98%
921
2 minutes
20
Background: To address the opioid use disorder (OUD) public health crisis, the ADvancing Pharmacological Treatments for OUD (ADaPT-OUD) external facilitation randomized trial was conducted in 8 intervention and 27 matched control low-performing Veterans Health Administration (VHA) facilities to increase the prescribing of medications for OUD (MOUD). Facilities were considered low-performers if they were in the bottom quartile of the facility ratio of Veterans with OUD who received MOUD. The objective of this analysis was to evaluate the healthcare expenditures of Veterans with OUD who received care in ADaPT-OUD intervention facilities compared to those receiving care in matched control facilities.
Methods: Difference-in-differences (DID) design was used to compare the overall, outpatient, and inpatient expenditures (extracted from the VHA data warehouse) of Veterans diagnosed with OUD or receiving MOUD between the 2 groups 12 months before and after the intervention.
Results: A total of 7348 Veterans with a diagnosis of OUD or prescribed MOUD on at least 1 encounter 12 months after ADaPT-OUD intervention at all sites (92.39% male and 83.26% white) were included for analysis. ADaPT-OUD intervention did not have a substantial impact on overall healthcare costs. However, we reported 4% fewer total encounters in the intervention sites (DID, 95% confidence intervals [CI]: 0.96 [0.92-1.00]) compared to the control sites, driven by a decline in non-VA services. Notably, the outpatient psychiatric-related costs were $391 (95% CI: $49-$733) higher per Veteran within the year after the intervention sites received external facilitation compared to control sites.
Conclusions: Veterans at intervention sites with an OUD history had higher outpatient psychiatric-related costs, which could be explained by increased access to optimal mental health services at VHA. Improving access to OUD treatment at VA may lead to more coordinated and comprehensive treatment of both OUD and other associated mental health and physical comorbidities.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
---|---|
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/29767342251336035 | DOI Listing |
BMC Womens Health
September 2025
Jhpiego, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Background: Evidence from multiple pilots and post-introduction scale-up initiatives have demonstrated that self-administered subcutaneous depot-medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA-SC) has potential to improve contraceptive continuation rates and expand contraceptive access to populations with limited utilization of facility-based health services. Only a few of these studies have been conducted in South Asian countries, and none where most contraceptive use is of non-hormonal methods that require limited to no contact with the health system, leaving policymakers in countries like Pakistan with limited context-specific evidence to guide decisions on whether, how, and for whom to introduce DMPA-SC.
Methods: A prospective cohort study will be conducted in 41 health facilities and surrounding communities in Punjab, Pakistan.
Eur Geriatr Med
September 2025
Department of Social Science, Center for Gerontology and Social Science, Research Institute, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Obu, Aichi, Japan.
Purpose: To investigate the longitudinal association between chronic pain and decline in activity of daily living (ADL) among community-dwelling older adults aged ≥ 60 years.
Methods: In this systematic review of prospective longitudinal studies with narrative synthesis, a comprehensive literature search was conducted using PubMed and Embase using free-text words and MeSH terms on February 3, 2025. Longitudinal studies that quantitatively assessed ADL at two or more time points and pain at least once were included.
Ann Rheum Dis
September 2025
Department of Pediatrics, Division of Rheumatology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
Objectives: Juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM) is a heterogeneous autoimmune condition needing targeted treatment approaches and improved understanding of molecular mechanisms driving clinical phenotypes. We utilised exploratory proteomics from a longitudinal North American cohort of patients with new-onset JDM to identify biological pathways at disease onset and follow-up, tissue-specific disease activity, and myositis-specific autoantibody (MSA) status.
Methods: We measured 3072 plasma proteins (Olink panel) in 56 patients with JDM within 12 weeks of starting treatment (from the Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance Registry and 3 additional sites) and 8 paediatric controls.
Chem Pharm Bull (Tokyo)
September 2025
Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.
Antigen-binding proteins, such as nanobodies, modified with functional small molecules hold great potential for applications including imaging probes, drug conjugates, and localized catalysts. However, traditional chemical labeling methods that randomly target lysine or cysteine residues often produce heterogeneous conjugates with limited reproducibility. Conventional site-specific conjugation approaches, which typically modify only the N- or C-terminus, may also be insufficient to achieve the desired functionalities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Prof Nurs
September 2025
University of Memphis, Loewenberg College of Nursing, USA.
Background: Nurse practitioner students' progression from observational to more independent clinical activities with minimal preceptor prompting is necessary to prepare students for practice.
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe and explain NP and physician preceptors' experiences with preparing nurse practitioner students for their transition to becoming autonomous clinicians during their experiences at clinical sites.
Methods: This hermeneutic phenomenological qualitative study was based on Van Manen's methodology.