Observed Patient Characteristics Research Articles

Are heart attacks deadlier on weekends? Evidence of weekend effect in Brazil.

This article aims to examine the effects of weekend admission on in-hospital mortality for patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in Brazil. Information from the Hospital Information System of the Unified Health System (SIH/SUS) of urgently admitted patients diagnosed with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) between 2008 and 2018 was used, made available through the Hospital Admission Authorization (AIH). Multivariable logistic regression models, controlling for observable patient characteristics, hospital characteristics and year and hospital-fixed effects, were used. The results were consistent with the existence of the weekend effect. For the model adjusted with the inclusion of all controls, the chance of death observed for individuals hospitalized on the weekend is 14% higher. Our results indicated that there is probably an important variation in the quality of hospital care depending on the day the patient is hospitalized. Weekend admissions were associated with in-hospital AMI mortality in Brazil. Future research should analyze the possible channels behind the weekend effect to support public policies that can effectively make healthcare equitable.

National Variability in Pacemaker Implantation Rate Following TAVR: Insights From the STS/ACC TVT Registry

BackgroundAlthough permanent pacemaker (PPM) implantation is a common complication of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), hospital variation and change in PPM implantation rates are ill defined. ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to determine hospital-level variation and temporal trends in the rate of PPM implantation following TAVR. MethodsUsing the American College of Cardiology/Society of Thoracic Surgeons TVT (Transcatheter Valve Therapy) Registry, temporal changes in variation of in-hospital and 30-day PPM implantation were determined among 184,452 TAVR procedures across 653 sites performed from 2016 to 2020. The variation in PPM implantation adjusted for valve type by annualized TAVR volume was determined, and characteristics of sites below, within, and above the 95% boundary were identified. A series of stepwise multivariable hierarchical models were then fit, and the median OR was used to measure variation in pacemaker rates among sites. ResultsFrom 2016 to 2020, the overall rate of PPM implantation was 11.3%, with wide variation across sites (range: 0%-36.4%); rates trended lower over time. Adjusted for annualized volume, there were 34 sites with PPM implantation rates above the 95th percentile CI and 28 with rates below, with wide variation among the remaining sites. After adjusting for patient-level covariates, there was variation among sites in the probability of PPM implantation (median OR: 1.39; 95% CI: 1.35-1.43, P < 0.001); although some of the variation was explained by the addition of valve type, residual variation in PPM implantation rates persisted in additional models incorporating site-level covariates (annualized volume, region, teaching status, hospital beds, etc). ConclusionsAlthough PPM implantation rates have decreased over time, substantial site-level variation remains even after accounting for observed patient characteristics and site-level factors. As there are numerous outlier sites both above and below the 95% confidence limit, dissemination of best practices from high-performing sites to low-performing sites and guideline-based education may be important quality improvement initiatives to reduce rates of this common complication.

Older high-cost patients in Norwegian somatic hospitals: a register-based study of patient characteristics

ObjectiveTwo-thirds of the economic resources in Norwegian hospitals are used on 10% of the patients. Most of these high-cost patients are older adults, which experience more unplanned hospital admissions, longer...

Mortality Among US Veterans Admitted to Community vs Veterans Health Administration Hospitals for COVID-19

Veterans Health Administration (VHA) enrollees receive care for COVID-19 in both VHA and non-VHA (ie, community) hospitals, but little is known about the frequency or outcomes of care for veterans with COVID-19 in VHA vs community hospitals. To compare outcomes among veterans admitted for COVID-19 in VHA vs community hospitals. This retrospective cohort study used VHA and Medicare data from March 1, 2020, to December 31, 2021, on hospitalizations for COVID-19 in 121 VHA and 4369 community hospitals in the US among a national cohort of veterans (aged ≥65 years) enrolled in both the VHA and Medicare with VHA care in the year prior to hospitalization for COVID-19 based on the primary diagnosis code. Admission to VHA vs community hospitals. The main outcomes were 30-day mortality and 30-day readmission. Inverse probability of treatment weighting was used to balance observable patient characteristics (eg, demographic characteristics, comorbidity, mechanical ventilation on admission, area-level social vulnerability, distance to VHA vs community hospitals, and date of admission) between VHA and community hospitals. The cohort included 64 856 veterans (mean [SD] age, 77.6 [8.0] years; 63 562 men [98.0%]) dually enrolled in the VHA and Medicare who were hospitalized for COVID-19. Most (47 821 [73.7%]) were admitted to community hospitals (36 362 [56.1%] admitted to community hospitals via Medicare, 11 459 [17.7%] admitted to community hospitals reimbursed via VHA's Care in the Community program, and 17 035 [26.3%] admitted to VHA hospitals). Admission to community hospitals was associated with higher unadjusted and risk-adjusted 30-day mortality compared with admission to VHA hospitals (crude mortality, 12 951 of 47 821 [27.1%] vs 3021 of 17 035 [17.7%]; P < .001; risk-adjusted odds ratio, 1.37 [95% CI, 1.21-1.55]; P < .001). Readmission within 30 days was less common after admission to community compared with VHA hospitals (4898 of 38 576 [12.7%] vs 2006 of 14 357 [14.0%]; risk-adjusted hazard ratio, 0.89 [95% CI, 0.86-0.92]; P < .001). This study found that most hospitalizations for COVID-19 among VHA enrollees aged 65 years or older were in community hospitals and that veterans experienced higher mortality in community hospitals than in VHA hospitals. The VHA must understand the sources of the mortality difference to plan care for VHA enrollees during future COVID-19 surges and the next pandemic.

Preservation Surgery of Septic Osteoarthritis and Osteomyelitis in the Diabetic Foot Using S53P4 Bioactive Glass—A Case Series

(1) Background: Preservation surgery of the diabetic foot aims at tissue sparing to avoid further pathological changes from developing, while ultimately preserving the limb. For this purpose, osteoregenerative, antimicrobial, and osteostimulative materials are now available. The aim of this case series is to demonstrate several clinical situations in which the use of bioactive glass, a third-generation biomaterial, can potentially be of benefit. (2) Methods: In this retrospective case series, we present patients with a diabetic foot complication with septic osteoarthritis, treated at the University Medical Centre Ljubljana, in the years 2020–2022. Patients received surgical care with resection of the affected joint and bone and placement of bioactive glass material. We observed patient characteristics, recurrence of septic osteoarthritis or osteomyelitis, and the need for amputation in the follow-up period. (3) Results: Of the 16 included patients, 8 received treatment of the metatarsophalangeal joints, 4 of the midfoot joints, and 4 of the ankle joints. Ten suffered from Charcot neuroarthropathy. None required readmission within 30 days or suffered early complications. One complication with recidivant septic osteoarthritis and osteomyelitis was observed. (4) Conclusions: Our case series presents possible applications for treatment with bioactive glass in various joints and bones affected by septic osteoarthritis of the diabetic foot.

Does continuity of care improve patient satisfaction? An instrumental variable approach

Numerous studies have investigated the relationship between continuity of care (COC) and patient satisfaction. However, COC and patient satisfaction were measured simultaneously; therefore, the direction of causality remains understudied. This study examined the effect of COC on the patient satisfaction of elderly individuals using an instrumental variable (IV) approach. Nationwide survey data acquired using a face-to-face interview were used to measure the patient-reported COC experiences of 1,715 participants. We applied an ordered logit model controlled for observed patient characteristics and a two-stage residual inclusion (2SRI) ordered logit model that accounted for unobserved confounding factors. Patient-perceived COC importance was used as an IV for patient-reported COC. The ordered logit models indicated that patients with high or intermediate patient-reported COC scores were more likely to perceive more patient satisfaction than those with low COC scores. Using the patient-perceived COC importance as an IV, we examined a strong significant association between the level of patient-reported COC and patient satisfaction. It is necessary to adjust for unobserved confounders to obtain more accurate estimates of the relationship between patient-reported COC and patient satisfaction. However, the results and policy implications of this study should be cautiously interpreted because the possibility of other bias could not be ruled out. These findings support policies aimed at improving patient-reported COC among older adults.

Association of Children’s Hospital Status With Value for Common Surgical Conditions

Although children's hospitals (CH) provide a substantial proportion of highly specialized pediatric care in the United States, the value of CH compared with non-children's hospitals (NCH) for routine surgical procedures is unknown. To examine the value of CH for routine surgical procedures by assessing clinical outcomes and payment data. This retrospective cohort study examined pediatric patients undergoing 1 of 13 commonly performed surgical procedures between 2010 and 2015 with 90-day follow-up using administrative data from the Health Care Cost Institute. Data analysis was conducted from July 2019 to December 2021. The primary exposure was tier of CH status, defined using self-reported pediatric services, affiliation with pediatric focused programs, and validated based on proportion of pediatric admissions. Payments for common surgical procedures from private insurers and overall complication and readmission rates at 30, 60, and 90 days. There were 368 220 pediatric patients who underwent one of the surgical procedures of interest; 220 899 (60.0%) of the patients were male; 118 977 (32.3%) had their procedure at freestanding CH (CH-A), 75 256 (20.4%) at CH attached to an adult hospital (CH-B), and 173 987 (47.3%) at NCH. The mean (SD) payment for all procedures at CH-A was $6533.56 ($6399.97), $5847.50 ($4947.47) at CH-B, and $5034.25 ($4787.07) at NCH. The mean (SD) overall complication rate was 0.004 (0.06) at CH-A, 0.01 (0.07) at CH-B, and 0.003 (0.06) at NCH. Readmission rates at 30, 60, and 90 days were similar across all hospital types. After adjusting for zip code, year, surgery, surgery setting, and observable patient, hospital, and county characteristics, the estimated payments for inpatient common procedures were 39% higher at CH-A than at NCH. Payments for outpatient common procedures were 34% higher at CH-A than at NCH. In this cohort study, children who underwent common surgical procedures had equivalent clinical outcomes at CH and NCH but the procedures were associated with higher payments and, thus, overall lower value care. To ensure delivery of optimal value to patients and payers, more research is needed to evaluate mechanisms to ensure access, decrease costs, and improve value at both CH and NCH.

Assessment of Perioperative Outcomes Among Surgeons Who Operated the Night Before

The association between physician fatigue and patient outcomes is important to understand but has been difficult to examine given methodological and data limitations. Surgeons frequently perform urgent procedures overnight and perform additional procedures the following day, which could adversely affect outcomes for those daytime operations. To examine the association between an attending surgeon operating overnight and outcomes for operations performed by that surgeon the next day. In this cross-sectional study, a retrospective analysis of a large multicenter registry of surgical procedures was done using a within-surgeon analysis to address confounding, with data from 20 high-volume US institutions. This study included 498 234 patients who underwent a surgical procedure during the day (between 7 am and 5 pm) between January 1, 2010, and August 30, 2020. Whether the attending surgeon for the current day's procedures operated between 11 pm and 7 am the previous night. Two exposure measures were examined: whether the surgeon operated at all the previous night and the number of hours spent operating the previous night (including having performed no work at all). The primary composite outcome was in-hospital death or major complication (sepsis, pneumonia, myocardial infarction, thromboembolic event, or stroke). Secondary outcomes included operation length and individual outcomes of death, major complications, and minor complications (surgical site infection or urinary tract infection). Among 498 234 daytime operations performed by 1131 surgeons, 13 098 (2.6%) involved an attending surgeon who operated the night before. The mean (SD) age of the patients who underwent an operation was 55.3 (16.4) years, and 264 740 (53.1%) were female. After adjusting for operation type, surgeon fixed effects, and observable patient characteristics (ie, age and comorbidities), the adjusted incidence of in-hospital death or major complications was 5.89% (95% CI, 5.41%-6.36%) among daytime operations when the attending surgeon operated the night before compared with 5.87% (95% CI, 5.85%-5.89%) among daytime operations when the same surgeon did not (absolute adjusted difference, 0.02%; 95% CI, -0.47% to 0.51%; P = .93). No significant associations were found between overnight work and secondary outcomes except for operation length. Operating the previous night was associated with a statistically significant decrease in length of daytime operations (adjusted length, 112.7 vs 117.4 minutes; adjusted difference, -4.7 minutes; 95% CI, -8.7 to -0.8, P = .02), although this difference is unlikely to be meaningful. The findings of this cross-sectional study suggest that operating overnight was not associated with worse outcomes for operations performed by surgeons the subsequent day. These results provide reassurance concerning the practice of having attending surgeons take overnight call and still perform operations the following morning.

Site-based payment differentials for ambulatory services among individuals with commercial insurance.

To compare prices paid by commercial insurers for ambulatory services in physician office and hospital outpatient settings. MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters database obtained from Truven Health Analytics. We examined ambulatory service claims for a sample of privately insured individuals who were continuously enrolled in a health maintenance organization plan, preferred provider organization plan, high-deductible/consumer-driven health plan, or exclusive provider organization plan in 2018. We categorized services into five categories: Evaluation & Management, Medical Services & Procedures, Pathology/Lab, Radiology, and Surgical. We identified services commonly provided in both outpatient and office settings and computed the price differential between outpatient and office services overall and for each service category, controlling for observable patient characteristics and geography. We examined 89 services (defined by Current Procedural Terminology [CPT] code) that were provided in both office and outpatient settings in our sample (102.7 million claims, 8.3 million individuals). Adjusting for patient and geographic characteristics and across all services, total payment for an ambulatory service was, on average, 145% higher in a hospital outpatient department than the same service in a physician office. Out-of-pocket spending was 109% higher. Price differences between outpatient and office services were highest for pathology/laboratory services. Patients receiving services in outpatient departments had higher mean risk scores and received more services on the date of their visit (in addition to the index CPT being studied) than patients receiving the same index CPT in a physician's office. Payments in hospital outpatient departments were significantly higher than payments for the same services in physician offices among commercially insured patients. Policies such as site-neutral payment would lower costs and could reduce incentives for further consolidation in health care markets. Care must be given to adjusting for patient severity across settings.

Complications Associated with Anesthetic Choice for Elective Foot and Ankle Surgery

Category:Ankle; Ankle Arthritis; Arthroscopy; Bunion; Diabetes; Hindfoot; Lesser Toes; Midfoot/Forefoot; Sports; TraumaIntroduction/Purpose:Wide-awake anesthesia (local anesthesia without sedation) is rarely utilized during elective foot and ankle surgery. As such, the rate of post-operative complications following wide-awake foot and ankle surgery is unknown. The aim of this study was to compare rates of early post-operative complications for wide-awake anesthesia to general/local anesthesia with sedation for elective foot and ankle procedures conditional on a wide range of observable patient characteristics and risk factors.Methods:Patients that underwent an elective foot or ankle surgery were identified in the American College of Surgeon's National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) dataset. The rate of thirty-day post-operative complications was compared between patients who received wide-awake anesthesia and those who received general/local anesthesia with sedation using logistic regressions that controlled for patient risk factors.Results:Between 2005 and 2017, 85,363 patients were identified has having any foot and ankle procedure. After excluding observations with missing anesthesia type data information and non-elective foot and ankle procedures, the analytic cohort had 16,743 patients. There were 1,401 (8.4%) patients who underwent wide-awake anesthesia and 15,342 (91.6%) patients who underwent general/local anesthesia with sedation over the entire sample. Starting in 2007, there was an annual increase in the likelihood of using general/local anesthesia with sedation for foot and ankle procedures of 0.7 percentage points (p = 0.001). Overall, general/local anesthesia with sedation increased the odds of experiencing any complication within the first thirty days by 1.523 (95% CI 1.152 - 2.014).Conclusion:Although wide-awake surgery is rarely performed for elective foot and ankle procedures, utilization of local anesthesia without sedation may result in fewer post-operative complications in the first thirty days. Existing trends in the use of sedation for foot and ankle procedures show that physicians are increasingly favoring general/local anesthesia with sedation, but our findings caution against this choice and suggest that post-operative complication rates may correspondingly increase.

Impact of Dosing Frequency of Oral Oncolytics on Refill Adherence Among Patients with Hematological Malignancies

Background: With advances in oral oncolytics for hematologic malignancies, it is important to consider dosing frequency and treatment (tx) adherence, as prior data have shown poor adherence to oral cancer medications may result in inferior tx outcomes (Huang WC, Expert Rev Anticancer Ther, 2016; Muluneh B, J Oncol Pract, 2018). There is limited evidence regarding the impact of dosing frequency on tx adherence among patients with hematological malignancies treated with oral oncolytics. The objective of this study was to characterize real-world demographic and clinical characteristics, and compare refill adherence, among patients with hematological malignancies receiving once-daily (QD) versus twice-daily (BID) oral oncolytics.Methods: This retrospective cohort study used multi-year (2012-2020) commercial claims data from Optum's de-identified Clinformatics ® Data Mart Database and included adults (≥18 yr) with a diagnosis of a hematological malignancy identified using ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM codes. The exposure of interest was receipt of an oral oncolytic, and the date of the first observed oral oncolytic (QD or BID) was considered the index date. All patients were required to have continuous health plan enrollment for ≥6 mo prior and ≥6 mo after the index date. The 6-mo period prior to the index date was considered the baseline period for determining patient demographics, clinical characteristics, and prior medication use. To minimize the effect of the differences in observable baseline patient characteristics between the QD and BID groups on refill adherence, 1:1 propensity score (PS) matching was used. Tx refill adherence to QD and BID oral oncolytics was measured using two established metrics: proportion of days covered (PDC) and medication possession ratio (MPR). PDC, a conservative measure of refill adherence, was considered for primary analysis as it measures total days of drug coverage within a pre-specified follow-up period; whereas MPR which was included for sensitivity analysis, measures total drug supplied within the pre-specified follow-up period. PDC and MPR were measured at pre-defined time periods of 3 and 6 mo, and from the index date until the end of the follow-up period (variable-length follow-up). Patients with drug coverage for ≥80% (PDC or MPR ≥0.8) of pre-defined time periods were considered tx refill adherent.Results: The study identified 5,874 adults with hematological malignancies, of whom 4,938 (84.1%) received QD oral oncolytics and 936 (15.9%) received BID oral oncolytics. Before 1:1 PS matching, there were significant differences between the two groups in terms of mean age (67.5 yr QD vs 61.6 yr BID, P<0.001), insurance type (Medicare, 65.4% QD vs 46.8% BID, P<0.001), being previously untreated (67.6% QD vs 63.7% BID, P=0.019), and Charlson's comorbidity score (mean: 1.61 QD vs 1.44 BID, P<0.001). After 1:1 PS matching, demographics, baseline comorbidities, cancer histology, and line of therapy were well-balanced. The matched cohort comprised 936 patients receiving QD oral oncolytics and 936 patients receiving BID oral oncolytics. Table 1 summarizes refill adherence among patients with hematological malignancies receiving QD versus BID oral oncolytics. The proportion of patients with ≥80% of drug coverage during follow-up was higher for QD versus BID recipients at 3 mo: numerically higher by PDC (70.8% vs 66.9%, P=0.065) and statistically significantly higher by MPR (72% vs 67.8%, P=0.049). The proportion of adherent patients was significantly higher for QD vs BID for both PDC and MPR at 6 mo (PDC: 62% vs 56.8%, P=0.024; MPR: 62.7% vs 57.5%, P=0.021) and at variable-length follow-up (PDC: 82.4% QD vs 77.7% BID, P=0.011; MPR: 84.9% QD vs 80.9%, P=0.020). These results suggest QD dosing is associated with improved tx adherence to oral hematological oncolytics compared to BID dosing.Conclusions: This study demonstrates significantly higher refill adherence in patients receiving QD versus BID oral hematological oncolytics at 6 mo and variable-length follow-up, highlighting the potential benefit of dosing convenience in improving adherence to oral oncolytics in the real-world setting. As suboptimal tx adherence may result in reduced tx effectiveness, real-world characterization of refill adherence rates of oral oncolytics can better inform on tx effectiveness outside of a controlled clinical trial environment. [Display omitted] DisclosuresChallagulla: Pharmacyclics LLC, an AbbVie Company: Current Employment; AbbVie: Current equity holder in publicly-traded company. Kebede: Pharmacyclics LLC, an AbbVie Company: Consultancy; ObsEva: Other. Rege: Pharmacyclics LLC, an AbbVie Company (paid to institution): Consultancy. Volodarsky: AbbVie: Current equity holder in publicly-traded company; Pharmacyclics LLC, an AbbVie Company: Current Employment. Osei-Bonsu: AbbVie: Current equity holder in publicly-traded company; Pharmacyclics LLC, an AbbVie Company: Current Employment. Karve: AbbVie: Current Employment, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company.

Factors driving CT utilisation in tertiary hospitals: a decomposition analysis using linked administrative data in Western Australia

ObjectivesWhile CT scanning plays a significant role in healthcare, its increasing use has raised concerns about inappropriate use. This study investigated factors driving the changing use of CT among people...

Hospital market competition and health technology diffusion: An empirical study of laparoscopic appendectomy in China

The evidence about the role of hospital market competition on health technology diffusion in developing countries is scarce. In this study, we examined the association between hospital market competition and the diffusion of health technologies in China's healthcare system. Laparoscopic appendectomy, a minimally invasive surgery for patients with acute appendicitis, was selected as a representative of cost-effective health technology. The inpatient discharge dataset linked to the annually hospital administrative data and to the demographic and socioeconomic data were used. A total of 261,922 patients who were diagnosed with acute appendicitis and had received either open appendectomy or laparoscopic appendectomy at 820 hospitals in Sichuan, China between 2017 and 2019 were included in our analyses. Our outcome measure was the use of laparoscopic appendectomy during hospitalization. We accounted for the endogeneity of hospital competition measures using the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index calculated by predicted patient flows. Controlling for the observable patient, hospital and region characteristics, multivariate logistic regression was performed to model the association between hospital competition and the diffusion of laparoscopic appendectomy. The rapid diffusion of laparoscopic appendectomy over the study period and the substantial variation in use across regions and hospitals were observed. The regression results showed that laparoscopic appendectomy diffused faster in the markets where hospitals faced more competition. Our findings suggest that the diffusion of laparoscopic appendectomy is not only driven by medical factors but also nonmedical factors like hospital market competition. Our study provides new evidence on the association between market structure and technology diffusion in China's hospital market and offers the implications of appropriate technologies diffusion in health for policymakers.

2. Association between initial site of care and subsequent treatment patterns for back and neck pain

<h3>BACKGROUND CONTEXT</h3> Nonspecific neck and back pain are highly variable conditions with hundreds of treatment options. Using standard analytical techniques, it is difficult to understand how patients seek and receive health care across service locations. <h3>PURPOSE</h3> To build and display a comprehensive understanding of common utilization patterns for nonspecific neck and back pain. Also, to understand how observable patient characteristics (including insurance type, age and comorbidities) and initial sites of care (patient self-triage decisions to one of 9 initial sites of care including primary care, chiropractor and the emergency room) are associated with subsequent treatment and utilization patterns. <h3>STUDY DESIGN/SETTING</h3> This retrospective, observational study leveraged a US multipayer medical and pharmaceutical administrative claims dataset. Although not nationally representative, the data are comprised of commercial and Medicaid insured patients from 47 states and the District of Columbia. Each patient was eligible for at least 24 months in the database, enabling researchers to study utilization patterns over time and across service locations. <h3>PATIENT SAMPLE</h3> We identified a sample of 113,654 episodes for patients aged 18-64 who received care for nonspecific neck or back pain. Patients had a neck and back pain "clean" period of at least 12 months prior to initial presentation and were observed 6 months after the index claim. Subjects were excluded if their medical history and pain causes indicated potential deviation from conservative diagnostic and treatment practices. <h3>OUTCOME MEASURES</h3> The patient's initial site of care, the patient's subsequent diagnostic and treatment pattern (one of 14 clusters representing the 6 months after the index neck or back pain event), and common utilization metrics (eg, procedures, emergency care, and opioid prescription rates) within 6 months of the initial encounter. <h3>METHODS</h3> We applied a sequence alignment and density-based clustering methodology to identify treatment pathways based on the types and ordering of each patient's neck and back pain-related events for 6 months after the index claim. Using a series of multinomial models, we examined how observable patient characteristics were associated with the initial site of care and how the initial site of care was associated with the patient's subsequent treatment pathway. Prediction accuracy was evaluated using an 80% training, 20% testing division of the sample. We calculated health care utilization during the first 6 months after the index event. <h3>RESULTS</h3> The clustering methodology discovered 14 distinct patterns of how patients are diagnosed and treated for nonspecific neck and back pain in the first 6 months after the index encounter. The patterns ranged significantly in terms of utilization rates of advanced diagnostic imaging, opioid prescribing, and use of conservative therapy. The algorithm also identified 3.1% of episodes in which patients underwent uncommon treatment plans that included invasive procedures, multiple advanced images, and emergency or inpatient admissions. While some patient characteristics (including insurance type and geography) were associated with the patient's initial site of care, patient characteristics alone could not accurately predict this self-triage decision for an individual patient (47.9% vs 45.2% naïve prediction). In contrast, the initial site of care is highly predictive of the subsequent treatment pathway (42.3% prediction accuracy using initial site of care alone vs 30.3% naïve prediction). <h3>CONCLUSIONS</h3> The patient journey clustering methodology created a granular, data-driven understanding into how patients are diagnosed and treated after an index neck or back pain claim. The analyses suggest that the patient's self-triage decision to an initial site of care is difficult to predict using observable patient characteristics. However, once this initial site of care is chosen, the patient's subsequent treatment pattern and utilization within the first 6 months becomes more predictable. Follow-up studies on more generalizable samples are needed to use the data to proactively route patients toward high-quality, appropriate treatment plans. <h3>FDA DEVICE/DRUG STATUS</h3> This abstract does not discuss or include any applicable devices or drugs.

Hospitalized with stroke at the weekend: Higher cost and risk of early death?

Previous studies have shown that weekend hospitalizations are associated with poorer health outcomes and higher mortality ("weekend effect"). However, few of these studies have adjusted for disease severity and little is known about the effect on costs. This work investigates the weekend effect and its costs for patients with cerebral infarction in Germany, adjusting for patient characteristics and proxies of stroke severity. Adult patients with a cerebral infarction hospitalization 10th revision of the International statistical classification of diseases and related health problems (ICD-10: I63) between 01 January 2014 and 30 June 2017 were included from German health claims (AOK PLUS dataset). Propensity score matching was used to match patients hospitalized on weekends or on public holidays (weekend group) with patients hospitalized during the working week (workday group), based on baseline characteristics and proxies for disease severity such as concomitant diagnoses of aphasia, ataxia, and coma, or peg tube at index hospitalization. Matched cohorts were compared in terms of in-hospital, 7-day, and 30-day mortality, as well as risk and costs of stroke and rehabilitation stays in the year after first stroke. Of 32,311 patients hospitalized with cerebral infarction between 01 January 2014 and 30 June 2017, 8409 were in the weekend group and 23,902 in the workday group. After propensity score matching, 16,730 patients were included in our study (8365 per group). Matched cohorts did not differ in baseline characteristics or stroke severity. In the weekend group, the risk of in-hospital death (11.2%) and the seven-day mortality rate (6.8%) were 13.1% and 17.2% higher than in the workday group, respectively (both p < 0.01). The hazard ratio for death in the weekend group was 1.1 (p = 0.043). The risks of subsequent stroke hospitalization and rehabilitation stays for a stroke were 8.4% higher and 5.5% higher in the weekend group (both p = 0.02). As a result, the stroke-related hospitalization and rehabilitation costs per patient year were, respectively, 5.6% and 8.0% higher in the weekend group (both p = 0.01). A significant weekend effect emerged after controlling for observable patient characteristics and proxies of stroke severity. This effect also resulted in higher costs for patients admitted on weekends.

Vital Directions, Quality, And More

From the Editor-In-Chief Health AffairsVol. 40, No. 2: Vital Directions, Quality & More Vital Directions, Quality, And MoreAlan R. WeilPUBLISHED:February 2021Free Accesshttps://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2021.00033AboutSectionsView PDFPermissions ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmail ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissionsDownload Exhibits TOPICSQuality of careHealth equityHealth disparitiesRacismMedicaidMedicare AdvantageMedicaid patientsAccess to carePandemicsOut-of-pocket expensesNonprofit statusMortality ratesMortalityMedicare savings programs PhysiciansEmergency departmentsWomen's healthChildren's healthMental healthSubstance use disorderThis month’s issue leads with articles from the National Academy of Medicine’s Vital Directions for Health and Health Care 2021 project, which sets forth priorities for the new administration of President Joe Biden, who took office January 20, 2021.Vital DirectionsVictor Dzau and coauthors identify the overarching theme of the Vital Directions series as “the clear and urgent obligation for the US to turn its full attention to the growing problem of health inequities and to the structural racism that perpetuates such disparities.” Peter Daszak and coauthors review US pandemic preparedness and outline steps to strengthen our ability to anticipate and respond to future pandemics. Elena Fuentes-Afflick and coauthors draw on a life-course framework to identify promising interventions to improve the health of women and children. Terry Fulmer and coauthors identify six strategies to improve care and quality of life for older adults. Margarita Alegría and coauthors describe new models of care that focus on mental health and addiction. William Shrank and coauthors discuss health cost and financing priorities to advance access, affordability, and equity.QualityDavid Meyers and coauthors use data from a natural experiment to quantify the degree to which Medicare Advantage (MA) plans with higher star ratings provide better care. Enrollees in an MA plan with one more star were 3.4 percent more likely to use a higher-rated hospital and 2.6 percent less likely to be readmitted within ninety days of discharge.Peter Smulowitz and coauthors describe physician-level variation in emergency department admission rates for Medicare fee-for-service patients. Within-hospital admission rates range from 32.2 to 45.6 percent for physicians at the tenth and ninetieth percentiles, leading the authors to conclude that there is “substantial variation in rates of admissions among physicians at the same hospital that is not related to observable patient characteristics.”Fabian Duarte and coauthors show that the reduction in the rate of uninsurance among adults ages 60–64 due to the Affordable Care Act greatly increased rates of cancer detection for this population. Fifty-nine additional incidents of cancer were detected per 100,000 people, and 68 percent of these were early- and middle-stage cancers—and thus more likely treatable.EquityAll-cause mortality rates increased dramatically in 2020 because of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Maria Polyakova and coauthors show that excess mortality in April 2020 was much higher for Blacks than for Whites and that racial and ethnic disparities varied significantly by state.Rishi Wadhera and coauthors analyze all-cause mortality rates for rural and urban Medicare beneficiaries dually enrolled in Medicaid from 2004 to 2017. Although all-cause mortality declined for both groups across the study period, rates were higher among rural beneficiaries (92.8 per 1,000) than among their urban counterparts (75.1 per 1,000).Lisa Iezzoni and coauthors surveyed US physicians about their perceptions of care for people with disability. Only 40.7 percent of respondents were “very confident” they could “provide the same quality of care” to patients with disability as to patients without disability.This month, Health Affairs launches our own equity initiative. Please keep an eye out for more information on the Health Affairs Blog.Access To CareIn 2012 the South Carolina Medicaid program began paying for long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) separately from the global maternity payment. Maria Steenland and coauthors find that this increased immediate postpartum LARC use among adolescents by 0.19 percentage points per month.Johanna Catherine Maclean and coauthors find that Medicaid acceptance by residential substance use disorder treatment facilities increased in states that received Institutions for Mental Diseases waivers by 19 percent in the first year and 34 percent in the second year.Tamara Beetham and coauthors audited 368 residential addiction treatment programs in the US. They find that 65 percent of for-profit programs use one or more aggressive recruitment techniques compared with only 9 percent of nonprofit programs.Steven Chen and coauthors analyze commercial health insurance claims in 2017 and find that “nearly 40 percent of commercially insured people incurred half of their annual out-of-pocket spending in just one encounter, and 26 percent incurred 90 percent of their annual out-of-pocket spending in only one or two encounters.”AcknowledgmentsHealth Affairs thanks the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, The John A. Hartford Foundation, the National Academy of Medicine, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for their financial support of publication of the Vital Directions articles in this issue. Loading Comments... Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. DetailsExhibitsReferencesRelated Article Metrics History Published online 1 February 2021 Information© 2021 Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.PDF download

Effectiveness and Safety of Apixaban vs. Warfarin in Venous Thromboembolism Patients with Obesity and Morbid Obesity

This study integrated 5 United States healthcare claims databases to evaluate the risk of recurrent venous thromboembolism (VTE) and major bleeding (MB) among VTE patients who initiated apixaban vs. warfarin, stratified by obesity. Obese and morbidly obese patients were identified based on diagnosis codes. Stabilized inverse probability treatment weighting (IPTW) was conducted to balance observed patient characteristics between treatment cohorts. An interaction analysis was conducted to evaluate treatment effects of apixaban vs. warfarin according to obesity status. Cox proportional hazard models were used to evaluate the risk of recurrent VTE and MB among IPTW weighted obese and morbidly obese patients. A total of 112,024 non-obese patients and 43,095 obese patients were identified, of whom 19,751 were morbidly obese. When stratified by obesity status post-IPTW, no significant interactions were observed for effects of apixaban vs. warfarin on recurrent VTE or MB (interaction p > 0.10). Among IPTW obese and morbidly obese patients, apixaban was associated with a significantly lower risk of recurrent VTE (obese: 0.73 [0.64–0.84]; morbidly obese: 0.65 [0.53–0.80]) and MB (obese: 0.73 [0.62–0.85]; morbidly obese: 0.68 [0.54–0.86]) as compared with warfarin. In this large sample of obese and morbidly obese VTE patients, apixaban had a significantly lower risk of recurrent VTE and MB vs. warfarin.

Real-time imputation of missing predictor values in clinical practice.

Use of prediction models is widely recommended by clinical guidelines, but usually requires complete information on all predictors, which is not always available in daily practice. We aim to describe two methods for real-time handling of missing predictor values when using prediction models in practice. We compare the widely used method of mean imputation (M-imp) to a method that personalizes the imputations by taking advantage of the observed patient characteristics. These characteristics may include both prediction model variables and other characteristics (auxiliary variables). The method was implemented using imputation from a joint multivariate normal model of the patient characteristics (joint modelling imputation; JMI). Data from two different cardiovascular cohorts with cardiovascular predictors and outcome were used to evaluate the real-time imputation methods. We quantified the prediction model's overall performance [mean squared error (MSE) of linear predictor], discrimination (c-index), calibration (intercept and slope), and net benefit (decision curve analysis). When compared with mean imputation, JMI substantially improved the MSE (0.10 vs. 0.13), c-index (0.70 vs. 0.68), and calibration (calibration-in-the-large: 0.04 vs. 0.06; calibration slope: 1.01 vs. 0.92), especially when incorporating auxiliary variables. When the imputation method was based on an external cohort, calibration deteriorated, but discrimination remained similar. We recommend JMI with auxiliary variables for real-time imputation of missing values, and to update imputation models when implementing them in new settings or (sub)populations.

Impact of Competition Versus Centralisation of Hospital Care on Process Quality: A Multilevel Analysis of Breast Cancer Surgery in France.

Background: The implications of competition among hospitals on care quality have been the subject of considerable debate. On one hand, economic theory suggests that when prices are regulated, quality will be increased in competitive markets. On the other hand, hospital mergers have been justified by the need to exploit cost advantages, and by evidence that hospital volume and care quality are related. Methods: Based on patient-level data from two years (2005 and 2012) we track changes in market competition and treatment patterns in breast cancer surgery. We focus on technology adoption as a proxy of process quality and examine the likelihood of offering two innovative surgical procedures: immediate breast reconstruction (IBR), after mastectomy and sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB). We use an index of competition based on a multinomial logit model of hospital choice which is not subject to endogeneity bias, and estimate its impact on the propensity to receive IBR and SLNB by means of multilevel models taking into account both observable patient and hospital characteristics. Results: The likelihood of receiving these procedures is significantly higher in hospitals located in more competitive markets. Yet, hospital volume remains a significant indicator of quality, therefore benefits of competition appear to be sensitive to the estimates of the impact of volume on care process. In France, the centralisation policy, with minimum activity thresholds, have contributed to improving breast cancer treatment between 2005 and 2012. Conclusion: Finding the right balance between costs and benefits of market competition versus concentration of hospital care supply is complex. We find that close to monopolistic markets do not encourage innovation and quality in cancer treatment, but highly competitive markets where many hospitals have very low activity volumes are also problematic because hospital quality is positively linked to patient volume.

Characteristics and Outcomes of Children with Type-I Diabetes Mellitus Hospitalized for Ketoacidosis.

Type 1 diabetes mellitus is a common autoimmune disorder that often presents in children. In these patients, diabetic ketoacidosis is one of the most common and serious acute complications associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Nevertheless, limited studies are conducted in Ethiopia. The aim of this study was to assess patient-related characteristics and outcomes of diabetic ketoacidosis, and their relative difference among children with newly diagnosed and previously known type-I diabetes mellitus. This is a retrospective cross-sectional study of 63 type-1 diabetes patients admitted for ketoacidosis at Jimma university medical center, a tertiary hospital. Data was collected using a checklist, and entered into Epidata 4.2.0.0 and analyzed using STATA 13.0. Descriptive statistics was performed; Mann-Whitney and Chi-square test statistics were employed for comparison. Of the total, 39 were newly diagnosed type-I diabetes patients. Polydipsia and Polyuria (each in 74.6%) were the predominant symptoms at presentation. ketoacidosis precipitants were undocumented in the majority of the patients (53.97%). Mean (±SD) Random blood sugar was 434.05 (±117.62)mg/dl. Ketoacidosis was mild in severity in 63.49%. Family history of diabetes, unknown precipitants and the first episode of ketoacidosis were significantly different among the new and known type-I diabetes patients. No mortality was documented. The observed patient characteristics are typical of those reported in many studies and standard resources. Despite no mortality was documented, the need for early diagnosis and management should not be overlooked. Further study, with large sample size, is recommended to point-out the real characteristics difference among new and known type-I diabetes mellitus patients admitted for ketoacidosis.