Hospital Medicare Spending per Beneficiary: A Longitudinal Study.

Goal: While studies have examined quality and health outcomes related to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS's) Hospital Value-Based Purchasing (HVBP) Program, a significant gap exists in the literature regarding the relationship between pay-for-performance initiatives and hospital financial performance in the program's Efficiency and Cost Reduction domain. This study examined the association between hospitals' cost inefficiency and participation in the HVBP Program by estimating the probability and magnitude of improvement or achievement in the program's Efficiency and Cost Reduction domain.

Methods: The 2014-2019 Efficiency and Cost Reduction domain data were obtained from CMS and merged with the American Hospital Association's Annual Survey Database.

Exploring an Innovative Approach to Enhance Discussion Board Engagement.

Online discussion boards are a standard learning management system (LMS) instructional tool used in the emerging online learning pedagogy. This pilot study examined an innovative approach that differs from how discussion boards have been commonly used. Using a retrospective, cross-sectional design, we evaluated the effect of shifting from traditional teacher and student-generated prompts to using student-generated videos with higher-order discussion questions to gauge student perceptions of peer feedback and engagement.

Patterns and trends in local health departments' efforts to promote access to care in local communities throughout the United States: The contributions of governance structures.

Public health agencies like local health departments (LHDs) play an important role in addressing healthcare access disparities and service delivery gaps in local communities throughout the United States. Previous research has provided important snapshots into specific access issues confronted by LHDs; however, the literature lacks a more comprehensive view of LHDs' efforts to ensure broad access to care, how these have evolved over time more recently, and whether certain types of LHDs governance structures are more likely to engage in activities to ensure access to care. The purpose of this study was to address these gaps in the literature by exploring the prevalence of different activities to ensure access to care, describing how the prevalence of these activities have evolved over time, and examining whether the prevalence of these activities varied as a function of different governance structures.

All-Cause 30-Day Readmission and Mortality: How the Health of Community Affects Magnet® Performance.

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine whether Magnet® and non-Magnet hospitals differ in the occurrence of 30-day readmission and mortality rates among the Medicare population when considering community health factors.

Background: Magnet hospitals have shown favorable outcomes regarding 30-day readmission and mortality; however, previous research has not evaluated whether the hospital community influences the likelihood of the patient being readmitted to a hospital or how Magnet facilities may mitigate potential mortality risks.

Method: This study used a cross-sectional study design of 1791 hospitals using a propensity score matching technique to compare Magnet and non-Magnet hospitals with similar hospital and community characteristics.

COVID-19 Deaths and the Impact of Health Disparities, Hospital Characteristics, Community, Social Distancing, and Health System Competition.

The United States has one of the highest cumulative mortalities of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and has reached 1 million deaths as of May 19th, 2022. Understanding which community and hospital factors contributed to disparities in COVID-19 mortality is important to inform public health strategies. This study aimed to explore the potential relationship between hospital service area (1) community (ie, health professional shortage areas, market competition, and uninsured percentage) and (2) hospital (ie, teaching, system, and ownership status) characteristics (2013-2018) on publicly available COVD-19 (February to October 2020) mortality data.

Assessing the Impact of Interorganizational Linkages on Medical Home Model Adoption by U.S. Acute Care Hospitals.

The medical home model aims to increase care coordination and health care quality. While the adoption of the model has been increasing, the role of U.S.

The Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program: Do hospitalists improve health care value.

Introduction: As healthcare organizations examine the associated benefits of employing a larger hospitalist workforce, there is a need to better understand the association with patients' quality, experience, and efficiency. However, there is a lack of information regarding how hospital use of hospitalists over time influences hospital scoring on quality programs, such as the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Inpatient Value-Based Purchasing (HVBP) Program. This study examines the association between hospitalist staffing between 2014 and 2019 and HVBP scores.

Association of hospital and community factors on the attainment of Baby-Friendly designation: A breastfeeding health promotion.

The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative is a global health promotion intervention that outlines the Ten Steps hospitals should implement to support newborns' breastfeeding. This US-based study aimed to determine which hospital characteristics and community factors are associated with hospitals' attainment of Baby-Friendly designation. We used a cross-sectional design and used 2018 data from the Baby-Friendly, USA Inc.

Generation and Use of Evidence by Local Health Departments: The Role of Leader Attributes.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine whether certain types of leaders were associated with the degree to which local health departments (LHDs) generate and use evidence to inform their service offering.

Design: Pooled, cross-sectional analysis using 4 waves (2010, 2013, 2016, and 2019) of the National Profiles of Local Health Departments sponsored by the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO). Univariate analysis was used to assess the extent to which LHDs were generating and using evidence to improve the health of their local communities and whether this changed over time.

Hospital Geographic Location and Unexpected Complications in term Newborns in Florida.

Introduction: Birth trauma rates in term of neonates is a quality measure used by the Joint Commission. In the United States birth trauma rates occurs at a rate of 37 per 1000 live births and are on the decline. However, this decline has been significantly lower among term neonates born in rural facilities.

Race to the Top of the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program.

Medicare's Hospital Valued-Based Purchasing (HVBP) program measures hospitals' total performance score (TPS); its measurement strategies have changed regularly since its rollout in 2013. Because the program influences care delivery, it is important to examine how the policy has changed hospitals' behavior and how it may inform future policies. The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between hospitals' performance on TPS annually from 2013 to 2018 and organizational characteristics.

A cross-sectional study of trauma certification and hospital referral region diversity: A system theory approach.

Background: There are clear racial/ethnic disparities in the trauma care service delivery. However, no study has examined the relationships between structural determinants of trauma care designations (L-I through L-IV) or verification and social factors of the surrounding health region in the U.S.

Hospital-Acquired Conditions Reduction Program, Patient Safety, and Magnet Designation in the United States.

Objective: The aim of the study was to investigate the association between hospitals' nursing excellence accreditation and patient safety performance-measured by the Hospital-Acquired Conditions Reduction Program (HACRP).

Methods: We linked data from the American Nursing Credentialing Center Magnet Recognition Program, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services HACRP, and the American Hospital Association annual survey from 2014 to 2016. We constrained the analysis to hospitals participating in Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' HACRP and deployed propensity score matching models to calculate the coefficients for our HACRP patient safety measures.

Medicare' Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction Program and Community Diversity in the United States: The Need to Account for Racial and Ethnic Segregation.

This study investigated the association between community diversity within hospitals' referral region (HRR) and hospital-acquired conditions (HACs) incident rate among adults ages ≥ 65 years. HRR level ( = 274) HACs were examined and the analysis showed that high diverse communities (OR 1.48, 95% CI [1.

Impact of hospitals' Referral Region racial and ethnic diversity on 30-day readmission rates of older adults.

: The Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP) began decreasing Medicare payments to hospitals reporting high readmission rates for individuals over 65. Thus, financially incentivizing hospitals to improve quality performance on preventable readmissions. Well-established research indicates that minorities are more frequently readmitted to hospitals, but it is unknown if community diversity is associated with 30-day readmission rates.