Surgical Treatment of Single-Level Lumbar Stenosis Is Associated with Lower 2-Year Mortality and Total Cost Compared with Nonsurgical Treatment: A Risk-Adjusted, Paired Analysis.

Background: Spine surgery has demonstrated cost-effectiveness in reducing pain and restoring function, but the impact of spine surgery relative to nonsurgical care on longer-term outcomes has been less well described. Our objective was to compare single-level surgical treatment for lumbar stenosis, with or without spondylolisthesis, and nonsurgical treatment with respect to patient mortality, resource utilization, and health-care payments over the first 2 years following initial treatment.

Methods: A retrospective review of the Medicare National Database Fee for Service Files from 2011 to 2017 was performed.

Extended-age Out-of-sample Validation of Risk Stratification Index 3.0 Models Using Commercial All-payer Claims.

Background: The authors previously reported a broad suite of individualized Risk Stratification Index 3.0 (Health Data Analytics Institute, Inc., USA) models for various meaningful outcomes in patients admitted to a hospital for medical or surgical reasons.

Risk Stratification Index 3.0, a Broad Set of Models for Predicting Adverse Events during and after Hospital Admission.

Background: Risk stratification helps guide appropriate clinical care. Our goal was to develop and validate a broad suite of predictive tools based on International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, diagnostic and procedural codes for predicting adverse events and care utilization outcomes for hospitalized patients.

Methods: Endpoints included unplanned hospital admissions, discharge status, excess length of stay, in-hospital and 90-day mortality, acute kidney injury, sepsis, pneumonia, respiratory failure, and a composite of major cardiac complications.

Covid-19 and excess mortality in medicare beneficiaries.

We estimated excess mortality in Medicare recipients in the United States with probable and confirmed Covid-19 infections in the general community and amongst residents of long-term care (LTC) facilities. We considered 28,389,098 Medicare and dual-eligible recipients from one year before February 29, 2020 through September 30, 2020, with mortality followed through November 30th, 2020. Probable and confirmed Covid-19 diagnoses, presumably mostly symptomatic, were determined from ICD-10 codes.

Association Between First-Line Immune Checkpoint Inhibition and Survival for Medicare-Insured Patients With Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

Importance: Immunotherapy is now a cornerstone of treatment for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), but its uptake and effectiveness among older patients outside clinical trials remain poorly understood.

Objective: To understand treatment patterns and evaluate the overall survival associated with checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy, cytotoxic chemotherapy, and combined chemoimmunotherapy for older patients who have advanced NSCLC and Medicare coverage.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This retrospective cohort study included Medicare-insured patients in the US aged 66 to 89 years who initiated first palliative-intent systemic therapy for lung cancer between January 1, 2016, and December 31, 2018.