Burden of illness and costs in patients with myasthenia gravis currently receiving treatment in the United States.

Introduction/aims: If myasthenia gravis (MG) symptoms are inadequately controlled, patients may experience exacerbations or life-threatening myasthenic crises. Patients with inadequately controlled MG symptoms tend to be treated with chronic intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) therapy and/or multiple immunosuppressant therapies (ISTs). This study aimed to examine disease burden, healthcare resource utilization, and associated costs in these patients.

Associations between emergency department crowding and perceptions of interpersonal care in patients presenting with suspected acute coronary syndrome.

Background: Emergency department (ED) crowding is associated with numerous healthcare issues, but little is known about its effect on psychosocial aspects of patient-provider interactions or . We examined whether ED crowding was associated with perceptions of interpersonal care in patients evaluated for acute coronary syndrome (ACS).

Methods: Patients presenting to a quaternary academic medical centre ED in New York City for evaluation of suspected ACS were enrolled between November 2013 and December 2016.

Economic outcomes of depression screening after acute coronary syndromes: The CODIACS-QoL randomized clinical trial.

Objective: To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of screening for depression in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and no history of depression.

Methods: Cost-effectiveness analysis of a randomized trial enrolling 1500 patients with ACS between 2013 and 2017. Patients were randomized to no screening, screening and notifying the primary care provider (PCP), and screening, notifying the PCP, and providing enhanced depression treatment.

Design and study protocol for a cluster randomized trial of a multi-faceted implementation strategy to increase the uptake of the USPSTF hypertension screening recommendations: the EMBRACE study.

Background: The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends out-of-office blood pressure (BP) testing to exclude white coat hypertension prior to hypertension diagnosis. Despite improved availability and coverage of home and 24-h ambulatory BP monitoring (HBPM, ABPM), both are infrequently used to confirm diagnoses. We used the Behavior Change Wheel (BCW) framework, a multi-step process for mapping barriers to theory-informed behavior change techniques, to develop a multi-component implementation strategy for increasing out-of-office BP testing for hypertension diagnosis.

Endoscopic Algorithm for Management of Gastrointestinal Bleeding in Patients With Continuous Flow LVADs: A Prospective Validation Study.

Background: Gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB) is a common complication of left ventricular assist device (LVAD) therapy accounting for frequent hospitalizations and high resource utilization.

Methods: We previously developed an endoscopic algorithm emphasizing upfront evaluation of the small bowel and minimizing low-yield procedures in LVAD recipients with GIB. We compared the diagnostic and therapeutic yield of endoscopy, health-care costs, and re-bleeding rates between conventional GIB management and our algorithm using chi-square, Fisher's exact test, Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney, and Kaplan-Meier analysis.