Publications by authors named "J W Sweetenham"

Objectives: Despite widespread efforts to reduce emergency department (ED) visits, patients newly diagnosed with cancer often use the ED for commonly anticipated acute care needs. Existing delivery innovations to reduce ED use are underused, and reasons for this are not understood. Patients who recently visited the ED may provide insights into these patterns of care.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to investigate how the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and its Medicaid expansion impacted insurance coverage and survival rates for patients with HIV-related aggressive lymphoma.
  • Researchers analyzed data from the National Cancer Database, focusing on adults diagnosed between 2007 and 2016 to compare survival outcomes between states that adopted Medicaid expansion and those that did not.
  • The results indicated a significant decrease in uninsured individuals and a marked improvement in 2-year survival rates for patients in Medicaid expansion states (7.17% increase), suggesting that the ACA positively affected health outcomes in this population.
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Background: Internet-based health education is increasingly vital in patient care. However, the readability of online information often exceeds the average reading level of the US population, limiting accessibility and comprehension. This study investigates the use of chatbot artificial intelligence to improve the readability of cancer-related patient-facing content.

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Objectives: Adults with a new diagnosis of cancer frequently visit emergency departments (EDs) for disease- and treatment-related issues, although not exclusively. Many cancer care providers have 24/7 clinician phone triage available, but initial recorded phone messages tend to advise patients to go to the nearest ED if they are "experiencing a medical emergency." It is unclear how well patients triage themselves to the optimal site of care.

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