Background: Anemia increases morbidity & mortality in all patients but mild and moderate anemia’s association with health care utilization over medium to short term is not well studied. Further research is needed to investigate how changes in hemoglobin levels, whether increasing or decreasing, may influence healthcare utilization as well. Methods: We investigate 30-day, 6-month, and [...]

Background: Systemic Sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune condition characterized by widespread skin fibrosis and/or end-organ damage. Previous studies have reported variable outcomes of the disease process, with males and patients of certain ethnicities suffering from the severe form of the disease leading to end-organ damage and an increase in mortality (1,2). The aim of this [...]

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: Venous excess ultrasound score (VExUS) is an emerging point-of-care volume assessment tool that utilizes inferior vena cava diameter and doppler waveforms within the hepatic, portal, and renal veins to predict venous congestion. High VExUS grades have previously been validated against elevated filling pressures during right heart catheterization in patients with steady-state fluid balance; however, [...]

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: Black patients have been shown to have worse physical function, higher likelihood of developing mobility limitations and higher rates of mobility loss and functional decline. Despite these functional disadvantages, Black patients are less likely to receive acute and post-acute rehabilitation services. These disparities have been described in community-dwelling, ambulatory, and surgical populations, and social [...]

Background: Epipericardial fat necrosis (EFN) presents as acute chest pain with the potential to mimic life-threatening conditions. It is unclear whether this is truly a rare condition, or simply underdiagnosed by low threshold of suspicion. The literature suggests an estimated prevalence of 2% of EFN as the cause of chest pain in all patients presenting [...]

Background: High need patients are characterized by medical complexity, high amounts of health acute care utilization and disproportionate costs[1]. Recent studies have characterized worsening of loneliness in the general population, however, it has not been characterized in the high need population. We hypothesized that increases in loneliness would be associated with increasing symptoms of depression; [...]

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 [...]