A structured yoga program for patients with chronic lower back pain may be a reasonable alternative to physical therapy, depending on patient preferences, availability, and cost.
Over 80 percent of a regional system's occupational clinics adhered to recommended care processes for Carpal tunnel syndrome, and differences in care quality were associated more with clinical factors than patient socioeconomics and demographics.
Despite growing availability of cost and quality information, hip and knee replacement patients almost always focus on the choice of a surgeon, primarily based on reputation, as opposed to a hospital.
In the NHS, patients with musculoskeletal conditions currently need to see a GP before visiting a physiotherapist. As part of a larger project for Arthritis Research UK, RAND Europe addresses the question as to whether patient direct access to physiotherapy would be cost-effective.
A new, online method to engage more patients and caregivers in developing clinical guidelines will be created and then tested, using Duchenne muscular dystrophy as an example.
Hospitals participating in one or more voluntary Medicare value-based reform programs were less likely to readmit patients within 30 days of discharge than non-participating hospitals.
States participating in Project JOINTS, a six-month quality improvement campaign to reduce infection risk after joint replacement surgery, adhered to three new evidence-based practices significantly more than non-participants.
The use of spinal manipulative therapy to treat acute lower back pain was associated with modest improvement in pain and function in this systematic meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
A lack of standards for reporting and synthesizing adverse events associated with common treatments can lead to conflicting conclusions about the balance of their benefits and harms.
Chronic pain patients increasingly seek treatment through mindfulness meditation. This study aims to synthesize evidence on efficacy and safety of mindfulness meditation interventions for the treatment of chronic pain in adults.
RAND researchers conducted a systematic review that synthesized evidence from trials of mindfulness meditation interventions to provide estimates of their efficacy and safety in alleviating chronic pain.
The first national study to examine spending on a wide array of low-value health services among adults with commercial health insurance finds that while use of such services is modest, there is considerable potential for cost savings.
Americans spend billions of dollars out of pocket seeking relief from chronic conditions in alternative schools of health, such as acupuncture or chiropractic. What would it take to more fully integrate such practices into the mainstream?
This pragmatic comparative effectiveness trial will enroll 750 active duty service members with low back pain at three military treatment facilities within the United States
The policy challenges associated with coverage, licensure, scope of practice, institutional privileges, and research may prevent complementary and alternative medicine professionals from practicing to the full extent of their capabilities.
This study aims to develop system-level performance measures for evaluating the care of patients with inflammatory arthritis (IA), including rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and juvenile idiopathic arthritis.
Safety problems with artificial knees and hips, including product recalls, highlight the need for more patient-centered research. RAND has partnered with CreakyJoints in a project intended to train a group of patients to get involved in research on this topic.
The aim of this study was to develop key performance indicators (KPIs) to evaluate centralized intake systems for patients with osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
