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The Effects Of Peers For Young Adults On Anxiety And Quality Of Life For Young Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Alysha Cecile Dagg May 2023

The Effects Of Peers For Young Adults On Anxiety And Quality Of Life For Young Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Alysha Cecile Dagg

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Social skills deficits as well as comorbid anxiety are two characteristics commonly experienced by people with Autism Spectrum Disorder - Level 1 (ASD-1; American Psychiatric Association, 2013). These characteristics are also both contributors to a lower quality of life for young adults (Smith et al., 2019). The current study aimed to identify how the quality of life and anxiety are affected by social skills intervention, specifically the PEERS® for Young Adults program (Laugeson, 2017). PEERS® for Young Adults is an evidence-based social skills intervention intended to support individuals with ASD-1 (Laugeson, 2017). Prior research has demonstrated its success in both …


Healthcare Workers On A Rotating Schedule Experiencing Burnout, Sunni Holland, Isabelle Boria, Samantha Hamblen Oct 2022

Healthcare Workers On A Rotating Schedule Experiencing Burnout, Sunni Holland, Isabelle Boria, Samantha Hamblen

Non-Thesis Student Work

In addressing the burnout symptoms seen in a healthcare workers and how their shift time intensifies those symptoms, we ask the following evidence-based PICOT question: In (P) healthcare workers within the first five years of employment, is there evidence that suggests (I) rotating between night and day shifts compared to (C) a fixed schedule impacts the (O) presence of burnout symptoms? Healthcare professionals work shifts to cover the full 24 hours of care required for patients. The majority of workers will work 12 hour shifts in either the day or night hours. In workers that rotate between the shifts it …


Improving Retention Rates Of New Graduate Nurses, Rebekah B. Littlefield, Courtney Kelsey, Sophia Howrey Oct 2022

Improving Retention Rates Of New Graduate Nurses, Rebekah B. Littlefield, Courtney Kelsey, Sophia Howrey

Non-Thesis Student Work

The purpose of this project is to explore if pairing (P) new grad nurses (I) with a similar personality nurse preceptor (C) as compared to a randomly assigned nurse preceptor (O) improves retention rates (T) over a 24-month period? Nursing has been recognized as a highly stressful profession that can lead to early career burnout. New nurses have reported an intention to leave the profession due to high-stress levels from unrealistic career expectations. Studies have shown that having a supported, planned, and consistent residency program for new nurses will increase retention of the nurses at the beginning of their careers. …


Health Insurance Plan Design And Chronic Disease Management, Daniel E. Feldman Aug 2020

Health Insurance Plan Design And Chronic Disease Management, Daniel E. Feldman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Each year, Americans spend more money on health care than any other industrialized nation, despite comparable mortality rates for people with risk factors for heart disease. The reasons for this lack of health care value in the US are numerous and complex – including market distortions like supplier-inflated pricing and regulatory structures that enable consumers to utilize ubiquitous, high-cost medical technologies that yield uncertain benefits. Health insurance, once thought to be an insignificant contributor to rising health spending, has changed considerably in the past few decades in ways that make it more accessible and more generous in coverage. Health insurance …


The Dilemma Of Nursing Home Closures: A Case Study Of Rural Maine Nursing Homes, Mary Helen Mcsweeney-Feld, Nadine Braunstein Jan 2020

The Dilemma Of Nursing Home Closures: A Case Study Of Rural Maine Nursing Homes, Mary Helen Mcsweeney-Feld, Nadine Braunstein

Maine Policy Review

Nursing home closures in the United States have accelerated in the past five years. Reasons for these closures include inadequate Medicaid reimbursement, increased emphasis on short-term rehabilitative stays for Medicare residents, geographic location of nursing homes, presence of hospital swing bed programs, and changes in Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services regulatory requirements for nursing homes. Increased minimum wage rates and limited on-the-job worker training have also led to staffing shortages, forcing bed reductions in nursing homes. This paper examines the premise that low Medicaid reimbursement is the primary reason for the closures of Maine nursing homes. The article evaluates …


Eastman (Martha) Papers, 1990-2000, Special Collections, Raymond H. Fogler Library, University Of Maine Jan 2019

Eastman (Martha) Papers, 1990-2000, Special Collections, Raymond H. Fogler Library, University Of Maine

Finding Aids

Martha (Muffy) Eastman, was Nursing Coordinator at the University of Maine in the 1990s and early 2000s. Nurse Eastman is also the former president of the Maine College Health Association and a board member of the New England College Health Association. The records mainly contain textual information created and curated by Eastman during her time as a nurse at the University of Maine's Cutler Health Center.


Primary Care Transition Planning For Young Adults With Special Needs In Maine: A Preliminary Survey Of Pediatric Providers, Clelia Sigaud Apr 2017

Primary Care Transition Planning For Young Adults With Special Needs In Maine: A Preliminary Survey Of Pediatric Providers, Clelia Sigaud

Poster Presentations

Research suggests that less than half of young adults with special health care needs are prepared for the transition to an adult primary care provider at the age-appropriate time (McManus et al., 2013). Prior research also indicates that having a “usual source of care” and routinized medical services creates a higher likelihood of adult patients receiving preventative and screening health services (Blewett et al., 2008).


How Many Regional Medical Centers Can Maine Sustain? How Patient Hospital Utilization Can Help Define Structure, Lars Rydell Jan 2004

How Many Regional Medical Centers Can Maine Sustain? How Patient Hospital Utilization Can Help Define Structure, Lars Rydell

Maine Policy Review

Making thoughtful decisions about where various levels of hospital care are to be provided is an important part of controlling overall healthcare costs. Efficient utilization of healthcare resources requires that high-cost and less frequently used high-tech equipment and specialized personnel should be limited to a few tertiary regional medical centers. Lars Rydell uses patient discharge data from the Maine Health Data Organization to suggest that Maine currently has only two hospitals that function as tertiary regional medical centers—Maine Medical Center in Portland and Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. Policymakers need to think about whether Maine’s population base warrants more …


Financial Performance Of Hospitals In Maine, 1993-2003, Nancy Kane Jan 2004

Financial Performance Of Hospitals In Maine, 1993-2003, Nancy Kane

Maine Policy Review

Hospitals are the largest single component of healthcare expenditures. Nancy Kane’s study of hospital financial performance fulfills a mandate of Maine’s Dirigo Health Reform Act. By most financial measures, Maine’s hospital industry outperformed hospitals nationwide and in the Northeast during 1993-2003. Still, there is major variability among the state’s hospitals in financial performance. Kane analyzes financial and non-financial characteristics of high-, medium-, and low-performing hospitals, and suggests that not maintaining acute inpatient volume is the biggest problem for low-profitability hospitals. Although no hospital is in imminent danger of failing, Kane suggests a new “blueprint” is needed for Maine’s healthcare system, …


Maine Community Hospitals: Providing High-Quality, Affordable Care, Mary C. Mayhew Jan 2004

Maine Community Hospitals: Providing High-Quality, Affordable Care, Mary C. Mayhew

Maine Policy Review

Mary Mayhew in this commentary provides the perspective of the Maine Hospital Association in response to a study analyzing hospital costs in Maine from 1993-2003.


A Physician’S Perspective, D. Joshua Cutler Jan 2004

A Physician’S Perspective, D. Joshua Cutler

Maine Policy Review

D. Joshua Cutler gives his insights about hospital costs as a physician member of the Commission to Study Maine’s Hospitals.


Mental Health Parity And Beyond: Aligning The Public And Private Systems Of Care For People With Mental Illness, Kitty Purington Jan 2004

Mental Health Parity And Beyond: Aligning The Public And Private Systems Of Care For People With Mental Illness, Kitty Purington

Maine Policy Review

Maine is one of the first states to mandate comprehensive mental health coverage for its citizens under private insurance plans. Mental health advocates nationwide long have lobbied for such parity. In this article, Kitty Purington first provides an overview of the federal and state legislation leading up to the present law. She then compares current parity provisions under private plans with those of MaineCare (Maine’s Medicaid program, reporting that coverage under MaineCare for individuals with serious mental illness still exceeds that which is mandated under private plans. She discusses


Dirigo Health: Its Opportunities And Obstacles, Godfrey Wood Jan 2003

Dirigo Health: Its Opportunities And Obstacles, Godfrey Wood

Maine Policy Review

No abstract provided.


Dirigo Health: A Small Business Perspective, Deborah Cook Jan 2003

Dirigo Health: A Small Business Perspective, Deborah Cook

Maine Policy Review

In her commentary Deborah Cook, executive director of the Maine Small Business Alliance, discusses Dirigo Health from the viewpoint of small businesses, whose employees and families, along with the self-employed, represent the largest proportion of uninsured in Maine’s population. She notes that rising costs of health care and insurance are a major threat to the viability of small businesses.


The Challenge Of Preserving And Expanding Affordable Health Care In Maine, Wendy Wolf Jan 2003

The Challenge Of Preserving And Expanding Affordable Health Care In Maine, Wendy Wolf

Maine Policy Review

Maine’s health care system is in crisis. The state’s health care expenditures represent the third highest percentage of Gross Domestic Product in the nation; state health care spending is projected to top $11 billion per year, or $8,291 per person per year, over the next seven years; businesses in Maine pay 12-23% more for coverage than the national and New England state averages; and, the state’s uninsured and vulnerable populations continue to grow. In this article, Wendy Wolf charts the rising cost of health care in Maine and the implications of these costs for all Mainers. In turn, she looks …


Dirigo Health, Sharon Anglin Treat, Michael Brennan, Ann Woloson Jan 2003

Dirigo Health, Sharon Anglin Treat, Michael Brennan, Ann Woloson

Maine Policy Review

Maine’s pioneering Dirigo Health program aims at reducing health care costs, improving quality, and increasing access by providing health insurance coverage to all of Maine’s currently uninsured population. State senators Sharon Treat and Michael Brennan and co-author Ann Woloson provide an overview of the components, structure and financing of the program. They discuss some of the challenges and opportunities posed in Dirigo Health’s implementation, and give an insider’s perspective on the process by which the program was enacted.


An Interview With Commissioner Peet: Mental Health System Reform, Melodie Peet Jan 1996

An Interview With Commissioner Peet: Mental Health System Reform, Melodie Peet

Maine Policy Review

Commissioner of the Maine Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, Melodie Peet, stands at the center of a revolution in how mental health services are organized, administered, and delivered. Since February, 1995 Peet has been working with providers, families, and consumers throughout Maine to reinvent the state’s mental healthcare system from one that is dominated by state government and large institutions to one largely comprised of community-based systems of care. These changes match national trends yet have stirred great controversy in Maine. In an interview with Maine Policy Review, Commissioner Peet discussed the changing role and shape of …


Reaction To The Mhcrc Draft Report, David F. Wihry Jan 1996

Reaction To The Mhcrc Draft Report, David F. Wihry

Maine Policy Review

The final report of the Maine Health Care Reform Commission (MHCRC) was submitted to Governor Angus King in November, 1995. Given the complexity of what we call the healthcare system as well as the moving targets of federal and state incentives for reform, the report accomplished a great deal in a short period of time. Commission members were "mandated to offer a single payer universal coverage bill, a multiple payer universal coverage bill, and a bill to achieve reform through incremental changes to the existing system, emphasizing cost containment, managed care, and improved access. The commission was also mandated to …


Playing With A Stacked Deck: Why Was A Single Payer Plan Dealt Such Bad Cards?, Peter Millard, Clifford Rosen, Susan Thomas Jan 1996

Playing With A Stacked Deck: Why Was A Single Payer Plan Dealt Such Bad Cards?, Peter Millard, Clifford Rosen, Susan Thomas

Maine Policy Review

The final report of the Maine Health Care Reform Commission (MHCRC) was submitted to Governor Amgus King in November, 1995. Given the complexity of what we call the healthcare system as well as the moving targets of federal and state incentives for reform, the report accomplished a great deal in a short period of time. Commission members were "mandated to offer a single payer universal coverage bill, a multiple payer universal coverage bill, and a bill to achieve reform through incremental changes to the existing system, emphasizing cost containment, managed care, and improved access. The commission was also mandated to …


A Political Process That Worked: Comprehensive Healthcare Reform In Progress, Richard H. Campbell Jan 1996

A Political Process That Worked: Comprehensive Healthcare Reform In Progress, Richard H. Campbell

Maine Policy Review

The final report of the Maine Health Care Reform Commission (MHCRC) was submitted to Governor Angus King in November, 1995. Given the complexity of what we call the healthcare system as well as the moving targets of federal and state incentives for reform, the report accomplished a great deal in a short period of time. Commission members were "mandated to offer a single payer universal coverage bill, a multiple payer universal coverage bill, and a bill to achieve reform through incremental changes to the existing system, emphasizing cost containment, managed care, and improved access. The commission was also mandated to …


An Interview With Norm Ledwin: Continuous Change In Healthcare Management, Norm Ledwin Jan 1996

An Interview With Norm Ledwin: Continuous Change In Healthcare Management, Norm Ledwin

Maine Policy Review

Managed care continues to enter Maine—a trend that alarms some and is welcomed by others. Norman Ledwin, president and chief executive officer of Eastern Maine Healthcare and Eastern Maine Medical Center (EMH/EMMC), believes managed care has the potential to greatly improve the state’s ability to provide high quality, economical healthcare for its citizens. In a December, 1995 interview with Maine Policy Review Ledwin discussed managed care as well as related healthcare changes underway in Maine.


Healthcare Reform Proves Difficult At State Level, Elizabeth O. Shorr Jan 1996

Healthcare Reform Proves Difficult At State Level, Elizabeth O. Shorr

Maine Policy Review

The final report of the Maine Health Care Reform Commission (MHCRC) was submitted to Governor Angus King in November, 1995. Given the complexity of what we call the healthcare system as well as the moving targets of federal and state incentives for reform, the report accomplished a great deal in a short period of time. Commission members were "mandated to offer a single payer universal coverage bill, a multiple payer universal coverage bill, and a bill to achieve reform through incremental changes to the existing system, emphasizing cost containment, managed care, and improved access. The commission was also mandated to …


Response To Draft Recommendations For Health System Reform, Dale J. Gordon, Kimberly Boothby-Ballentyne Jan 1996

Response To Draft Recommendations For Health System Reform, Dale J. Gordon, Kimberly Boothby-Ballentyne

Maine Policy Review

The final report of the Maine Health Care Reform Commission (MHCRC) was submitted to Governor Angus King in November, 1995. Given the complexity of what we call the healthcare system as well as the moving targets of federal and state incentives for reform, the report accomplished a great deal in a short period of time. Commission members were "mandated to offer a single payer universal coverage bill, a multiple payer universal coverage bill, and a bill to achieve reform through incremental changes to the existing system, emphasizing cost containment, managed care, and improved access. The commission was also mandated to …


Start Making Sense: A Legislator Looks At Professional Licensure Reform, Dale Mccormick Jan 1996

Start Making Sense: A Legislator Looks At Professional Licensure Reform, Dale Mccormick

Maine Policy Review

This past summer, the Maine Health Professions Regulation Project and its task force released a report to Governor King and the Maine legislature. The report, "Toward a More Rational State Licensure System for Maine’s Health Professions," represents the best thinking and accomplishments of a nearly two-year project directed by Judy Kany of Medical Care Development, Inc. Dale McCormick’s commentary addresses five aspects of this project: the approach of the task force, why licensure reform is necessary, the relationship between this project and the Maine Health Care Reform Commission, the report issued by the task force, and a brief review of …


An Interview With David Peterson And David Jones: Envisioning The Future Of Rural Healthcare, David Peterson, David Jones Jan 1996

An Interview With David Peterson And David Jones: Envisioning The Future Of Rural Healthcare, David Peterson, David Jones

Maine Policy Review

Managed care and other healthcare changes may impact Maine differently than more urban states. Managed care companies, striving to create economies of scale in healthcare financing, often prefer to fold rural regions into larger plans that emanate from more populous hubs. In much of Maine, many question whether this will be best for the consumers and providers of rural healthcare. Maine Policy Review interviewed David Peterson, president and chief executive officer of The Aroostook Medical Center (TAMC), and family practitioner David Jones who practices at Aroostook Family Practice and is an active member of TAMC's medical staff, to obtain their …


The Political Economy Of Hospital Rate Regulation In Maine, David F. Wihry, Julie T. Fralich, Ellen Jane Schneiter Jan 1993

The Political Economy Of Hospital Rate Regulation In Maine, David F. Wihry, Julie T. Fralich, Ellen Jane Schneiter

Maine Policy Review

Ten years ago, Maine established a health care finance board to regulate hospital rates. But the concerns that prompted the regulatory system, access and cost, have not abated. In this article, former Maine Health Care Finance Commission chair David Wihry, and former Commission staffers Julie Fralich and Ellen Jane Schneiter examine the economic and political influences that have affected the state’s efforts to regulate hospital costs.


B789: A Breakeven Analysis Of Two Rural Health Maintenance Organization Models, Steven P. Skinner, Brenda S. Bridges, Stephen D. Reiling, Dennis A. Watkins Nov 1982

B789: A Breakeven Analysis Of Two Rural Health Maintenance Organization Models, Steven P. Skinner, Brenda S. Bridges, Stephen D. Reiling, Dennis A. Watkins

Bulletins

This report uses breakeven analysis to assess the financial feasibility of two health maintenance organization (HMO) models which have received considerable support from health-care professionals as potentially viable organizations in rural areas. The two models analyzed, the individual practice association and satellite clinic, represent quite different organizational and financial structures. Enrollment levels required for each HMO model to attain financial viability for specified premium rates are calculated. In addition, the effects of varying key health-care utilization rates on an HMO's financial position are assessed. This information should be of interest to extension agents and others who are working with groups …