A Granular View of Emergency Department Length of Stay: Improving Predictive Power and Extracting Real-Time, Actionable Insights.

Study Objective: Improved understanding of factors affecting prolonged emergency department (ED) length of stay is crucial to improving patient outcomes. Our investigation builds on prior work by considering ED length of stay in operationally distinct time periods and using benchmark and novel machine learning techniques applied only to data that would be available to ED operators in real time.

Methods: This study was a retrospective review of patient visits over 1 year at 2 urban EDs, including 1 academic and 1 academically affiliated ED, and 2 suburban, community EDs.

Risk of persistent air leaks following percutaneous cryoablation and microwave ablation of peripheral lung tumors.

Objectives: To compare the incidence of persistent air leak (PAL) following cryoablation vs MWA of lung tumors when the ablation zone includes the pleura.

Methods: This bi-institutional retrospective cohort study evaluated consecutive peripheral lung tumors treated with cryoablation or MWA from 2006 to 2021. PAL was defined as an air leak for more than 24 h after chest tube placement or an enlarging postprocedural pneumothorax requiring chest tube placement.

Comparison of expected imaging findings following percutaneous microwave and cryoablation of pulmonary tumors: ablation zones and thoracic lymph nodes.

Objective: To compare temporal changes of ablation zones and lymph nodes following lung microwave ablation (MWA) and cryoablation.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study compared lung ablation zones and thoracic lymph nodes following MWA and cryoablation performed 2006-2020. In the ablation zone cohort, ablation zone volumes were measured on serial CT for 12 months.

Identifying patterns in administrative tasks through structural topic modeling: A study of task definitions, prevalence, and shifts in a mental health practice's operations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objective: This case study illustrates the use of natural language processing for identifying administrative task categories, prevalence, and shifts necessitated by a major event (the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic) from user-generated data stored as free text in a task management system for a multisite mental health practice with 40 clinicians and 13 administrative staff members.

Materials And Methods: Structural topic modeling was applied on 7079 task sequences from 13 administrative users of a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-compliant task management platform. Context was obtained through interviews with an expert panel.

Active Versus Passive Thaw After Percutaneous Cryoablation of Pulmonary Tumors: Effect on Incidence, Grade, and Onset of Hemoptysis.

Hemoptysis is common after percutaneous image-guided cryoablation of pulmonary tumors. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the effect of a final active thaw on the incidence, grade, and onset of hemoptysis after percutaneous cryoablation of pulmonary tumors. This retrospective cohort study included 60 consecutive CT-guided cryoablation sessions targeting 95 pulmonary tumors in 47 patients from March 2017 to September 2020.

Impact of the Medicare hospital readmissions reduction program on vulnerable populations.

Background: The Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP) was established by the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) in an effort to reduce excess hospital readmissions, lower health care costs, and improve patient safety and outcomes. Although studies have examined the policy's overall impacts and differences by hospital types, research is limited on its effects for different types of vulnerable populations. The aim of this study was to analyze the impact of the HRRP on readmissions for three targeted conditions (acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, and pneumonia) among four types of vulnerable populations, including low-income patients, patients served by hospitals that serve a high percentage of low-income or Medicaid patients, and high-risk patients at the highest quartile of the Elixhauser comorbidity index score.