Retrospective studies examining errors within a surgical scheduling setting do not fully represent the effects of human error involved in transcribing critical patient health information (PHI). These errors can negatively impact patient care and reduce workplace efficiency due to insurance claim denials and potential sentinel events. Previous reports underscore the burden physicians face with prior authorizations which may lead to serious adverse events or the abandonment of treatment due to these delays. This study simulates the process of PHI transfer during surgical scheduling to examine the error rate of experienced schedulers when manually transferring PHI from surgical forms into electronic health records (EHR).

Nurses' documentation of communication, including notification of critical laboratory results (CLR), is important to ensure safe, high-quality care. Evidence supports peer audit with feedback as a quality improvement (QI) intervention to improve documentation. Nursing compliance with CLR documentation requirements was below goal for several years in an intensive care unit. To address this problem, a peer audit and feedback intervention was implemented and evaluated.

Bundled interventions and auditing have been recommended to reduce central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) events at acute care hospitals. We review the outcomes of a bundle audit program at an adult and pediatric academic medical center from April 1, 2021, to May 31, 2022.

Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is the most common form of skin cancer, originating from basal cells in the skin's outer layer. It frequently arises from prolonged exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun or tanning beds. Although BCC rarely metastasizes, it can cause significant local tissue damage if left untreated. Early detection is essential to prevent extensive damage and potential disfigurement. The United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) currently remains uncertain about the benefits and potential harms of routine skin cancer screenings in asymptomatic individuals. This paper evaluates the accuracy of predicting BCC using patients' medical histories to address this uncertainty and support early detection efforts.

Hospitals offered remote health care services to enable seamless and safe execution of health care operations during the pandemic while ensuring all stakeholders' quality of life and well-being. We explore various push and pull motivational factors that can influence customers' intentions to adopt remote health care services. We also examine the mediating role of perceived health care quality in light of their hedonic experience during the pandemic.

Cataract surgery is common and low-risk. Preoperative evaluation and preoperative testing have not been shown to improve patient outcomes but do increase cost. Our process improvement aimed to reduce unnecessary preoperative primary care evaluation for cataract surgery.

Compliance rates for follow-up appointments are an issue for postoperative sleeve gastrectomy (SG) patients. Without consistent reinforcement and monitoring of patient progress, patients tend to gain the weight back, all of the medical improvements made are lost, and the ability to access patients for potential complications is denied. Patients need much reinforcement during their forever bariatric lifestyle, and the lack of consistent reminders may contribute to follow-up noncompliance and recidivism in SG patients. As time progresses, the follow-up appointment compliance rate decreases. Decreased follow-up can lead to a higher risk for complications such as asymptomatic esophagitis, and current recommendations suggest that esophagogastroduodenoscopy screening should occur 3 years postoperatively. After 1 year, the follow-up compliance decreases dramatically so that by the 3-year postoperative period, very few patients are being seen and scheduled for interventions such as an esophagogastroduodenoscopy. The objective of this quality improvement project was to evaluate the effectiveness of a patient educational handout on SG bariatric patient follow-up visit compliance.

Individuals with low income or from minoritized racial or ethnic groups experience a high burden of hypertension and other chronic conditions (eg, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, and mental health conditions) and often lack access to specialist care when compared to their more socially advantaged counterparts. We used a mixed-methods approach to describe the deployment of a Remote Collaborative Specialist Panel intervention aimed at the comprehensive and coordinated management of patients with hypertension and comorbid conditions to address health disparities.

Unnecessary care delays of hospitalized patients increase the risk of hospital-related complications and drive up health care costs. While health systems focus on reducing the length of stay of hospitalized patients, not many studies looked at specific causes of the care delays that prolong length of stay. In this study, we sought to systematically identify and categorize the various care delays that contribute to prolonged length of stay on a hospital medicine service.

Fever is a frequent cause of consultation in the pediatric emergency department (PED). Adequate discharge instructions are essential to guarantee good management at home and can reduce caregivers' anxiety and re-consultations. This study compares the improvement of caregivers' knowledge regarding fever between verbal discharge instructions and the addition of a video to verbal information. As a secondary outcome, we compared the rate of return visits.

Medical risks are considered to endanger patients and impact the health care system. Such iatrogenic risks necessitate hospitals taking a more proactive method to quantitatively analyze medical risk, and then to implement more targeted precautions. To address this problem, a novel quantitative risk assessment framework is proposed and further applied in radiotherapy risk assessment.

The Transforming Clinical Practices Initiative (TCPI) was a 4-year, large-scale, collaborative, peer-based learning initiative for physician practices of all specialties with broad goals to improve the quality of patient care, spend health care dollars more wisely, and assist practices in being ready to succeed under value-based payment (VBP). We investigated whether the COVID-19 pandemic had erased or diminished practice transformation progress made during the TCPI program period, through a follow-up survey of participating practices fielded in October 2021.

Value-based payment programs link payments to the performance of providers on cost and quality of care to incentivize high-value care. To improve quality and lower costs, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) implemented the Quality Payment Program (QPP) for clinicians in 2017. Under the Medicare QPP, most eligible clinicians participate in one of the payment models: (a) Advanced Alternative Payment Models (A-APMs) through eligible APMs like Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) or (b) the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). ACO and MIPS clinicians participating in QPP differ in quality reporting requirements, and these differences are likely to affect the utilization of different quality measures, including preventive services. This study evaluated the differences in the utilization of preventive services by primary care clinicians participating in MIPS and ACOs.

Daily rounds provide an opportunity for interprofessional collaboration and patient/family engagement, which are critical to stroke care. As part of a quality improvement program, we conducted a baseline assessment to examine interprofessional collaboration and patient/family engagement during the current rounding process in a 12-bed comprehensive stroke center. Findings from the baseline assessment will be used to inform the development, implementation, and evaluation of a new rounding model.