The direct and indirect costs of long bone fractures in a working age US population.

Objective: Information regarding the burden of fractures is limited, especially among working age patients. The objective of this study was to evaluate the direct and indirect costs associated with long bone fractures in a working age population using real-world claims data.

Methods: This was a claims-based retrospective analysis, comparing adult patients in the 6 months before and 6 months after a long bone fracture between 1/1/2001 and 12/31/2008 using the MarketScan Research Databases.

Programmable infusion pumps in ICUs: an analysis of corresponding adverse drug events.

Background: Patients in intensive care units (ICUs) frequently experience adverse drug events involving intravenous medications (IV-ADEs), which are often preventable.

Objectives: To determine how frequently preventable IV-ADEs in ICUs match the safety features of a programmable infusion pump with safety software ("smart pump") and to suggest potential improvements in smart-pump design.

Design: Using retrospective medical-record review, we examined preventable IV-ADEs in ICUs before and after 2 hospitals replaced conventional pumps with smart pumps.

Costs of intravenous adverse drug events in academic and nonacademic intensive care units.

Background: Adverse drug events (ADEs), particularly those involving intravenous medications (IV-ADEs), are common among intensive care unit (ICU) patients and may increase hospitalization costs. Precise cost estimates have not been reported for academic ICUs, and no studies have included nonacademic ICUs.

Objectives: To estimate increases in costs and length of stay after IV-ADEs at an academic and a nonacademic hospital.

Federal investment in health information technology: how to motivate it?

Health care market failures include inefficient standard making, problems with coordination among local providers to optimize care, and inability to measure quality accurately, inexpensively, or reliably. Study of other industries suggests policy directions for health information technology and the magnitude of gains from improving market functioning, which are very large. A perspective drawn from U.