to "other" urban hospitals. Based on the results, some potential areas of cooperation between rural and urban safety-net hospitals are discussed.     

江西省乡镇卫生院卫生人力资源现状分析

目的：了解江西省乡镇卫生院的卫生人力资源现状,为卫生行政部门制定区域卫生规划、合理配置卫生资源、卫生事业的科学决策提供科学依据。方法：采用普查方法对2007年江西省所有乡镇卫生院进行调查。结果：乡镇卫生人员数匮乏,专业结构分布不均,整体素质有待提高。     

Investigation of health promotion status in specialized hospitals associated with Hamadan University of Medical Sciences: health-promoting hospitals

Objectives: The prophecy of health promoting hospitals (HPH) is bringing about a change and transition from treatment-oriented to health-oriented attitudes. In Iran, hospitals usually play the traditional roles. The present study was aimed at the evaluation of the health promotion status in specialized hospitals associated with Hamadan University of Medical Sciences (HUMS).

Methods: This applied study was conducted in two Hamadan specialized hospitals in the Hamadan city. The health promotion status was evaluated using a self-assessment checklist designed by the World Health Organization’s HPH. The evaluation was done in five standards including management policy, patient assessment, patient information and intervention, promotion of a healthy workplace and continuity and cooperation.

Results: The results showed that both the hospitals studied had a poor status in terms of promoting a healthy workplace (average = 31.24%) and management policy standards (average = 35.29%) in comparison with the other relevant standards: patient assessment (53.12%), patient information and intervention (62.5%), continuity and cooperation (65.78%)). The results of the standards and sub-standards status displayed better performance in the cardiovascular hospital (53.67%) compared to the women and parturition hospital (42.64%).

Conclusion: The findings indicated that HPH standards are very low in the studied hospitals. The reason behind this wide gap might be due to the fact that hospitals in Iran are more treatment-oriented and patient-oriented and they do not play an active part in health promoting. It was found that management policy and promoting healthy workplace standards had the worst status and must be improved.