Studies Examine CHIP Crowd-Out, Quality Of Care Based On Insurance Status, Behind-The-Counter Drug Class

"CHIP: CMS Should Improve Efforts To Assess Whether SCHIP Is Substituting for Private Insurance," Government Accountability Office: For the study, GAO researchers examined CMS' and states' efforts to prevent crowd-out in CHIP. Researchers analyzed federal laws and guidance, examined state annual reports, and interviewed CMS officials and CHIP officials from nine states. GAO also offers recommendations on ways to improve information about whether crowd-out should be a concern (GAO release, 3/23).


"Insurance Status and Quality of Diabetes Care in Community Health Centers," American Journal of Public Health: In the study, a team of researchers -- led by James Zhang, who at the time worked at the University of Chicago Department of Medicine -- examined how insurance status affected the quality of diabetes care in federally funded community health centers. The study found that uninsured patients were the least likely to meet quality-of-care measures and that Medicaid beneficiaries had a quality of care similar to that of uninsured patients (Zhang et al., American Journal of Public Health, April 2009).


"Nonprescription Drugs: Considerations Regarding a Behind-the-Counter Drug Class," Government Accountability Office: The study is an update on a 1995 GAO study that examined the availability of nonprescription medications in Australia, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the U.S. The new study looked at whether 86 drugs available in the five countries are sold over-the-counter or behind-the-counter through document reviews and interviews with pharmaceutical experts. Researchers examined the arguments supporting and opposing a U.S. BTC drug class, changes in drug availability in five countries since 1995 and the effect of restricted nonprescription classes on availability, and issues important to the establishment of a BTC drug class (GAO release, 3/23).



Reprinted with kind permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

© 2009 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.



Buy Anti-Bacterial Face Mask Without Prescription