Background: In 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) aimed to enhance health insurance access through subsidies and Medicaid expansion. The expansion was not adopted by all states, leading to variable coverage. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) releases a 3-year running average of 30-day risk-standardized mortality rates for Medicare patients [...]

Background: In 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) aimed to enhance health insurance access through subsidies and Medicaid expansion. The expansion was not adopted by all states, leading to variable coverage. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) releases a 3-year running average of 30-day risk-standardized mortality rates for Medicare patients [...]

Background:  The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has recently enabled millions of U.S. adults to acquire healthcare coverage.  The differential shift in payer mix in Medicaid-expansion versus non-expansion states after ACA implementation may be relevant to hospitals beyond reimbursement.  Medicaid has historically been associated with longer hospitalizations and higher mortality in diverse patient populations, more so [...]

Background: Migraine headache (MHA) is a common pediatric disorder, which frequently leads to hospital admission. Inpatient MHA treatment involves ever-increasingly complex treatment plans, including fluid resuscitation and a variety of medications. Severe Migraine headache may require more aggressive therapy such as dihydroergotamine (DHE) and sphenopalatine ganglion (SPG) block that may prolong hospital stay and increase [...]

Background: The designation of a patient as outpatient versus inpatient status at time of discharge affects how hospitals bill Medicare for services because the center for Medicaid and Medicare services (CMS) reimburses hospitals at a higher rate for inpatient when compared to outpatient designation(1). Since the fiscal year of 2014, one of the major benchmarks [...]

Background: Care fragmentation is associated with a number of clinical and socio-demographic features which have been thought to increase hospital utilization as well as morbidity and mortality. Patients who receive fragmented care at the hospital level are often underinsured and uninsured. It is unclear to what degree lack of insurance and subsequently lack of continuous [...]

Background: The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey distributed by The Center for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) services measures patient perceptions of hospital experience and impacts annual CMS reimbursement. This study focuses on the “Quiet at Night” variable, to identify the top box institutions and identify the key characteristics that enable [...]