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Objective: To assess the availability of long acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) methods in Los Angeles County through providers participating in a California State Medicaid State Plan Amendment Program called Family Planning, Access, Care and Treatment (Family PACT)., Study Design: This was a cross-sectional telephone survey utilizing "secret shopper" methodology. From 855 Family PACT providers in Los Angeles County in 2015, a representative sample of 400 providers was selected for study. Young female researchers posing as potential patients called each sampled clinic to ask a scripted series of questions about LARC availability for Family PACT patients in that practice., Results: All but one eligible practice (99.7%) responded to our questions. Among the 336 responding practices, 284 said they accepted Family PACT. Of those accepting Family PACT, staff answering the telephone call at 61% said they did not provide any LARC method onsite, 2% provided all currently available LARC methods, and 6% provided same-day placement of any LARC., Conclusion: The majority of Family PACT practices surveyed said that they did not provide any LARC onsite, and very few provided same-day LARC placement despite easy patient enrollment procedures, relatively reasonable reimbursement and concerted efforts to increase LARC use. Substantial barriers to greater uptake may rest at the provider level with either actual unavailability of LARC or staff perception of unavailability., Implications: Only a minority of Family PACT practices said that LARC methods were available onsite, which imposes substantial restriction to access for women who are entitled to have access without cost. Other states developing programs should be aware of this challenge., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: While hylan G-F 20 is an approved therapy for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis, there are few reports of its use in shoulder osteoarthritis., Hypothesis: Hylan G-F 20 can reduce pain and improve function in patients with glenohumeral osteoarthritis., Study Design: Case series; Level of evidence, 4., Methods: Thirty consecutive patients with idiopathic glenohumeral osteoarthritis who failed to respond to standard conservative measures were enrolled. Patients received 3 weekly intra-articular hylan G-F 20 injections in their affected shoulder and completed a visual analog scale for pain, the UCLA score, and the Simple Shoulder Test at baseline and at 1, 3, and 6 months after the third injection., Results: Of the 30 patients, 3 withdrew during the washout period before treatment; the remaining patients (17 men and 10 women) had an average age of 62 years. The mean baseline visual analog scale score was 54, UCLA score was 15.7, and Simple Shoulder Test score was 5.7 (of 12 possible "yes" responses). At the 6-month follow-up, hylan G-F 20 significantly improved visual analog scale (mean 30, P < .001), UCLA (mean 24, P < .001), and Simple Shoulder Test (7.6 "yes" responses, P < .001) scores. More patients slept comfortably after treatment (56%) versus before treatment (15%). Nine patients had a visual analog scale improvement >40 points after 6 months. No device-related adverse events were observed., Conclusion: Hylan G-F 20 may have a beneficial therapeutic effect on some symptomatic patients with glenohumeral osteoarthritis.