2012-05-24T14:17:14Z Copyright (c) 2012, The RAND Corporation RAND Corporation http://www.rand.org/topics/musculoskeletal-disorders.html http://www.rand.org/pubs/external_publications/EP201100216.html Aug 31, 2011 Aug 31, 2011

Medicare's National Pilot Program on Payment Bundling should use hip fracture and joint replacement as the conditions to include and use longer episodes, capturing a higher percentage of costs and hospital readmissions but adding little financial risk.

http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG1018.html Jun 21, 2010 Jun 21, 2010

<p>The most common work-related injuries among firefighters are musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). Understanding the frequency and severity of firefighter MSDs is more important with recent changes to California workers' compensation. This book describes the effect of work-related MSDs on firefighters' earnings and employment, the reforms' impact on disability ratings, and employment outcomes since the reforms to the medical delivery system.</p>

http://www.rand.org/pubs/external_publications/EP20081215.html Dec 31, 2007 Dec 31, 2007

<p>Estimates the minimally important difference for a fatigue visual analog scale (VAS) using patient-reported anchors (fatigue, pain, and overall health). This information can aid in interpreting fatigue VAS in day-to-day care in clinical practice.</p>

http://www.rand.org/pubs/external_publications/EP20070103.html Dec 31, 2006 Dec 31, 2006

<p>Patients with RA have frequent encounters with multiple providers and also frequent discontinuity of care. Recognizing the complexity of the care of patients with a chronic disease across multiple dimensions provides an opportunity to better understand challenges and opportunities in delivering high quality care.</p>

http://www.rand.org/pubs/external_publications/EP20071120.html Dec 31, 2006 Dec 31, 2006

<p>The key challenge to the feasibility of arthritis performance measures is the lack of administrative data to identify the eligible population.</p>

http://www.rand.org/pubs/external_publications/EP20070615.html Dec 31, 2006 Dec 31, 2006

<p>The ACR-endorsed quality measures for RA can be assessed using available data sources. When both self-report and medical record data are used, adherence rates, designed to serve as minimum standards of care, were moderate or high for most measures. Prior to using indicators to compare quality across groups, specific strategies for operationalizing measures and for using accurate data sources to assess adherence to the measures should be defined.</p>

http://www.rand.org/pubs/external_publications/EP20071015.html Dec 31, 2006 Dec 31, 2006

<p>Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common chronic disease affecting older persons.</p>

http://www.rand.org/news/press/2006/04/04.html Apr 4, 2006 Apr 4, 2006

April 4, 2006 News Release: RAND Study Finds Arthritis Care for Older Patients Is Poor; Lack of Information on Medication Safety Is Biggest Shortfall.

http://www.rand.org/pubs/external_publications/EP20061229.html Dec 31, 2005 Dec 31, 2005

<p>The authors conducted a prospective cohort study of rates of change in disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) and/or systemic corticosteroid drug or dose for 568 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) across 6,159 clinical encounters within 12 months to examine how changes in clinical specifications change adherence.</p>

http://www.rand.org/pubs/external_publications/EP20060217.html Dec 31, 2005 Dec 31, 2005

<p>These results support the validity and reliability of both the original CSHQ-RA and the 11-item CSHQ-RA SF when tested in a representative patient population.</p>

http://www.rand.org/pubs/external_publications/EP20060405.html Dec 31, 2005 Dec 31, 2005

<p>To describe the quality of osteoarthritis care provided to community-dwelling elderly patients and to characterize arthritis-related function in these patients.</p>

http://www.rand.org/pubs/external_publications/EP20060630.html Dec 31, 2005 Dec 31, 2005

<p>Assesses the effect of hospital competition and HMO penetration on mortality after hospitalization for six medical conditions in California, New York, and Wisconsin.</p>

http://www.rand.org/pubs/external_publications/EP20050504.html Dec 31, 2004 Dec 31, 2004

<p>To compare the clinical efficacy of custom foot orthotics, prefabricated off-the-shelf shoe inserts, and supportive athletic shoes worn alone, on reducing pain and improving function for children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA).</p>

http://www.rand.org/pubs/external_publications/EP20050706.html Dec 31, 2004 Dec 31, 2004

<p>There is a wide diversity of research payback. Short focused project grants seem to provide value for money.</p>

http://www.rand.org/pubs/external_publications/EP20051212.html Dec 31, 2004 Dec 31, 2004

<p>To estimate weights for health states comprising American College of Rheumatology (ACR) response and different levels of adverse events associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treatments.</p>

http://www.rand.org/pubs/external_publications/EP20050609.html Dec 31, 2004 Dec 31, 2004

<p>Prediction rules have yet to be published for the interventions listed as brief pain-management programmes, but there is evidence that some tools are useful in detecting psychosocial aspects of low back pain and are predictive of poor outcomes.</p>

http://www.rand.org/pubs/external_publications/EP20050513.html Dec 31, 2004 Dec 31, 2004

<p>This paper studied foot pain and treatment options for children with juvenile arthritis, in particular the use of custom-made orthotics.</p>

http://www.rand.org/pubs/external_publications/EP20040324.html Dec 31, 2003 Dec 31, 2003

<p>The objectives of this study were to assess the effect of omega-3 fatty acids on 1) total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, triglycerides, and insulin resistance in type-II diabetes and the metabolic syndrome, 2) clinical score, sigmoidoscopic score, histologic score and requirement for immunosuppressive therapy in IBD, 3) pain, swollen and tender joint counts, acute phase reactants, patient global assessment, and requirement for anti-inflammatory or immunosuppressive therapy in rheumatoid arthritis, 4) renal function, progression to end-stage renal disease, hemodialysis graft patency, mortality, and requirement for immunosuppressive therapy in renal disease, 5) disease activity, damage, patient's perception of disease activity, and requirement for immunosuppressive therapy in SLE, and 6) bone mineral density and fracture rates.</p>

http://www.rand.org/pubs/external_publications/EP20040414.html Dec 31, 2003 Dec 31, 2003

<p>These findings have important implications for health services research and quality improvement interventions pertinent to case finding for RA through self-report data.</p>

http://www.rand.org/pubs/external_publications/EP20040818.html Dec 31, 2003 Dec 31, 2003

<p>Sufficient scientific evidence and expert consensus exist to support a comprehensive set of measures to assess the quality of heath care for osteoarthritis.</p>