RESULTS Of the 467 patients identified by their physicians as meeting the study’s inclusion criteria, 447 (96%) agreed to participate. The most frequent reason given for not participating was “not enough time.” Of the patients who completed a baseline survey, 440 (98%) completed the two follow-up surveys according to the timeline in the study protocol. [...]

METHODS Patientswere selected from participating practices of the Tri-State Primary Care Research Network. This network includes more than 25 practices and 200 physicians in the greater metropolitan Philadelphia area. Ten practices with a total of 76 physicians participated. Two of the practices were family practice residency programs with attending and resident physicians. In these practices, [...]

INTRODUCTION Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) constitute one of the most widely used classes of agents in primary care; more than 70 million prescriptions for NSAIDs are filled in the U.S. each year. Some investigators have estimated that 5% to 10% of the adults in the U.S. (approximately 15 to 25 million people) use NSAIDs regularly. [...]

Problem: A pharmacist is working alone in a busy hospital pharmacy. He receives a stat order for oral clonidine (e.g., Catapres®, Boehringer Ingelheim) 1 mg and levodopa (e.g., Laradopa®, Roche) 125 mg for a growth hormone stimulation test to be performed on an eight-year-old child. Despite significant pressure from the order and a backlog of [...]

As a medical educator and practicing primary care general internist at our academic medical center, I have probably attended literally hundreds of pharmaceutical company-sponsored lunches and grand rounds over the course of the last 14 years. No doubt, I have received scores of pens and pads branded with the names of dozens of different proprietary [...]

These four measures alone, however, will be inadequate to meet Medicare’s longer-term commitment to future beneficiaries. Closer examination of the impending baby-boomer avalanche highlights both the difficulty and the urgency of revitalizing its ability to do so. During the 1990s and continuing through this decade, Medicare’s annual enrollment growth has been minimal as two million [...]

Private health plans, namely Medicare health maintenance organizations (HMOs) and preferred provider organizations (PPOs), in assuming responsibility for all medical costs of their enrollees, do offer real opportunities for savings. That potential is leveraged by the fact that more than 80% of Medicare’s costs are incurred by the sickest 20% of enrollees,6 a popula­tion whose [...]