Journal of health services research & policy
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J Health Serv Res Policy · Jul 2008
Randomized Controlled TrialInfluence of body mass index on prescribing costs and potential cost savings of a weight management programme in primary care.
Prescribed medications represent a high and increasing proportion of UK health care funds. Our aim was to quantify the influence of body mass index (BMI) on prescribing costs, and then the potential savings attached to implementing a weight management intervention. ⋯ Drug prescriptions rise from a minimum at BMI of 20 kg/m(2) and steeply above BMI 30 kg/m(2). An effective weight management programme in primary care could potentially reduce prescription costs and lead to substantial cost avoidance, such that at least 8% of the programme delivery cost would be recouped from prescribing savings alone in the first year.
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J Health Serv Res Policy · Jul 2005
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical TrialThe effectiveness, acceptability and costs of a hospital-at-home service compared with acute hospital care: a randomized controlled trial.
To compare the safety, effectiveness, acceptability and costs of a hospital-at-home programme with usual acute hospital inpatient care. ⋯ This hospital-at-home programme was found to be more acceptable and as effective and safe as inpatient care. While caring for patients at home was significantly more costly than standard inpatient care, this was largely due to the hospital-at-home programme not operating at full capacity.
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J Health Serv Res Policy · Oct 2002
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialEvaluation of a complex intervention for changing professional behaviour: the Evidence Based Out Reach (EBOR) Trial.
To identify the effect of a complex intervention (educational outreach visits by pharmacists) designed to change general practitioners' (GPs') prescribing on each step of a hypothesised pathway of change leading to the final primary trial outcome of change in prescribing. ⋯ Although our study is limited by a post hoc rather than a pre hoc design, it provides a pragmatic approach to understanding the factors influencing the pathway of change in prescribing behaviour in response to academic outreach visits.