Background: Literature on the prognostic value of laboratory tests on patients hospitalized with COVID-19 is sparse.1-4 Based on available evidence our institution developed a protocol for care of patients admitted with COVID-19. In addition to routine labs (complete blood count, complete metabolic panel, venous lactate, etc.), the protocol recommends a set of COVID-specific daily lab [...]

Background: Historically, patients transferred from one hospital to another are admitted through the emergency department and then placed on the desired unit at the accepting hospital. This practice creates delays for critically ill patients in need of continuous ICU care. A strategy known as the direct admission addresses this issue. With this strategy, transfer patients [...]

Background: Migraine headache is a common pediatric disorder frequently leading to hospital admission. Inpatient migraine headache treatment involves increasingly complex treatments, including fluid resuscitation and a variety of medications and therapies. Our previous study(1) has shown that the cost of inpatient treatment for pediatric migraine headache is increasing at a higher rate than reported overall [...]

Background: Children with medical complexity (CMC) are a growing pediatric population with disproportionately high health needs and costs often insured by Medicaid. Identification of CMC using complexity classification systems applied to population-level data and establishment of baseline patterns of population-level health care utilization are essential to target patients who may benefit most from complex care [...]

Background: COVID-19 has placed an unprecedented strain on healthcare systems worldwide, increasing demand for critical care beds1. To address shortage of critical care beds, innovative methods to increase capacity are needed. At our large, urban academic safety-net hospital, patients with diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) are admitted to critical care units for intravenous (IV) insulin administration and [...]

Background: Healthcare costs in the United States continue to increase, largely driven by the high cost of pharmaceuticals. Cost transparency, the act of showing the cost of drugs to providers, has been proposed as a method of reducing healthcare costs, but its effectiveness has not been studied on a large scale. Methods: We tracked the [...]

Background: Literature on the prognostic value of laboratory tests on patients hospitalized with COVID-19 is sparse.1-4 Based on available evidence our institution developed a protocol for care of patients admitted with COVID-19. In addition to routine labs (complete blood count, complete metabolic panel, venous lactate, etc.), the protocol recommends a set of COVID-specific daily lab [...]