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Summary: Fragmented care delivery is a barrier to improving health system performance worldwide. Investment in meso-level organisations is a potential strategy to improve health system integration, however, its effectiveness remains unclear. In this paper, we provide an overview of key international and Australian integrated care policies. We then describe Collaborative Commissioning - a novel health reform policy to integrate primary and hospital care sectors in New South Wales (NSW), Australia and provide a case study of a model focussed on older person's care. The policy is theorised to achieve greater integration through improved governance (local stakeholders identifying as part of one health system), service delivery (communities perceive new services as preferable to status quo) and incentives (efficiency gains are reinvested locally with progressively higher value care achieved). If effectively implemented at scale, Collaborative Commissioning has potential to improve health system performance in Australia and will be of relevance to similar reform initiatives in other countries.

Abstract Background Governments and other payers are yet to determine optimal processes by which to review the safety, effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness of technologies and procedures that are in active use within health systems, and rescind funding (partially or fully) from those that display poor profiles against these parameters. To further progress a disinvestment agenda, a model is required to support payers in implementing disinvestment in a transparent manner that may withstand challenge from vested interests and concerned citizens. Combining approaches from health technology assessment and deliberative democratic theory, this project seeks to determine if and how wide stakeholder engagement can contribute to improved decision-making processes, wherein the views of both vested and non-vested stakeholders are seen to contribute to informing policy implementation within a disinvestment context. Methods/design Systematic reviews pertaining to illustrative case studies were developed and formed the evidence base for discussion. Review findings were presented at a series of deliberative, evidence-informed stakeholder engagements, including partisan (clinicians and consumers) and non-partisan (representative community members) stakeholders. Participants were actively facilitated towards identifying shared and dissenting perspectives regarding public funding policy for each of the case studies and developing their own funding models in response to the evidence presented. Policy advisors will subsequently be invited to evaluate disinvestment options based on the scientific and colloquial evidence presented to them, and to explore the value of this information to their decision-making processes with reference to disinvestment. Discussion Analysis of the varied outputs of the deliberative engagements will contribute to the methodological development around how to best integrate scientific and colloquial evidence for consideration by policy advisors. It may contribute to the legitimization of broad and transparent stakeholder engagement in this context. It is anticipated that decision making will benefit from the knowledge delivered through informed deliberation with engaged stakeholders, and this will be explored through interviews with key decision makers.

Abstract Background Telehealth is the delivery of health care at a distance, using information and communication technology. The major rationales for its introduction have been to decrease costs, improve efficiency and increase access in health care delivery. This systematic review assesses the economic value of one type of telehealth delivery - synchronous or real time video communication - rather than examining a heterogeneous range of delivery modes as has been the case with previous reviews in this area. Methods A systematic search was undertaken for economic analyses of the clinical use of telehealth, ending in June 2009. Studies with patient outcome data and a non-telehealth comparator were included. Cost analyses, non-comparative studies and those where patient satisfaction was the only health outcome were excluded. Results 36 articles met the inclusion criteria. 22(61%) of the studies found telehealth to be less costly than the non-telehealth alternative, 11(31%) found greater costs and 3 (9%) gave the same or mixed results. 23 of the studies took the perspective of the health services, 12 were societal, and one was from the patient perspective. In three studies of telehealth to rural areas, the health services paid more for telehealth, but due to savings in patient travel, the societal perspective demonstrated cost savings. In regard to health outcomes, 12 (33%) of studies found improved health outcomes, 21 (58%) found outcomes were not significantly different, 2(6%) found that telehealth was less effective, and 1 (3%) found outcomes differed according to patient group. The organisational model of care was more important in determining the value of the service than the clinical discipline, the type of technology, or the date of the study. Conclusion Delivery of health services by real time video communication was cost-effective for home care and access to on-call hospital specialists, showed mixed results for rural service delivery, and was not cost-effective for local delivery of services between hospitals and primary care.

Background To develop a knowledge translation (KT) tool that will provide guidance to stakeholders actively planning or considering implementation of a health technology reassessment (HTR) initiative.Methods The KT tool is an international and collaborative endeavour between HTR researchers in Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Evidence from a meta-review of documented international HTR experiences and approaches provided the conceptual framing for the KT tool. The purpose, audience, format, and overall scope and content of the tool were established through iterative discussions and consensus. An initial version of the KT tool was beta-tested with an international community of relevant stakeholders (ie, potential users) at the Health Technology Assessment International 2018 annual meeting.Results An open access workbook, referred to as the HTR playbook, was developed. As a KT tool, the HTR playbook is intended to simplify the complex HTR planning process by navigating users step-by-step through 6 strategic domains: characteristics of the candidate health technology (The Stats and Projections), stakeholders to engage (The Team), potential facilitators and/or barriers within the policy context (The Playing Field), strategic use of different levers and tools (The Offensive Plays), unintended consequences (The Defensive Plays), and metrics and methods for monitoring and evaluation (Winning the Game).Conclusion The HTR playbook is intended to enhance a user’s ability to successfully complete a HTR by helping them systematically consider the different elements and approaches to achieve the right care for the patient population in question.

Abstract Background Assessment of appropriate anesthetic depth is crucial to prevent harm to patients. Unnecessary deep anesthesia can be harmful, potentially causing acute renal failure, myocardial injury, delirium, and an increased mortality rate. Conversely, too light anesthesia combined with muscle relaxants can result in intraoperative patient awareness and lead to serious psychological trauma. This trial aimed to ascertain the effectiveness of the advisory display SmartPilot® View (SPV), as a supplemental measure in the assessment of anesthetic depth in low risk gynecological surgery patients. The hypothesis was that the use of the SPV would increase the precision of assessment, and result in a higher mean arterial pressure. Methods This trial used a randomized, controlled, single-blind design with a homogeneous sample. Patients undergoing minor, low risk gynecological surgery were randomly assigned to two groups: a test group wherein current standards were supplemented with the advisory display SPV and a control group assessed using only the current standards. Female patients aged between 18 and 75 years with American Society of Anesthesiologists Physical Status Classification System scores of 1–3 undergoing planned general anesthesia using the total intravenous anesthetic method, combining propofol and remifentanil, were included. The exclusion criteria included a body mass index ≥ 35 kg/m2, a history of alcoholism, drug intake affecting propofol and remifentanil dynamics, and inability to consent. The independent sample t-test and chi-square test or Fisher’s exact test were used to assess the statistical significance of differences between the two groups. Results A total of 114 patients were included in the analysis (test group n = 58, control group n = 56). No significant differences in the mean arterial pressure, heart rate, bispectral index, extubation delay, or post-anesthesia care unit stay were found between groups. Conclusions The addition of the advisory display SmartPilot® View to current standards in the evaluation of anesthetic depth had no significant effect on the outcome. Trial registration The trial was registered on January 16th 2019 with ClinicalTrials.gov (ref: NCT03807271 ).

Many administrative health data-based studies define patient cohorts using procedure and diagnosis codes. The impact these criteria have on a study's final cohort is not always transparent to co-investigators or other audiences if access to the research data is restricted. We developed a SAS and R Shiny interactive research support tool which generates and displays the diagnosis code summaries associated with a selected medical service or procedure. This allows non-analyst users to interrogate claims data and groupings of reported diagnosis codes. The SAS program uses a tree classifier to find associated diagnosis codes with the service claims compared against a matched, random sample of claims without the service. Claims are grouped based on the overlap of these associated diagnosis codes. The Health Services Research (HSR) Definition Builder Shiny application uses this input to create interactive table and graphics, which updates estimated claim counts of the selected service as users select inclusion and exclusion criteria. This tool can help researchers develop preliminary and shareable definitions for cohorts for administrative health data research. It allows an additional validation step of examining frequency of all diagnosis codes associated with a service, reducing the risk of incorrect included or omitted codes from the final definition. In our results, we explore use of the application on three example services in 2016 US Medicare claims for patients aged over 65: knee arthroscopy, spinal fusion procedures and urinalysis. Readers can access the application at https://kelsey209.shinyapps.io/hsrdefbuilder/ and the code at https://github.com/kelsey209/hsrdefbuilder.

back pain is the leading cause of years lived with disability globally. In 2018, an international working group called on the World Health Organization to increase attention on the burden of low back pain and the need to avoid excessively medical solutions. Indeed, major international clinical guidelines now recognize that many people with low back pain require little or no formal treatment. Where treatment is required the recommended approach is to discourage use of pain medication, steroid injections and spinal surgery, and instead promote physical and psychological therapies. Many health systems are not designed to support this approach. In this paper we discuss why care for low back pain that is concordant with guidelines requires system-wide changes. We detail the key challenges of low back pain care within health systems. These include the financial interests of pharmaceutical and other companies; outdated payment systems that favour medical care over patients' self-management; and deep-rooted medical traditions and beliefs about care for back pain among physicians and the public. We give international examples of promising solutions and policies and practices for health systems facing an increasing burden of ineffective care for low back pain. We suggest policies that, by shifting resources from unnecessary care to guideline-concordant care for low back pain, could be cost-neutral and have widespread impact. Small adjustments to health policy will not work in isolation, however. Workplace systems, legal frameworks, personal beliefs, politics and the overall societal context in which we experience health, will also need to change. Les lombalgies sont la principale cause d'annees de vie vecues avec une incapacite dans le monde. En 2018, un groupe de travail international a invite l'Organisation mondiale de la Sante a attirer l'attention sur la charge que representent les lombalgies et sur la necessite d'eviter le recours excessif aux solutions medicales. En effet, selon les dernieres recommandations cliniques internationales, de nombreux cas de lombalgie ne necessitent pas ou peu de traitement formel. Lorsqu'un traitement est requis, il est recommande de limiter la prise d'analgesiques, les injections de steroides et la chirurgie rachidienne, et d'encourager plutot les therapeutiques physiques et psychologiques. Tres souvent, les systemes de sante ne sont pas concus pour appliquer cette approche. Dans cet article, nous abordons les raisons pour lesquelles un changement des systemes s'impose si l'on veut prendre en charge les lombalgies suivant les recommandations. Nous detaillons les principales difficultes de la prise en charge des lombalgies dans le cadre des systemes de sante. Il s'agit notamment des interets financiers des laboratoires pharmaceutiques, entre autres; des systemes de paiement obsoletes qui privilegient la prise en charge medicale a l'autogestion par les patients; et de croyances et traditions medicales profondement ancrees parmi les medecins et la population. Nous donnons des exemples internationaux de solutions, de politiques et de pratiques prometteuses pour les systemes de sante confrontes de plus en plus souvent a une prise en charge inefficace des lombalgies. Nous suggerons des politiques qui, sans incidence sur les couts, en transferant les ressources allouees aux soins inutiles vers des soins conformes aux recommandations, pourraient avoir un impact considerable. De petits ajustements des politiques de sante ne suffiront cependant pas. Les systemes des milieux professionnels, les cadres juridiques, les croyances personnelles, les politiques et le contexte societal global dans lequel s'inscrit la sante devront egalement changer. El dolor lumbar es la causa principal de vivir con discapacidad durante anos en todo el mundo. En 2018, un grupo de trabajo internacional pidio a la Organizacion Mundial de la Salud que prestara mas atencion a la carga del dolor lumbar y a la necesidad de evitar soluciones excesivamente medicas. De hecho, las principales directrices clinicas internacionales reconocen ahora que muchas personas con dolor lumbar requieren poco o ningun tratamiento formal. Cuando se requiere tratamiento, el enfoque recomendado es desalentar el uso de analgesicos, inyecciones de esteroides y cirugia de la columna vertebral y, en su lugar, promover las terapias fisicas y psicologicas. Muchos sistemas de salud no estan disenados para apoyar este enfoque. En este documento, se expone por que el cuidado del dolor lumbar de acuerdo con las directrices requiere cambios en todo el sistema. Se detallan los retos clave de la atencion del dolor lumbar en los sistemas de salud. Estos incluyen los intereses financieros de las companias farmaceuticas y de otro tipo, los sistemas de pago obsoletos que favorecen la atencion medica por encima del autocuidado de los pacientes, asi como las tradiciones y las creencias medicas profundamente arraigadas sobre la atencion del dolor de espalda entre los medicos y el publico general. Se presentan ejemplos internacionales de soluciones prometedoras y de politicas y practicas para los sistemas de salud que se enfrentan a una carga cada vez mayor de la atencion ineficaz para el dolor lumbar. Se sugieren politicas que, al desplazar los recursos de la atencion innecesaria a la atencion acorde con las directrices para el dolor lumbar, podrian ser neutras en cuanto a costes y tener un impacto generalizado. Sin embargo, los pequenos ajustes en la politica sanitaria no funcionaran de forma aislada. Los sistemas del lugar de trabajo, los marcos juridicos, las creencias personales, la politica y el contexto social general en el que vivimos la salud tambien tendran que cambiar., Introduction Low back pain is the single biggest cause of years lived with disability worldwide, and a major challenge to international health systems. (1) In 2018, the Lancet Low Back [...]

Objectives: To determine the total annual screening and further-investigation costs of investigating false-positive and true-positive mammograms in the Australian population breast-screening program. Methods: This economic analysis used aggregate-level retrospective cohort data of women screened at a breast-screening clinic. Counts and frequencies of each diagnostic workup-sequence recorded were scaled up to national figures and costed by estimating per-patient costs of procedures using screening clinic cost data. Main outcomes and measures estimated were percentage share of total annual screening and further-investigation costs for the Australian population breast-screening program of investigating false-positive and true-positive mammograms. Secondary outcomes determined were average costs of investigating each false-positive and true-positive mammogram. Sensitivity analyses involved recalculating results excluding subgroups of patients below and above the screening age range of 50–74 years. Results: Of 8235 patients, the median age was 60.35 years with interquartile range of 54.17–67.17 years. A total of 15.4% (ranging from 13.4 to 15.4% under different scenarios) of total annual screening and further-investigation costs were from investigating false-positive mammograms. This exceeded the share of costs from investigating true-positives (13%). Conclusions: We have developed a transparent and non-onerous approach for estimating the costs of false-positive and true-positive mammograms associated with the national breast-screening program. While determining an optimal balance between false-positives and true-positive rates must rely primarily on health outcomes, costs are an important consideration. We recommend that future research adopts and refines similar approaches to facilitate better monitoring of these costs, benchmark against estimates from other screening programs, and support optimal policy development. What is known about the topic? Screening mammogram results suggesting cancer later found to be wrong by follow-up testing (false-positive mammograms) consume healthcare resources unnecessarily and increases anxiety among screened women. What does this paper add? This paper estimates the share of total annual costs of Australia's national breast screening program caused by follow up testing of false-positive mammograms at approximately 15%. What are the implications for practitioners? The share of annual breast cancer screening costs from follow-up testing of false-positive mammograms can be monitored over time using the transparent and non-onerous method developed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]