Learning Using Concave and Convex Kernels: Applications in Predicting Quality of Sleep and Level of Fatigue in Fibromyalgia.

Fibromyalgia is a medical condition characterized by widespread muscle pain and tenderness and is often accompanied by fatigue and alteration in sleep, mood, and memory. Poor sleep quality and fatigue, as prominent characteristics of fibromyalgia, have a direct impact on patient behavior and quality of life. As such, the detection of extreme cases of sleep quality and fatigue level is a prerequisite for any intervention that can improve sleep quality and reduce fatigue level for people with fibromyalgia and enhance their daytime functionality.

Snapshot of hospital quality reporting and pay-for-performance under Medicare.

This paper examines the impact that Medicare pay-for-performance (P4P) might have upon hospital payment. It uses the initial two quarters of a national quality database to model financial gains or losses using the Premier Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration rules, as well as the P4P approach recommended by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC). Findings reveal variation among all types of hospitals and across all measures within each of the three conditions studied: heart attack, heart failure, and pneumonia.