Harnessing the power of enhanced data for healthcare quality improvement: lessons from a Minnesota Hospital Association Pilot Project.

The imperative to achieve quality improvement and cost-containment goals is driving healthcare organizations to make better use of existing health information. One strategy, the construction of hybrid data sets combining clinical and administrative data, has strong potential to improve the cost-effectiveness of hospital quality reporting processes, improve the accuracy of quality measures and rankings, and strengthen data systems. Through a two-year contract with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Minnesota Hospital Association launched a pilot project in 2007 to link hospital clinical information to administrative data. Despite some initial challenges, this project was successful. Results showed that the use of hybrid data allowed for more accurate comparisons of risk-adjusted mortality and risk-adjusted complications across Minnesota hospitals. These increases in accuracy represent an important step toward targeting quality improvement efforts in Minnesota and provide important lessons that are being leveraged through ongoing projects to construct additional enhanced data sets. We explore the implementation challenges experienced during the Minnesota Pilot Project and their implications for hospitals pursuing similar data-enhancement projects. We also highlight the key lessons learned from the pilot project's success.

Severe Aplastic Anemia After Receiving SARS-CoV-2 Moderna mRNA Vaccination.

A 60-year-old male patient presented to the emergency department with complaints of easy bruising and worsening epistaxis after receiving severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Moderna mRNA vaccination. He had no personal or family history of hematological conditions. He had bruises in various stages involving the upper and lower extremities. Laboratory data revealed white blood cell count of 1.2 ×103/mm3, hemoglobin of 8.0 g/dL, platelet count of 1 ×103/mm3, immature platelet fraction of 0.7%, absolute neutrophil count of 0 ×103/µL, lymphocytes of 1.1 ×103/µL, neutrophils of 3% and lymphocytes of 93%. He had normal liver and renal function tests. Bone marrow biopsy confirmed very severe aplastic anemia with severely hypocellular bone marrow. His platelets continued to downtrend despite platelet transfusions and steroids. He was treated with immunosuppressive therapy with cyclosporine, anti-thymocyte globulin, eltrombopag and prednisone. The patient was discharged but was readmitted to the hospital secondary to recurrent neutropenic fever and pneumonia. He had high-grade vancomycin-resistant enterococcal infection and Clostridium difficile infection leading to septic shock and succumbing to cardiac arrest. This case demonstrates the possibility of very severe aplastic anemia following SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination and clinicians need to be aware of this rare but serious side effect.

Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura due to Checkpoint Inhibitors.

Ipilimumab is a monoclonal antibody that enhances the efficacy of the immune system by targeting a cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4), which is a protein receptor that downregulates the immune system. Nivolumab is also a humanized monoclonal antibody that targets another protein receptor that prevents activated T cells from attacking the cancer; this receptor is called programmed cell death 1 (PD-1). The FDA approved ipilimumab combined with nivolumab as a frontline therapy for patients with metastatic melanoma or renal cell carcinoma and as a second-line therapy for patients with microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) metastatic colon cancer. Immune-related adverse events such as autoimmune colitis, pneumonitis, hepatitis, nephritis, hypophysitis, and thyroiditis may occur during or weeks to months after therapy. We report a case of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) in a patient with metastatic renal cell carcinoma following one cycle of ipilimumab and nivolumab. Only one case report of ipilimumab-induced TTP exists in the medical literature. With the wide use of immunotherapy to treat cancers, physicians need to be aware of this rare immune-related adverse event.