Background: Vitamin B9, also known as folate, is a water soluble vitamin found in vegetables, fruits and animal products that plays a key role in purine and pyrimidine synthesis, nucleoprotein synthesis and erythropoiesis. Deficiency can result from malabsorption, anti-epileptic and methotrexate use, pregnancy, hemolytic anemic, and alcoholism and is implicated in neural tube defects. Signs [...]

Background: Many hospitalized adults arrive with pre-existing malnutrition, which is associated with high risk of adverse outcomes. As such, malnutrition is a common variable in cost and quality risk adjustment models based on hospital discharge diagnosis codes. Hospital dietitians assess patients for malnutrition and generally document the details of their evaluations. However, coding professionals cannot [...]

Background: Islam is the second-largest religious tradition in the world, with approximately 3.45 million members in the United States. New York State has the third largest Muslim population and recent data estimates 20,000 to 25,000 Muslims reside in the greater Rochester area. During the month of Ramadan, all Muslims who are physically capable are obligated [...]

Background: Malnutrition is a significant indicator for illness severity and expected mortality. Prior to any process improvement interventions in 2014, only 4.7% of UNMH inpatients were diagnosed with malnutrition at discharge, much lower than the published national inpatient prevalence of 20-50%. Given the relatively high level of poverty in NM, we believe these lower rates [...]