Model All-Payer Claims Database Legislation

With support from the Gary and Mary West Health Policy Center, the APCD Council has developed model legislation guidance for states to develop all-payer claims database legislation

Model All-Payer Claims Database Legislation

With support from the Gary and Mary West Health Policy Center, the APCD Council has developed model legislation guidance for states to develop all-payer claims database legislation

Bollworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) production from alternate host crops and their contribution to a non-Bollgard cotton refuge

The bollworm’s, Helicoverpa zea (Boddie), inherent tolerance to the Bacillus thuringiensis toxin expressed in Bollgard® cotton and its ability to exploit numerous hosts has caused the Environmental Protection Agency to re-evalute the refuge component of the resistance management strategy. The goal of this project was to evaluate selected alternate host crops as supplemental non-cotton refuges for bollworm. The relative density, temporal occurrence, and life stage synchrony for bollworm larvae and adults was studied in Bollgard® cotton, Bollgard® cotton non-Bollgard® cotton, field corn, grain sorghum, and soybean. Native populations of bollworm larvae were monitored June to September during 2002 and 2003 in 0.1011-hectare plots in Northeast Louisiana and in commercial fields in Rapides, Concordia, Richland, and Tensas parishes. Bollworm larval occurrence varied considerably among all sites and crops based upon crop phenology, local environment, cultural production practices, and pest management strategies. Records of larval collection ranged from entirely absent in a sample to collections over a period of seven weeks. Peak densities in Bollgard® cotton were recorded from the 5 nodes above white flower (NAWF) to 1 node above cracked boll (NACB) growth stages, in non-Bollgard® cotton during the 7 NAWF to 1 NACB stages, in field corn during the R2-R5 growth stages, in grain sorghum during growth stages 4 to 9, and in maturity group (MG) 6 soybean during the R1-R6 growth stages. No larvae were observed in MG 4 soybean or in Bollgard® 2 cotton. Larval productivity was generally lowest in Bollgard® cotton fields and highest in grain sorghum and field corn, but larval development in the latter host crops was not consistently in temporal synchrony with that in Bollgard® cotton. The only host crops that exhibited temporal synchrony of larvae to that in Bollgard® cotton was non-Bollgard® cotton and MG 6 soybean. Bollworm adults were monitored with pheromone-baited wire cone traps at the interfaces of Bollgard® cotton and alternate crop hosts at the commercial field sites. During 2002 and 2003, totals of 39,356 and 42,552 adults were collected across all sample sites. Bollworm adult occurrence and total densities were generally similar among traps at all crop interfaces

All-Payer Claims Database Development Manual: Establishing a Foundation for Health Care Transparency and Informed Decision Making

With support from the Gary and Mary West Health Policy Center, the APCD Council has developed a manual for states to develop all-payer claims databases. Titled All-Payer Claims Database Development Manual: Establishing a Foundation for Health Care Transparency and Informed Decision Making, the manual is a first-of its-kind resource that provides states with detailed guidance on common data standards, collection, aggregation and analysis involved with establishing these databases

A Preliminary Investigation of Child, Parent and Programme Leader Reflections on Participation in and Delivery of a Family- Based Weight Intervention Programme.

Childhood obesity is considered to be the greatest public health risk to children today, placing young people at considerable risk for adult obesity and consequent CVD, diabetes, liver dysfunction, and other morbidities (Doro-Altan et al., 2008; Singh et al., 2008). As a result numerous interventions with the potential to reduce obesity levels or associated risk of chronic diseases have been devised (Steinberger et al., 2003; Flynn et al., 2006). Not withstanding the need for further quantitative evaluation of the effect of such interventions, key publications have now called for qualitative evaluations to be undertaken in order to create an evidence base from the views of participants that may highlight why certain interventions may be more, or less successful (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, 2006; Luttikhuis et al., 2009). In response to these very recent calls, this abstract intends to present, from qualitative methods of enquiry, preliminary findings of parent, child and programme leader experiences of, reflections on and future intentions following participation in and delivery of a nationally implemented family-based weight intervention programme in the UK. Data from semi-structured interviews with 6 families who completed the programme in December 2008 and 1 programme leader will be presented. Informal thematic analysis will be utilised to identify emergent themes with data presentation accentuating the qualitative, ‘lived’ experience of the programme and the impact of the various aspects of the intervention on intentions for future behaviours. It is anticipated that the outcomes of this study will help to inform the organisation, content, implementation and nature of future intervention programmes in order to enhance their effectiveness

Influence of Nurse Residency Programs on Turnover Intent for New Nurse Graduates

Nursing turnover and nursing intent to leave is increasing due to burnout, retirement, and a competitive labor market. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine whether there were statistical differences in turnover intent for nurses with new associate degrees and nurses with new bachelor’s degrees after participation in a nurse residency program. The theory of cognitive dissonance formed the foundation for the two research questions concerning whether there was a difference in turnover intent for nurses with associate degrees and nurses with bachelor\u27s degrees after initial completion of a new nurse residency program and after a year of employment. A t test was performed on the data obtained from a large healthcare organization. The analysis results indicated that there were no statistical differences in turnover intent at the 8 month or at 1-year post new graduate nurse residency completion. Although no statistical significance was found for either research question, this study has the potential to positively affect social change and healthcare as it provides healthcare administrators with additional knowledge about the benefits of residency training programs for new nurse graduates. This study also demonstrates that despite the level of degree, new graduate nurses benefit from residency education programs in the workplace, which can lead to increased candidate pools, improved patient care environment, and employee retention