April 2020

Patients with higher LACE+ index scores have significantly greater risk of unplanned readmission, emergency department visits, and reoperation after plastic surgery.

Primary care physicians who address multiple problems during acute care visits achieve better clinical scores, comparable patient experience, and lower annual cost.

Healthcare professionals report pain management barriers across system, provider, and patient levels, highlighting the need to consider chronic pain as a chronic condition that warrants coordinated approaches.

Patients with publicly sponsored insurance who were listed for liver transplantation have worse wait-list and posttransplant outcomes, as shown using the US Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (2001-2017).

To mark the 25th anniversary of the journal, each issue in 2020 will include an interview with a healthcare thought leader. For the April issue, we turned to Sherry Glied, PhD, dean of New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.

Claims data analysis showed that 60% of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) receiving triple therapy had no evidence of exacerbation or only 1 exacerbation not resulting in hospitalization.

Partnering teams for delivery of continuity of care between primary care and community behavioral health systems can learn from e-consult implementation.

Analysis of spending differences among accountable care organizations (ACOs) may help identify cost savings opportunities. We examined the magnitude and sources of spending variation among ACOs over 4 years.

Collaborative care plans combined with provider education resulted in significant reductions in referrals to specialists without an apparent increase in the rate of emergency department visits or hospital admissions.

The Patient-Driven Payment Model addresses perverse incentives in Medicare’s previous payment system for skilled nursing facilities, but it includes new incentives that may be problematic.

Elevated glucose levels are common in solid-organ transplant recipients and associated with short- and long-term mortality risks in hospitalized transplant recipients. This increased mortality risk was independent of age, gender, smoking, alcohol, or comorbidities.

A reported penicillin allergy was common and was associated with suboptimal antibiotic choices and increased healthcare utilization in high-cost, high-need patients.

Healthcare providers should revisit disaster response policies to incorporate telemedicine systems to address some of the unique challenges posed by infectious disease outbreaks such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).