Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Low-Cost Pm2.5 Sensors Can Help Identify Driving Factors Of Poor Air Quality And Benefit Communities, Tim Keyes, Rea Domingo, Samantha Dynowski, Royal Graves, Martha Klein, Melissa Leonard, John Pilgrim, Alison Sanchirico, Kate Trinkaus

WCBT Faculty Publications

Air quality is critical for public health. Residents rely chiefly on government agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the United States to establish standards for the measurement of harmful contaminants including ozone, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, volatile organic chemicals (VOCs), and fine particulate matter at or below 2.5 μm. According to the California Air Resources Board [1], “short-term PM2.5 exposure (up to 24-h duration) has been associated with premature mortality, increased hospital admissions for heart or lung causes, acute and chronic bronchitis, asthma attacks, emergency room visits, respiratory symptoms, and restricted activity days”. While public agency resources …

Predictors Of Covid-19 Vaccination Rate In Usa: A Machine Learning Approach, Syed M. I. Osman, Ahmed Sabit

WCBT Faculty Publications

In this study, we examine state-level features and policies that are most important in achieving a threshold level vaccination rate to curve the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. We employ CHAID, a decision tree algorithm, on three different model specifications to answer this question based on a dataset that includes all the states in the United States. Workplace travel emerges as the most important predictor; however, the governors’ political affiliation (PA) replaces it in a more conservative feature set that includes economic features and the growth rate of COVID-19 cases. We also employ several alternative algorithms as a robustness check. …

The Effectiveness And Effects Of Alcohol Regulation: Evidence From India, Dara Lee Luca, Emily Owens, Gunjan Sharma

WCBT Faculty Publications

We provide quasi-experimental evidence on the effects of alcohol regulation on alcohol consumption and associated public health outcomes using detailed individual level and aggregate data from India, where state-level laws regulating the minimum legal drinking age generate substantial variation in the availability of commercially produced alcohol across people of different ages. We find that despite significant law evasion, men who are legally allowed to drink are substantially more likely to consume alcohol. Further, men who are legally allowed to drink are significantly more likely to commit violence against their partners, suggesting a causal channel between alcohol consumption and domestic violence. …

Earnings Of Nurses In Non-Nursing Occupations: Evidence Of Significant Nursing Dissatisfaction?, Stephen D. Rubb

WCBT Faculty Publications

In examining the nursing shortage, many scholars note the high correlation between job dissatisfaction and "intentions" to leave. This study compares the earnings of individuals with nurse training in non-nursing occupations to those in nursing occupations. Nurses exiting the occupation while remaining employed appear to occur if alternative occupations pay a premium. This premium is higher for males and increases with education. Earnings of nurses in non-nursing occupations do not provide evidence of significant nursing dissatisfaction.

Designing And Implementing A Balanced Scorecard: Lessons Learned In Nonprofit Implementation, Andra Gumbus, Tom Wilson

WCBT Faculty Publications

The balanced scorecard has been referred to as the management innovation of the century, and extensive articles have been written using case studies of organizations that use this performance measurement system. This article addresses the key issues of design and implementation with a step-by-step guide to how to design a balanced scorecard and lessons to avoid implementation problems in government and nonprofit settings.

Designing A Strategy To Effectively Communicate The Balanced Scorecard, Andra Gumbus, Bridget Lyons, Tom Wilson

WCBT Faculty Publications

As increasing numbers of organizations adopt the balanced scorecard (BSC) to align strategy with operations and measure progress toward meeting strategic goals, the importance of successful communication of the scorecard throughout the organization has become apparent. Successful implementation and effective use of the BSC occurs when organizational stakeholders recognize its role, use, and benefits. In the March/April 2003 issue of Cost Management, we detailed how Bridgeport Hospital, a member of Yale New Haven Health System (YNHHS), adopted the BSC and used the scorecard to align capital investment decisions with strategy.1 In this article, we will profile how the hospital designed …

Aligning Capital Investment Decisions With The Balanced Scorecard, Andra Gumbus, Bridget Lyons, Dorothy E. Bellhouse

WCBT Faculty Publications

The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) has evolved from a measurement tool to a strategic management tool used by thousands of organizations. The Balanced Scorecard has proven to be a powerful tool in translating strategy into action in the for-profit sector and has recently been adopted by increasing numbers of not-for-profit organizations as well.

University of Bridgeport Hospital, part of the Yale-New Haven Health System, has been using the BSC for over three years to effectively translate strategy into dayto-day operations. The hospital has also linked the capital budgeting process to the BSC to ensure that resource allocation is aligned with strategic …

Journey To Destination 2005, Andra Gumbus, Bridget M. Lyons, Dorothy E. Bellhouse

WCBT Faculty Publications

Bridgeport Hospital and Healthcare Services (BHHS) in Bridgeport, Conn., a part of the Yale New Haven Health System (YNHHS), embraced the balanced scorecard because it had been experiencing a loss in revenue and income due to managed care penetration in the local marketplace. This hospital is not alone in facing financial pressures. The balanced scorecard provides the framework for measuring performance in a complex and changing medical environment. Still retaining financial measures, the following drivers of financial success are incorporated into Bridgeport's scorecard: quality clinical outcomes; expert clinical care providers; satisfied patients, doctors, and staff; and volume and market-share growth. …

The Drama Of Dysfunction: Value Conflict In Us Managed Care, Diana D. Mrotek

WCBT Faculty Publications

The transformation of the American health care environment from retrospective fee-for-service to managed care has been both rapid and chaotic. This period of change has been infected by value conflict, evoking unconscious processes in system participants as they have attempted to cope with personally threatening situations. This article attempts to elucidate this process by presenting an account of events and accompanying value conflict as it occurred over time. It also includes a systems analysis of the rapidly changing mosaic of unconscious processes that resulted from the divergent values held by the public and health care professionals, using various organization behavior …

An Empirical Study Of Economies Of Scope In Home Healthcare, Theresa I. Gonzales

WCBT Faculty Publications

Objective: To apply the economic theory of economies of scope to the home healthcare industry. Data Sources: Data on 488 observations obtained from the Cost Report (HCFA Form 1728-86) of all Connecticut state-licensed, Medicare-certified home health agencies. Study Design: The Cost Report was the primary source of data for this study. Information on total cost, scope, and other related factors was collected. Logarithmic and nonlinear regression analyses were used to identify factors related to scope and also to test for economies of scope. Data Collection Method: Data collected were both cross-sectional and time series (from 1988-1992). Data accuracy was verified …

Factors Associated With Emergency Room Choice Among Medicare Patients, Judith L. Mack, Karen M. File, Jeffrey E. Horwitz, Russ Alan Prince

WCBT Faculty Publications

Changing macroenvironmental factors have caused hospital administrators to reassess their positions across all service lines and market segments. This pilot study explores relationships among the service experience, satisfaction and future patronage decisions among 368 Medicare patients, an often overlooked segmaent, who were recent users of a hospital emergency room.