Spotlights

A nurse checks a patient's blood pressure as part of the Mi Salud, Mi Vida program.

iTEQC is home to a group of scientists dedicated to the idea that patients deserve to be active players in decisions made about their care.

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THE COSTS OF HOME HEALTH & PATIENT OUTCOMES GRANT

• Nursing Home Consumer Preferences, United States, 2017 and 2019 (ICPSR 37969)

• Take a look at our latest report on the Home Health Industry and its quality improvement strategies.
>> HHVBP survey report

• We constructed a user friendly website HomeHealthCostofQuality.org that translates the findings of this study into a sophisticated “calculator” that home health agencies can use to improve quality.

• We wrote a blog about the findings of the study of the costs of Super QMs and the implications for Value Based Home Health Policy.
>> Mukamel, Dana B. “Quality of Home Health Care, Financial Incentives and Value Based Purchasing” SAGE Perspectives Blog 2021 February 12

Technology harnessed with healthcare services can put patients in the driver's seat.

iTEQC Program

iTEQC — Translational Technologies Enhancing High Quality Care — is a research program within the Department of Medicine that is focused on collaborative research efforts designed to adapt existing and emerging information technologies for use by patients and their families, providers and policymakers.

These technologies would be used in new ways to promote better patient outcomes and lower costs.

The iTEQC program was founded to respond to the ongoing challenge of personalizing healthcare. The idea of patient-centered care and the promise of better patient outcomes by involving patients in care decisions is not new. Yet, the how and the when to accomplish this effectively is still an open question. Shared decision-making has made many strides forward.

Our mission at iTEQC is to move the field in new directions by emphasizing the personal aspects of decision-making: We harness new technologies, using big data methods to predict individual outcome probabilities and to incorporate the preferences of the individual decision-maker into the decision process.

Take a look at our latest report on the Home Health Industry and its quality improvement strategies. Read the HHVBP survey report here.

Try our latest research app, WDPG, or Where Do Patients Go? ›

Cost, wait time influence choice of health care setting for minor illnesses

Researchers develop a simulation tool to predict use of various health care settings

Patients’ out-of-pocket costs and wait time strongly influence their choice of care setting, according to a study by researchers affiliated with the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and UC Irvine. The study, based on a survey of over 5,000 UC Irvine employees, shows that patients seek care for minor illnesses and injuries at a variety of care settings — urgent care centers, retail clinics, and virtual visits — rather than just emergency rooms or primary care physician offices.

Based on the survey results, the researchers developed a simulation model that allows users to predict which care setting a patient will choose to be treated for a variety of medical issues — such as a cold, eye infection, skin rashes, sprains, or cuts.

According to the lead author of the study, Center Faculty Associate Dana Mukamel, the simulation model can be used by insurers, providers, and policymakers to help identify potential locations for adding facilities based on predicted patient use and more. The study notes the growing presence of these alternate care settings in a changing health care market that is moving towards increasing cost efficiency while meeting patient needs.

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