Background: In 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) aimed to enhance health insurance access through subsidies and Medicaid expansion. The expansion was not adopted by all states, leading to variable coverage. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) releases a 3-year running average of 30-day risk-standardized mortality rates for Medicare patients [...]

Background: In 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) aimed to enhance health insurance access through subsidies and Medicaid expansion. The expansion was not adopted by all states, leading to variable coverage. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) releases a 3-year running average of 30-day risk-standardized mortality rates for Medicare patients [...]

Background: Sepsis and septic shock, critical health concerns in the U.S., demonstrate varied mortality rates across different racial groups. This study examines the impact of race on mortality and complications in septic shock, providing insights into healthcare disparities. Methods: Using data from the National Inpatient Sample database (2016-2020), this retrospective analysis included 2,789,890 patients with [...]

Background: Inpatient admissions for Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) represent a substantial economic burden within the US healthcare system with patients experiencing high rates of 30-day readmission and mortality. To more efficiently and effectively serve complex cardiovascular (CV) patients at a major cardiac care center, Intermountain Health created a dedicated CV hospitalist service which has expanded [...]

Background: In 2020, COVID-19 emerged as the third leading cause of mortality in the United States with high death rates in urban areas at the beginning of the pandemic. By December 2020, the COVID-19 mortality pattern changed with higher mortality in rural areas.1,2 Epidemiological studies showed that rural populations were at a higher risk of [...]

Background: Over 6-months after the end of the Covid-19 Public Health Emergency, U.S. hospitals are still experiencing unprecedented levels of sustained stress with national hospital occupancy remaining 10 percentage points higher than before the pandemic. The demand for hospitalization is likely to increase over the next decade as the U.S. population ages, which will place [...]

Background: Patients with undifferentiated but stable clinical presentations may manifest sepsis “time zero” (T-0) or the onset of sepsis-defining conditions while undergoing further evaluation in observation units (OUs). Since these units are often designed to facilitate diagnostic and clinical risk assessments, we hypothesize that patients experiencing T-0 while in OUs will likely experience similar or [...]

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, studies have shown a possible association between dementia and adverse outcomes, with mortality rates reportedly as high as 2.4 times greater than compared to patients without dementia. Despite these preliminary findings, the relationship has not been conclusively established. Management of patients with dementia is complex, including a higher risk of [...]

Background: Despite having the highest health care spending, the US continues to have rates of maternal mortality over three times greater than similarly high-income countries. Generally, deaths occur in the days immediately following birth, and typically occur in hospital intensive care units (ICUs). As ICU utilization is often employed to identify indication of severe maternal [...]

Background: Ventricular tachycardia (VT) is the most common cause of wide complex tachycardia and a potentially fatal cardiac rhythm disorder. Ventricular arrhythmias, including VT, cause approximately 25% of sudden cardiac deaths. Some studies have proposed a dose-response relationship between VT burden and risk of mortality; however, these studies may have been limited by the inclusion [...]