New Publications
Innovative Care in Medicare
 “The Medical Care Development Medicare Coordinated Care Demonstration Program After One Year.” Arnold Chen, Karen Sautter, Jennifer Schore, Randall Brown, Deborah Peikes, and Sean Orzol, July 2005. The Medicare Coordinated Care Demonstration is testing a range of models aimed at improving the care of chronically ill beneficiaries with Medicare fee-for-service coverage. This report, from Mathematica’s evaluation of 15 coordinated care/disease management programs, describes Medical Care Development’s coordinated care program, addressing who enrolls, the extent of physician engagement, implementation of approaches to improving patient health and reducing health care costs, and enrollees’ Medicare service use and costs during its first months of operation. The report also discusses the program’s strengths, unique features, and potential barriers to success. Read more about our work studying coordinated care and disease management initiatives.
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Detecting Disease Outbreaks
 "Evaluation of School Absenteeism Data for Early Outbreak Detection, New York City." Melanie Besculides, Richard Heffernan, Farzad Mostashari, and Don Weiss, BMC Public Health, October 2005. School absenteeism data may provide an early indicator of disease outbreaks. This paper describes an evaluation of the utility of these data for early detection of outbreaks in New York City. Moderate increases in absenteeism were observed among children during peak influenza season. Although monitoring school absenteeism may be moderately useful for detecting large citywide epidemics, school-level data were noisy, and cluster analysis did not seem useful in identifying localized outbreaks. The authors are evaluating the utility of more specific school-based data for outbreak detection.
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Consuming a Nutritious Diet
 "Assessing the Nutrient Intakes of Vulnerable Subgroups." Barbara Devaney, Myoung Kim, Alicia Carriquiry, and Gabriel Camaño-Garcia, October 2005. This study is a comprehensive analysis of the nutrient adequacy of adolescent females, older adults, children and adults at risk of overweight, individuals living in food-insufficient households, low-income individuals, and individuals targeted by and participating in food and nutrition assistance programs. These segments of the population are at risk of inadequate nutrient intake, excessive intake, or dietary imbalances. The study, which adds to a growing literature that uses current, improved knowledge of nutrient requirements and recommended nutrient assessment methods to analyze nutrient intakes, indicates generally inadequate intakes of key micronutrients, especially magnesium, calcium, folate, and vitamin E; energy intakes less than recommended energy requirements for adults; and consumption of too much food energy from fat and not enough from carbohydrates; and inadequate intakes of fiber. In addition, diet adequacy deteriorates as individuals get older. Children—especially infants and young children—have diets that are more nutritionally adequate than those of adolescents and adults.
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On the Move: Staff News and Changes
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Survey and Information Services Division. Senior fellows Frank Potter and Sameena Salvucci have been named associate directors of statistical services in the Princeton and Washington offices, respectively. Potter has served as senior statistician for many projects with complex statistical designs; he has also chaired the Statistics Section of the American Public Health Association. Salvucci has managed many statistical standards and methodology projects for the federal government. |
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Amy Johnson and Wendy Mansfield have been named associate directors of survey research in the Princeton and Washington offices, respectively. Johnson, a senior researcher, specializes in studying at-risk youth and education interventions. Mansfield, a senior survey researcher, has directed some of the firm’s largest data collection efforts involving school-based random assignment evaluations. |
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