INTRODUCTION To assess the impact of new therapeutic strategies on outcome and cost of hospitalization among patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) who are mechanically ventilated in United States. METHODS Using a retrospective analysis of cross sectional survey, we determined the rates of occurrence, in-hospital outcomes, and mean hospital charges for patients hospitalized with MG requiring me...

INTRODUCTION New treatments for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) have been introduced and are expected to improve patients' overall outcomes. We assessed the impact of new therapeutic strategies on outcome and cost of hospitalization among adult patients with AIS in the United States. METHODS Patients with AIS admitted in the United States in 1993-1994 and 2006-2007 were listed using the Nationwid...

BACKGROUND Hospital inpatient complications are one of a number of adverse health care outcomes. Reducing complications has been identified as an approach to improving care and saving resources as part of the health care reform efforts in the United States.An objective of this study was to describe the Potentially Preventable Complications software developed as a tool for evaluating hospital in...

Information about a new or non-frequently purchased product is often produced by both sides of the market. We construct a monopoly pricing model consisting of both seller’s information disclosure and consumer’s information acquisition. The presence of consumer search, which lowers the probability of making sales, creates incentive for the monopolist to deter search. In contrast with most previo...

HYPOTHESIS Methamphetamine use affects length of hospital stay in the minimally injured patient. DESIGN Case series. SETTING The only tertiary trauma center serving Hawaii. PATIENTS Trauma patients examined during a 12-month period with an Injury Severity Score of 1 to 5 and an age of 18 to 55 years undergoing urine toxicology screen for suspected suicide attempt or altered sensorium. M...

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of rural hospital closure on access to and costs of medical care. State all-payers hospital discharge data were utilized to test the hypotheses that hospital market areas that experienced hospital closure would have lower admission rates, longer average length of stay and higher costs per admission than hospital market areas where hospitals re...

OBJECTIVES A mass casualty incident (MCI) may strain a health care system beyond surge capacity, affecting patterns of care for casualties and other patients. Prior studies of MCIs have assessed clinical care for casualty patients, but have not examined outcomes or expenditures for noncasualty inpatients in the same time period. METHODS This was a retrospective analysis of administrative hosp...

PURPOSE This study compared in-hospital mortality within 30 days of admission, lengths of stay, and inpatient charges among patients with heart failure admitted to public and private hospitals in South Korea. MATERIALS AND METHODS We obtained health insurance claims data for all heart failure inpatients nationwide between November 1, 2011 and May 31, 2012. These data were then matched with ho...

BACKGROUND Pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) is a complex general surgical procedure originally associated with significant perioperative morbidity and mortality. Multiple studies have now shown that this operation can be performed quite safely at high-volume institutions that develop a particular expertise. Critical pathways are among the key tools used to achieve consistently excellent outcomes at...