Background: Patients hospitalized with COVID-19 can clinically deteriorate in the second week of illness after a period of initial stability. Thus, an important clinical question is determining when it is safe to discharge these patients from the hospital without overwhelming hospitals’ capacities. Unfortunately, discharge criteria for COVID-19 patients are often based on expert opinion, with […]

Background: Google searches for hospitals typically yield a Google star rating (GSR). These ratings are an important source of information for consumers. The degree to which GSRs are associated with traditional quality measures has not been evaluated recently. We sought to characterize the relationship between a hospital’s GSR, its Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers […]

Background: We compared 1) monthly rates of hospitalizations by disease severity and heart failure types, 2) measures of in-hospital care process, 3) and 30-day clinical outcomes of patients with acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) hospitalized during COVID-19 pandemic with those admitted in pre-pandemic periods. Methods: Retrospective study of 8989 ADHF hospitalizations (6769 unique patients, mean […]

Background: International VTE management guidelines recommend outpatient management for appropriate patients with low-risk deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or pulmonary embolism (PE)[1-3]. Despite the evidence and recommendations, previous studies reported low prevalence of outpatient management, especially for PE[4, 5]. This analysis aimed to characterize trends in outpatient vs. inpatient management of VTE in the last 5 […]

Background: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) uses a five‐star quality rating system to measure Medicare beneficiaries’ experience with their health care system. Unplanned readmission rates serve as a marker of the effectiveness and safety of its transitional care process and carry significant weight in determining a hospital’s overall rating. Our institution, an […]

Background: Effective communication at hospital discharge between inpatient and outpatient providers is critical to improving transitions of care and reducing hospital readmissions. A key part of transitions communication is the hospital discharge summary (DCS). Prior studies show that DCSs are often not available to primary care providers (PCPs) at the time of hospital follow-up and […]

Background: Readmissions are costly to the healthcare system have been associated with low patient satisfaction scores, longer length of stay, and higher mortality. Identifying and addressing patient needs at the time of transitioning care from the inpatient to outpatient setting has the potential to reduce readmission rates. The purpose of our project was to develop […]

Background: Hospital clinicians may identify the presence of a patient’s comorbid conditions, overall severity of illness, and clinical status at discharge as risk factors for readmission after COVID-19 hospitalization. Objective data are lacking to support reliance on these factors for discharge decision-making. Objectives included examination of risk factors for readmission to hospital after COVID-19 hospitalization […]

Background: Up to 45% of Americans do not fill prescriptions because of cost. Medication non-adherence annually leads to $100-$300B in excess morbidity and mortality. To better inform medication cost effects on a potentially vulnerable patient population, our primary aim was to measure annual patient out-of-pocket outpatient medication cost for patients without prescription drug insurance coverage […]

Background: An estimated 1 in 5 patients are at risk for being readmitted to the hospital within 30 days of discharge. Readmissions put a large financial strain on the United States healthcare system and increase risk for poor patient care outcomes. The Centers for Medicare/Medicaid Services publicly report readmission data and have financial penalties for […]