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BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE STUDY: The aim of this investigation was to examine the impact of hospital annual mitral volume on mitral valve (MV) repair rates and mortality. METHODS: The 2005-2008 Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) database was searched to identify patients who had undergone either MV repair (ICD-9-CM code 35.12) or MV replacement (ICD-9-CM codes 35.23 and 35.24). The hospitals were stratified into five categories based on the annual volume of all mitral procedures (< 10, 10-20, 21-40, 41-79, and > or = 80 cases/year). The relationship between hospital annual mitral procedure volume and MV repair rates, as well as hospital mortality for MV repair, was then examined for patients undergoing isolated MV surgery (excluding those aged < 30 years and those with congenital heart disease, concomitant coronary revascularization, ventricular aneurysm excision, heart transplant and other valvular interventions, except tricuspid). Chi-square tests of independence were used to test for differences between the mitral volume categories, and Cochran-Armitage tests to check for trends across the years. RESULTS: The sample included a total of 12,857 patients from 603 hospitals. Mitral repair rates increased as a function of hospital mitral volume, ranging from 34% for hospitals with < 10 mitral cases/year to 53% for hospitals with > or = 80 mitral cases/year. Follow up comparisons revealed that an annual mitral volume of > 40 cases/year was associated with a significantly higher rate of MV repair (p < 0.005). There was a significant trend of increasing MV repair rates over time for hospitals with annual mitral volumes of 20-40 and 41-79 cases/year (p = 0.0001). The MV repair mortality ranged from 1.33% to 2.29%, and did not differ among hospitals as a function of the annual mitral volume (p = 0.2982). CONCLUSION: Mortality after MV repair was low, and independent of the hospital annual mitral volume. A hospital annual mitral volume of fewer than 40 cases per year was associated with a lower rate of MV repair. Addressing the factors responsible for this finding constitutes an important area for future improvement in the care of patients with MV disease.

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OBJECTIVE: To examine the impact of diagnostic coding error on estimates of hospital costs attributable to adverse events. DATA SOURCES: Original and reabstracted medical records of 9,670 complex medical and surgical admissions at 11 hospital corporations in Ontario from 2002 to 2004. Patient specific costs, not including physician payments, were retrieved from the Ontario Case Costing Initiative database. STUDY DESIGN: Adverse events were identified among the original and reabstracted records using ICD10-CA (Canadian adaptation of ICD10) codes flagged as postadmission complications. Propensity score matching and multivariate regression analysis were used to estimate the cost of the adverse events and to determine the sensitivity of cost estimates to diagnostic coding error. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Estimates of the cost of the adverse events ranged from $16,008 (metabolic derangement) to $30,176 (upper gastrointestinal bleeding). Coding errors caused the total cost attributable to the adverse events to be underestimated by 16 percent. The impact of coding error on adverse event cost estimates was highly variable at the organizational level. CONCLUSIONS: Estimates of adverse event costs are highly sensitive to coding error. Adverse event costs may be significantly underestimated if the likelihood of error is ignored.

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OBJECTIVE: To describe the effect of implementing an evidence-based clinical practice guideline for the inpatient care of infants with bronchiolitis at the Children's Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. METHODOLOGY: A multidisciplinary team generated the guideline for infants < or = 1 year old who were admitted to the hospital with a first-time episode of typical bronchiolitis. The guideline was implemented January 15, 1997, and data on all patients admitted with bronchiolitis from that date through March 27, 1997, were compared with data on similar patients admitted in the same periods in the years 1993 through 1996. Data were extracted from hospital charts and clinical and financial databases. They included LOS and use and costs of resources ancillary to bed occupancy. RESULTS: After implementation of the guideline, admissions decreased 29% and mean LOS decreased 17%. Nasopharyngeal washings for respiratory syncytial virus were obtained in 52% fewer patients. Twenty percent fewer chest radiographs were ordered. There were significant reductions in the use of all respiratory therapies, with a 30% decrease in the use of at least 1 beta-agonist inhalation therapy. In addition, 51% fewer repeated inhalations were administered. Mean costs for all resources ancillary to bed occupancy decreased 37%. Mean costs for respiratory care services decreased 77%. CONCLUSIONS: An evidence-based clinical practice guideline for managing bronchiolitis was highly successful in modifying care during its first year of implementation.guideline, bronchiolitis, evidence-based medicine, pediatrics, outcome research.

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At the request of the regional authority, the system of traceability of blood products in the Midi-Pyrenees area in France was assessed using available documentation, visits and interviews of participants. We studied the time needed to obtain traceability data in the Blood Banks and the reactivity of the system defined as the time needed to carry out a simulated descending transfusional survey. This information allowed us to assess usefulness and cost of the system, its applicability and the timeliness of information, according to the criteria of the Centers for Disease Control. The system is based on a standardized nominative form for the delivery of blood products and specific feedback. For the participants, traceability makes transfusional surveys easier and improves transfusions safety. In two of the 130 hospitals, the system is linked to the "program of medicalization of information systems". In the 2nd semester of 1996, the traceability proportion was 97%. For a given date of distribution, 75% of blood products were traced in 14 days and 83% in a month. The study of reactivity showed that all donations coming from two randomly chosen blood collection sites could be traced in about 2 hours. This first evaluation of a regional system of traceability showed its feasibility and acceptability, based on evaluation criteria of a public health surveillance system. A continuous evaluation process would be necessary to assess the good functioning of the system and to detect and prevent possible deficiencies.

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Hospitals run on paper, or sometimes so it seems. The patient accounts department at Cabell Huntington Hospital was having an increasingly difficult time handling the hospital's growing patient accounts load, which was creating a forest of paperwork to be processed, filed, retrieved, updated, and refiled.

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By combining bar code scanning technology with computer-assisted record retrieval technology, St. Vincent Hospital and Healthcare Center in Indianapolis, Ind., has automated its patient financial records management operation. In the process, the hospital has not only streamlined its account management process, but has also reduced labor and storage costs and improved access to patient information.

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