FAIR Health: Share of Patients with Mental Health Diagnoses Rose 40 Percent Nationally from 2019 to 2023 FAIR Health released a white paper, which found that nationally, the share of patients with mental health diagnoses rose 39.8 percent, from 13.5 percent of patients who received medical services in 2019 to 18.9 percent in 2023. Overall, the most common mental health diagnosis in 2023 was generalized anxiety disorder, but among patients aged 0-13 years, it was attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The percentage of claim lines for offices as a place of service for mental health-related visits decreased 39.8 percent, while the percentage [...]

Applied Clinical Trials: The Future Fit of Wearables for Patient-Centric Clinical Trials Wearable technology integration holds immense value in clinical trials. By incorporating these devices into clinical trial protocols, researchers can gather comprehensive data while minimizing participant burden. The technology allows for extended monitoring of patients’ health parameters, such as vital signs, medication adherence, and symptom progression, without the need for frequent in-person visits. However, choosing the right device can have a significant impact on study outcomes and conclusions.

Clinical Diabetes: A Qualitative Study of Adapting Telehealth Systems for Specialty Diabetes Care Across Four California Medical Centers Telehealth continues to play an important role in specialty diabetes care, but there are variations in how this care is delivered. This article reports on clinician and clinic staff perspectives on providing specialty telehealth diabetes care at four large academic medical centers in California and provides several key recommendations for optimizing telehealth-delivered diabetes care. See the UC Davis Health press release here.

Health Affairs: Telemedicine’s Impact on Use, Spending, And Quality To inform the ongoing debate about whether to continue payment for telemedicine visits, researchers from Harvard University, and RAND Corporation conducted a study on telemedicine use across health systems with utilization, spending, and quality. In 2021–22, relative to those in the lowest quartile, Medicare patients of health systems in the highest quartile had an increase of 0.21 total outpatient visits (telemedicine and in-person) per patient per year (2.2 percent relative increase), a decrease of 14.4 annual non-COVID-19 emergency department visits per 1,000 patients per year (2.7 percent relative decrease), a $248 increase [...]