IRDES Newsletter

Older Adults' Satisfaction with Medical Care and care Coordination: A Qualitative Approach

Guillaume S. (IRDES) and Or Z. (IRDES)

Issues in Health Economics (214), January 2016

This exploratory qualitative study aims to identify the dimensions of satisfaction with medical care and care coordination for older adults over age 70. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in spring 2015 with a sample of 18 people aged 72 to 90 years, living at home or in institution, as well as 4 informal carers looking after people suffering from cognitive problems. All respondents (including informal carers), regardless of their type of accommodation, agree that the most important dimension in medical care is the quality of their relationship with health professionals. There seems to be a significant room for improvement in that relational quality and people's satisfaction which can be achieved often by means of simple gestures. Respondents evoke the importance of being well informed about their care process, having the opportunity to express themselves; and they stress the importance of communication and coordination between different healthcare professionals involved in their care.

Measuring Polypharmacy in the Elderly: Impact of the Method on Prevalence and Therapeutic Classes

Le Cossec C. (IRDES) and Sermet C. (IRDES), in collaboration with Perronnin M. (IRDES)

Issues in Health Economics (213), October 2015

Increased life expectancy is accompanied by an increase in years of living with one, or even several, chronic diseases causing an accumulation of drug therapies, thus increasing the iatrogenic risks. In recent years, public policies to reduce polypharmacy in the elderly have been established. Their assessment requires easy-to-produce indicators from large population databases. Two indicators are considered here: the "cumulative" polypharmacy indicator, which takes into account all drugs administered over a given period, and the "continuous" polypharmacy indicator, which focuses on drugs taken regularly over a prolonged period of time. The innovative aspect of this work is the consideration of combination drugs and quarterly packs in the calculations. The polypharmacy prevalence varies from 27% to 40% depending on the indicator, with or without consideration of the combination drugs and large packs.

Variation in Rates of Breast Cancer Surgery: A National Analysis Based on French Hospital Episode Statistics

Rococo E., Mazouni C., Or Z., Mobillion V., Koon Sun Pat M., Bonastre J., European Journal of Surgical Oncology (EJSO), vol 42, n° 1, 2016/01, 51-58.

Supplemental Health Insurance and Healthcare Consumption - A Dynamic Approach to Moral Hazard

Franc C., Perronnin M., Pierre A., Health Economics, on line 15/10/2015.

... Zeynep Or and Stéphanie Guillaume, on the occasion of the publication of Issues in Health Economics (214), January 2016: "Older Adults' Satisfaction with Medical Care Coordination: A Qualitative Approach"

• What were the motivations behind your study?
• What are the key dimensions of satisfaction emerging from this qualitative research?
• What would be the use of these results?

Read the interview

... Chloé Le Cossec, on the occasion of the publication of Issues in Health Economics (213), October 2015: "Measuring Polypharmacy in the Elderly: Impact of the Method on Prevalence and Therapeutic Classes"

• Why measuring polypharmacy and on what method is based your study?
• What are the main results of your study?
• What lessons can be learned from your study in terms of public policy and what will be the next developments on this issue?

Read the interview

• IRDES is hosting for four months, until July 2016, Ryozo Matsuda, professor of health policy at Ritsumeikan University in Japan, who will work on a comparative analysis of regional governance in France, England and Germany.
• The Piperska Group
  Catherine Sermet is a member of The Piperska Group which is a multidisciplinary network of professionals who share the common vision of enhancing the health of the public and the individual patient in a sustainable way through exchanging ideas and cooperation around the rational use of pharmacological and related therapies.
  Next meeting: Leiden, The Netherlands, 31 May and 1 June 2016.