Although more patterns of care research has taken place in breast cancer than in any other oncologic condition, we found the available data had many limitations. These limitations highlight the challenges of quality-of-care research. To track changes in the quality of cancer care that may result from our rapidly transforming health care system, we need reliable data on the quality of current practice.

We examined factors associated with health care access and quality, among children in Georgia. Data from the 2007 National Survey of Children's Health were merged with the 2008 Area Resource File. The medically underserved area variable was appended to the merged file, restricting to Georgia children ages 4-17 years (N = 1,397). Study outcomes were past-year access to care, defined as utilization of preventive medical care and no occasion of delay or denial of needed care; and quality of care received, defined as compassionate, culturally-effective, and family-centered care which was categorized as higher, moderate, or lower. Analysis included binary and multinomial logit modeling. In our study population, 80.8 % were reported to have access to care. The quality of care distribution was: higher (39.4 %), moderate (30.6 %), and lower (30.0 %). Younger age (4-9 years) was positively associated with having access to care. Compared to children who had continuous and adequate private insurance, children who were never/intermittently insured or who had continuous and inadequate private insurance were less likely to have access. Compared to children who had continuous and adequate private insurance, there were lower odds of perceiving received care as higher/moderate versus lower quality among children who were never/intermittently insured or who had continuous and inadequate/adequate public insurance. Being in excellent/very good health and living in safe/supportive neighborhoods were positively associated with quality; non-white race/ethnicity and federal poverty level were negatively associated with quality. Assuring continuous, adequate insurance may positively impact health care access and quality.

Patients belonging to some racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups are at risk of receiving suboptimal pain management. This study identifies health care provider attitudes, knowledge, and practices regarding the treatment of chronic pain in vulnerable patient populations and assesses whether a certified continuing medical education (CME) intervention can improve knowledge in this area. Survey responses revealed several knowledge gaps, including a lack of knowledge that the undertreatment of pain is more common in minority patients than others. Respondents identified language barriers, miscommunication, fear of medication diversion, and financial barriers as major obstacles to optimal pain management for this patient population. Participants who completed a CME-certified activity on pain management disparities demonstrated increased confidence in caring for disadvantaged patients, but only 1 of 3 knowledge items improved. Understanding clinician factors that underlie suboptimal pain management is necessary to develop effective strategies to overcome disparities and improve quality of care for patients with chronic pain.

A multi-component intervention was used to treat chronic rumination exhibited by an adult female diagnosed with a developmental disability. The intervention consisted of: (a) interruption of precursor behavior, (b) the alternation of 10-min periods of continued instruction that involved walking and working with (c) 10-min periods in which instructions were not delivered but a variable time 5-s schedule of noncontingent attention was programmed, and (d) a 1-min differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) schedule. During the intervention, rumination decreased by 82% relative to baseline. Next, components of the multi-component intervention were systematically removed to evaluate their individual contribution. Results suggested that each individual component contributed to the overall treatment effects.

We examined factors associated with children's access to quality health care, a major concern in Georgia, identified through the 2010 Title V Needs Assessment. Data from the 2007 National Survey of Children's Health were merged with the 2008 Area Resource File and Health Resources and Services Administration medically underserved area variable, and restricted to Georgia children ages 4-17 years (N = 1,397). The study outcome, access to quality health care was derived from access to care (timely utilization of preventive medical care in the previous 12 months) and quality of care (compassionate/culturally effective/family-centered care). Andersen's behavioral model of health services utilization guided independent variable selection. Analyses included Chi-square tests and multinomial logit regressions. In our study population, 32.8 % reported access to higher quality care, 24.8 % reported access to moderate quality care, 22.8 % reported access to lower quality care, and 19.6 % reported having no access. Factors positively associated with having access to higher/moderate versus lower quality care include having a usual source of care (USC) (adjusted odds ratio, AOR:3.27; 95 % confidence interval, 95 % CI 1.15-9.26), and special health care needs (AOR:2.68; 95 % CI 1.42-5.05). Lower odds of access to higher/moderate versus lower quality care were observed for non-Hispanic Black (AOR:0.31; 95 % CI 0.18-0.53) and Hispanic (AOR:0.20; 95 % CI 0.08-0.50) children compared with non-Hispanic White children and for children with all other forms of insurance coverage compared with children with continuous-adequate-private insurance. Ensuring that children have continuous, adequate insurance coverage and a USC may positively affect their access to quality health care in Georgia.