Association of Socioeconomic Area Deprivation Index with Hospital Readmissions After Colon and Rectal Surgery.

Background: Risk adjustment for reimbursement and quality measures omits social risk factors despite adversely affecting health outcomes. Social risk factors are not usually available in electronic health records (EHR) or administrative data. Socioeconomic status can be assessed by using US Census data.

Cost of Unnecessary Amylase and Lipase Testing at Multiple Academic Health Systems.

Objectives: To determine adherence to Choosing Wisely recommendations for using serum lipase to diagnose acute pancreatitis rather than amylase, avoiding concurrent amylase/lipase testing and avoiding serial measurements after the first elevated test as both are ineffective for tracking disease course.

Methods: Deidentified laboratory data from four large health systems were analyzed to determine concurrent testing rates, serial testing rates, and provider-ordering patterns.

Results: While most providers adhered to recommendations with 58,693 lipase-only tests ordered and performed, 86% of amylase tests were performed concurrently with lipase.