Does Anesthesia Quality Improvement Participation Lead to Incremental Savings in a Surgical Quality Collaborative Population? A Retrospective Observational Study.

Background: The Anesthesiology Performance Improvement and Reporting Exchange (ASPIRE) Collaborative Quality Initiative (CQI) was launched as a partnership among hospitals to measure quality, review evidence-based practices, and improve anesthesia-related outcomes. Cost savings and improved patient outcomes have been associated with surgical CQI participation, but the impact of an anesthesia CQI on health care cost has not been thoroughly assessed. In this study, we evaluated whether participation in an anesthesia CQI led to health care savings.

Hospital performance in a statewide commercial insurer episode-based incentive program.

Objectives: To evaluate hospital performance and behaviors in the first 2 years of a statewide commercial insurance episode-based incentive pay-for-performance (P4P) program.

Study Design: Retrospective cohort study of price- and risk-standardized episode-of-care spending from the Michigan Value Collaborative claims data registry.

Methods: Changes in hospital-level episode spending between baseline and performance years were estimated during the program years (PYs) 2018 and 2019.

Health-Care Patterns for Three Common Elective Surgeries: Implications for Bundled Payment Models.

Introduction: The study objectives were to assess the timing, duration, and nature of health-care service utilization before and after three common elective surgical procedures not currently included in federal episode-based bundled payment programs.

Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study of patients undergoing one of three low-risk surgical procedures (breast reduction, upper extremity nerve decompression, and panniculectomy) between 2010 and 2017 using a private insurer's national claims database. All professional and facility billing claims for health-care services were identified during the 12-mo preoperative and 12-mo postoperative periods for each patient.

Practical evaluation of a warm-reactive anti-M.

Anti-M is usually a naturally occurring antibody directed against M in the MNS blood group system. It does not require exposure to the antigen from previous transfusion or pregnancy. Anti-M is usually of the immunoglobulin M (IgM) isotype, binds best at about 4°C, binds well at room temperature, and rarely binds at 37°C.