Research Library

The authors sought to develop and test a tool that accurately predicts the unique financial burden to individual patients undergoing treatment for breast cancer. JCO Clinical Cancer Informatics, an American Society of Clinical Oncology Journal

The authors found that six months of pre–end-stage kidney disease nephrology care did not significantly improve the likelihood that patients would remain employed when they started dialysis. This finding underscores the need to identify effective methods to help patients stay employed when they transition to dialysis.

Expanded “payment bundles” for the treatment of end stage kidney disease did not in general increase the risk of closure by dialysis facilities, the authors conclude.

The results of this study suggest that Medicare Data on Provider Practice and Specialty, which costs less to obtain than from a for-profit data source, can be used to reliably track the cost and quality effects of vertical integration between hospitals and physicians.

Consolidated dialysis markets have coincided with both positive and negative trends in health care costs and outcomes. If the underlying mechanisms that contributed to past consolidation persist, dialysis markets may remain highly concentrated over the long term.

In this study, the authors investigate where U.S. patients with limited health insurance coverage receive maintenance dialysis. Journal of the American Society of Nephrology: http://bit.ly/2Q15Jpt

The authors investigate the relationship between the number of freestanding emergency departments entering a local market and overall spending on emergency care. Academic Emergency Medicine: http://bit.ly/2pGwYMw

When physicians integrate with hospitals, the cost of health care rises even though there’s no evidence patients get better treatment, the authors write. Journal of General Internal Medicine: https://bit.ly/2lxd4RY

By Kevin F. Erickson, Bo Zhao, Jingbo Niu, Wolfgang C. Winkelmayer, Jay Bhattacharya, Glenn M. Chertow and Vivian Ho The acquisition of independently owned dialysis facilities by facility chains lead to slower decreases in mortality and hospitalization rates, write the authors. JAMA Network Open: https://bit.ly/2WPYGSD

Freestanding emergency departments in Texas’ largest cities have not alleviated emergency room congestion or improved patient wait times in nearby hospitals, but they can reduce wait times in smaller communities, conclude the authors of this study.