Background: Although Hospice has been associated with improved symptom management, quality of life, lower costs and length of survival in terminally ill patients, it is underutilized. The primary outcome of this study was to examine the relationship between hospice enrollment status and hospital readmissions in elderly patients with solid tumors. Secondary outcomes were length of [...]

Background: Cholangiocarcinoma is an uncommon cancer with a very bad prognosis despite advances made in treatment. Location intrahepatic versus extrahepatic – determines surgical options. In our study, we examined variations in outcomes between patients admitted to the hospital with intrahepatic versus extrahepatic disease. Methods: Data from the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) which is part of [...]

Background: Introduction: Colorectal cancer is the 4th most common cancer in the United States. It is the second most common cause of death in the united states. Despite universal advocacy for screening colonoscopies and early diagnosis, disparities in screening and diagnosis of colorectal cancer exist which affects outcomes. In this analysis, we determine racial disparities [...]

Background: Patient & Family Advisory Councils (PFACs) are groups of patients and caregivers who share their overall experiences of care and perspectives on specific topics with hospital leaders at regular meetings. PFACs provide a crucial supplemental layer of feedback to hospitals outside of HCAHPS survey data and post-discharge phone calls. Hospital Medicine specific PFACs are [...]

Background: While prescription opioids have a role in treating certain pain conditions, their injudicious use has led to an epidemic with myriad adverse outcomes. We sought to evaluate the association of socioeconomic and racial disparities with healthcare utilization and outcomes in opioid overdose related hospitalizations using National Inpatient Sample (NIS) database from 2012 through 2014. [...]

Background: Anemia in patients with heart failure (HF) is common. Data reported shows a variable prevalence ranging from 10-40%. Additionally, it has also been demonstrated that it is associated with poor outcomes. Multiple risk factors have been shown to contribute to the presence of anemia in HF patients. The population of the Rio Grande Valley [...]

Background: Specialty wards (e.g., cardiology or oncology wards) group clinically similar hospitalized patients in efforts to improve outcomes and costs. When these wards exceed capacity, subsequent patients overflow to “geographically dispersed” alternate wards. Geographic dispersion has been associated with care inefficiency and worse outcomes on specialty wards, but has not been studied in a large, [...]

Background: Acute heart failure (AHF) hospitalization is about one million hospital admissions per year and has tripled in the last 30 years in the United States. These illustrate the importance of recognizing early signs of AHF. Therefore, risk stratification can aid physicians in selecting appropriate evidence-based medical therapies. Red blood cell distribution width (RDW) is [...]

Background: Hospital at Home (HaH) care is an alternative to traditional hospitalization with potential to address issues of cost and hospital capacity, while improving outcomes and patient satisfaction. In 2017, the US Department of Health and Human Services began to consider bundled payments for HaH despite a lack of US-based evidence on patient outcomes, real-world [...]

Background: Patients hospitalized with hematologic malignancy are particularly vulnerable to infection. Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) has become the most common cause of healthcare-associated infections in U. S. hospitals, and the excess healthcare costs related to CDI are estimated to be as much as 4. 8 billion dollars for acute care facilities alone. We sought to [...]