Integrating Ambulatory Care Pharmacists Into Value-Based Primary Care: A Scalable Solution to Chronic Disease.

Introduction/objectives: Patients living with chronic diseases require more medical attention, including more visits to primary care. However, primary care providers are overburdened, and this specialty is attracting fewer new providers than before. Clinical pharmacists can augment these efforts by improving disease state control.

Patient Experience With Notification of Radiology Results: A Comparison of Direct Communication and Patient Portal Use.

Objective: Patients increasingly access radiology results through digital portals. We compared patient satisfaction and understanding of radiology results when received through an electronic patient portal versus direct communication from providers.

Methods: Patients were invited to participate in an online survey within 7 days of undergoing a radiology examination.

Promoting High-Value Practice by Reducing Unnecessary Transfusions With a Patient Blood Management Program.

Although blood transfusion is a lifesaving therapy for some patients, transfusion has been named 1 of the top 5 overused procedures in US hospitals. As unnecessary transfusions only increase risk and cost without providing benefit, improving transfusion practice is an effective way of promoting high-value care. Most high-quality clinical trials supporting a restrictive transfusion strategy have been published in the past 5 to 10 years, so the value of a successful patient blood management program has only recently been recognized.

Warm Handoffs: a Novel Strategy to Improve End-of-Rotation Care Transitions.

Background: Hospitalized medical patients undergoing transition of care by house staff teams at the end of a ward rotation are associated with an increased risk of mortality, yet best practices surrounding this transition are lacking.

Aim: To assess the impact of a warm handoff protocol for end-of-rotation care transitions.

Setting: A large, university-based internal medicine residency using three different training sites.

Reducing liberal red blood cell transfusions at an academic medical center.

Background: Educational and computerized interventions have been shown to reduce red blood cell (RBC) transfusion rates, yet controversy remains surrounding the optimal strategy needed to achieve sustained reductions in liberal transfusions.

Study Design And Methods: The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of clinician decision support (CDS) along with targeted education on liberal RBC utilization to four high-utilizing service lines compared with no education to control service lines across an academic medical center. Clinical data along with associated hemoglobin levels at the time of all transfusion orders between April 2014 and December 2015 were obtained via retrospective chart review.

Association Between End-of-Rotation Resident Transition in Care and Mortality Among Hospitalized Patients.

Importance: Shift-to-shift transitions in care among house staff are associated with adverse events. However, the association between end-of-rotation transition (in which care of the patient is transferred) and adverse events is uncertain.

Objective: To examine the association of end-of-rotation house staff transitions with mortality among hospitalized patients.