Underreporting of Hepatitis B and C virus infections - Pennsylvania, 2001-2015.

Context: In Pennsylvania, reporting of viral hepatitis B (HBV) and viral hepatitis C (HCV) infections to CDC has been mandated since 2002. Underreporting of HBV and HCV infections has long been identified as a problem. Few reports have described the accuracy of state surveillance case registries for recording clinically-confirmed cases of HBV and HCV infections, or the characteristics of populations associated with lower rates of reporting.

All-Cause Mortality and Progression Risks to Hepatic Decompensation and Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Patients Infected With Hepatitis C Virus.

Background: A key question in care of patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is beginning treatment immediately vs delaying treatment. Risks of mortality and disease progression in "real world" settings are important to assess the implications of delaying HCV treatment.

Methods: This was a cohort study of HCV patients identified from 4 integrated health systems in the United States who had liver biopsies during 2001-2012.

Patient satisfaction and physician productivity: complementary or mutually exclusive?

Motivating physicians to increase productivity and maximize patient satisfaction may result in conflicted behavior, raising questions about whether one must be sacrificed for the other. To determine if high satisfaction (measured by Press Ganey patient satisfaction survey) can be achieved while maintaining high productivity (measured in McGladrey relative value units, MRVU), longitudinal data collected from January 2002 to July 2004 were modeled using repeated measures regression. A total of 136 000 patient-completed satisfaction questionnaires evaluating 417 physicians were collected for analysis.