Background: Approximately 1.6 million patients are transferred between hospitals yearly, with disproportionately high cost and mortality. Despite the risk associated with inter-hospital transition of care, there is no established best practice in coordinating and triaging transfers. This gap in knowledge is partly driven by a dearth of studies which integrate clinical data before and after [...]

Background: ST-segment elevation myocardial infarctions (STEMI) is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States. Inter-hospital transfers (IHT) are becoming the standard for treatment of ST-elevation myocardial infarctions (STEMIs) as specialized care is often concentrated at tertiary centers. The American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology (AHA/ACC) recommends door-to-balloon time [...]

Background: Inter-hospital transfer (IHT, the transfer of patients between hospitals) exposes patients to risks of discontinuity of care, including errors in communication. However, the association between communication among providers during IHT and patient outcomes has yet to be rigorously studied due to limitations of administrative data to adequately capture quality of communication. In this study, [...]

Background: Background: Patients transferred between hospitals undergo a high-risk transition of care, where communication is asynchronous, information is commonly lost, and mortality is disproportionately high. Prior studies have shown that standardizing communication through checklists can improve outcomes, and conversely lost documentation has been associated with higher mortality. The lack of interoperability of electronic health records [...]

Background: Montefiore Health System (MHS) rapidly expanded from three hospitals in close proximity to eleven hospitals across hundreds of miles. The structure of the new health system follows a hub and spoke model with the concentration of specialty care located at the hub which is the Moses campus in Bronx, NY. In order to best [...]