Second victim experiences and moral injury as predictors of hospitalist burnout before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: The increasing number of physicians leaving practice, especially hospitalists, has been well-documented. The most commonly examined factor associated with this exodus has been burnout. The COVID-19 pandemic has put a unique and unprecedented stress on hospitalists who have been at the front lines of patient care. Therefore, the investigation of burnout and its related factors in hospitalists is essential to preventing future physician shortages. OBJECTIVE: This study examined the relationship between burnout, second victim, and moral injury experiences before and during the COVID-19 pandemic among hospitalists. METHODS: Two anonymous cross-sectional surveys of hospitalists from a community hospital in the metropolitan Washington, DC area were conducted. One was conducted pre-COVID-19 (September-November 2019) and one was conducted during COVID-19 (July-August 2020). The surveys were sent to all full-time hospitalists via an online survey platform. A variety of areas were assessed including demographic (e.g., age, gender), work information (e.g., hours per week, years of experience), burnout, second victim experiences, well-being, and moral injury. RESULTS: Burnout rates among providers during these two time periods were similar. Second victim experiences remained prevalent in those who experienced burnout both pre and during COVID-19, but interestingly the prevalence increased in those without burnout during COVID-19. Moral injury was predictive of burnout during COVID-19. CONCLUSION: While there were some factors that predicted burnout that were similar both pre- and during-pandemic, moral injury was unique to predicting burnout during COVID-19. With burnout as a contributing factor to future physician shortages, it is imperative that predictive factors in a variety of different environments are well understood to prevent future shortages. Hospitalists may be an excellent barometer of these factors given their presence on the front line during the pandemic, and their experiences need to be further explored so that targeted interventions aimed at addressing those factors may be created.

The impact of variants and vaccination on the mortality and resource utilization of hospitalized patients with COVID-19.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 outcomes among hospitalized patients may have changed due to new variants, therapies and vaccine availability. We assessed outcomes of adults hospitalized with COVID-19 from March 2020-February 2022. METHODS: Data were retrieved from electronic health medical records of adult COVID-19 patients hospitalized in a large community health system. Duration was split into March 2020-June 2021 (pre-Delta period), July-November 2021 (Delta period), and December 2021-February 2022 (Omicron period). RESULTS: Of included patients (n = 9582), 75% were admitted during pre-Delta, 9% during Delta, 16% during Omicron period. The COVID-positive inpatients were oldest during Omicron period but had lowest rates of COVID pneumonia and resource utilization (p < 0.0001); 46% were vaccinated during Delta and 61% during Omicron period (p < 0.0001). After adjustment for demographics and comorbidities, vaccination was associated with lower inpatient mortality (OR = 0.47 (0.34-0.65), p < 0.0001). The Omicron period was independently associated with lower risk of inpatient mortality (OR = 0.61 (0.45-0.82), p = 0.0010). Vaccination and Omicron period admission were also independently associated with lower healthcare resource utilization (p < 0.05). Magnitudes of associations varied between age groups with strongest protective effects seen in younger patients. CONCLUSION: Outcomes of COVID-19 inpatients were evolving throughout the pandemic and were affected by changing demographics, virus variants, and vaccination. KEY POINT: In this observational study of almost 10,000 patients hospitalized from March 2020-February 2022 with COVID-19, age and having multiple comorbidities remained consistent risk factors for mortality regardless of the variant. Vaccination was high in our hospitalized patients. Vaccination conveyed less severe illness and was associated with lower inpatient mortality.

Service line care delivery model for COVID-19 patient-centric care.

OBJECTIVES: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused hospitals around the world to quickly develop not only strategies to treat patients but also methods to protect health care and frontline workers. STUDY DESIGN: Descriptive study. METHODS: We outlined the steps and processes that we took to respond to the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic while continuing to provide our routine acute care services to our community. RESULTS: These steps and processes included establishing teams focused on maintaining an adequate supply of personal protection equipment, cross-training staff, developing disaster-based triage for the emergency department, creating quality improvement teams geared toward updating care based on the most current literature, developing COVID-19-based units, creating COVID-19-specific teams of providers, maximizing use of our electronic health record system to allocate beds, and providing adequate practitioner coverage by creating a computer-based dashboard that indicated the need for health care practitioners. These processes led to seamless and integrated care for all patients with COVID-19 across our health system and resulted in a reduction in mortality from a high of 20% during the first peak (March and April 2020) to 6% during the plateau period (June-October 2020) to 12% during the second peak (November and December 2020). CONCLUSIONS: The detailed processes put in place will help hospital systems meet the continuing challenges not only of COVID-19 but also beyond COVID-19 when other unique public health crises may present themselves.

Outcomes of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 during the course of the pandemic in a fully integrated health system.

BACKGROUND: Given the rapid spread of COVID-19 and its associated morbidity and mortality, healthcare providers throughout the world have been forced to constantly update and change their care delivery models. OBJECTIVE: To assess the outcomes of COVID-19 hospitalized patients during the course of the pandemic in a well-integrated health system. METHODS: The study used data from the electronic health medical records to assess trends in clinical profile and outcomes of hospitalized adult COVID-19 patients hospitalized in our 5-hospital health system from March 2020-May 2021 (n = 6865). Integration of the health system began in February 2020 and was fully actualized by March 30, 2020. RESULTS: Mortality decreased from 15% during first peak (March-May 2020; the rate includes 19% in March-April and 10% in May 2020) to 6% in summer-fall 2020, increased to 13% during the second peak (November 2020-January 2021), and dropped to 7% during the decline period (February-May 2021) (p<0.01). Resource utilization followed a similar pattern including a decrease in ICU use from 35% (first peak) to 16% (decline period), mechanical ventilation from 16% (first peak, including 45% in March 2020) to 9-11% in subsequent periods (p<0.01). Independent predictors of inpatient mortality across multiple study periods included older age, male sex, higher multi-morbidity scores, morbid obesity, and indicators of severe illness on admission such as oxygen saturation ≤90% and high qSOFA score (all p<0.05). However, admission during the first peak remained independently associated with increased mortality even after adjustment for patient-related factors: odds ratio = 1.8 (1.4-2.4) (p<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: The creation of a fully integrated health system allowed us to dynamically respond to the everchanging COVID-19 landscape. In this context, despite the increasing patient acuity, our mortality and resource utilization rates have improved during the pandemic.

Neutralizing Monoclonal Antibody Treatment Reduces Hospitalization for Mild and Moderate Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): A Real-World Experience.

BACKGROUND: Neutralizing monoclonal antibody (NmAb) treatments have received Emergency Use Authorization to treat patients with mild or moderate COVID-19 infection. To date, no real- world data on the efficacy of NmAbs have been reported from clinical practice. We assessed the impact of NmAb treatment given in the outpatient clinical practice setting on hospital utilization. METHODS: Electronic medical records were used to identify adult COVID-19 patients who received NmAbs (bamlanivimab [BAM] or casirivimab and imdevimab [REGN-COV2]) and historic COVID-19 controls. Post-index hospitalization rates were compared. RESULTS: 707 confirmed COVID-19 patients received NmAbs and 1709 historic COVID-19 controls were included; 553 (78%) received BAM, 154 (22%) received REGN-COV2. Patients receiving NmAb infusion had significantly lower hospitalization rates (5.8% vs 11.4%, P < .0001), shorter length of stay if hospitalized (mean, 5.2 vs 7.4 days; P = .02), and fewer ED visits within 30 days post-index (8.1% vs 12.3%, P = .003) than controls. Hospitalization-free survival was significantly longer in NmAb patients compared with controls (P < .0001). There was a trend towards a lower hospitalization rate among patients who received NmAbs within 2-4 days after symptom onset. In multivariate analysis, having received an NmAb transfusion was independently associated with a lower risk of hospitalization after adjustment for age, sex, race, BMI, and referral source (adjusted HR [95% CI], .54 [0.38-0.79]; P = .0012). Overall mortality was not different between the 2 groups. CONCLUSIONS: NmAb treatment reduced hospital utilization, especially when received within a few days of symptom onset. Further study is needed to validate these findings.

Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and Alcoholic Liver Disease are Major Drivers of Liver Mortality in the United States.

In the United States, chronic viral hepatitis B and C (CHB and CHC), nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and alcohol-related liver disease (ALD) are the main causes of liver deaths attributable to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and cirrhosis. Our aim was to assess the changes in the rates of mortality and years of potential life lost (YLL) for HCC and cirrhosis due to different liver diseases. We used multiple-cause mortality data (2007-2017) from the National Center for Health Statistics. Annual percentage change (APC) in age-standardized death rate per 100,000 (ASDR) and age-standardized years of life lost per 100,000 (ASYLLR) were calculated. In the United States in 2017, there were 2,797,265 deaths with 73,424 liver deaths, contributing to 1,467,742 of YLL. Of the liver deaths, HCC was noted in 12,169 (16.6%) and cirrhosis in 60,111 (82.0%). CHC was responsible for 50.4% of HCC deaths; NAFLD, 35.4%; HBV, 6.0%; ALD, 5.4%; and others, 2.8%. NAFLD was responsible for 48.9% of cirrhosis deaths; ALD, 34.7%; CHC, 12.3%; CHB, 0.9%; and others, 3.2%. Between 2007 and 2017, the increase in ASDR for HCC due to ALD and NAFLD accelerated after 2014 (APC, 11.38% and 6.55%, respectively) whereas CHC stabilized (APC, 0.63%; P = 0.272) after 2011. The increase in ASYLLR of HCC escalated after 2014 for ALD and NAFLD (APC, 12.12% and 6.15%, respectively) and leveled out for CHC after 2012 (APC, -1.05%; P = 0.056). Furthermore, the highest annual increase in ASDR and ASYLLR for cirrhosis was due to ALD (APC, 3.24% and 3.34%, respectively) followed by NAFLD (APC, 1.23% and 0.49%, respectively). Conclusion: Over the past decade, ASDR and ASYLLR due to ALD and NAFLD have been increasing in the United States. The rising burden of HCC and cirrhosis are primarily driven by NAFLD and ALD.

Outcomes of liver transplantation by insurance types in the United States.

OBJECTIVES: The outcomes of liver transplantation may vary according to socioeconomic factors such as insurance coverage. The aim of this study was to assess the association between the type of insurance payer and outcomes of liver transplant candidates and recipients in the United States. STUDY DESIGN: This was a retrospective cohort study of a national database. METHODS: The US Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients was used to select adults (≥18 years) wait-listed for liver transplantation in the United States (2001-2017); patients were followed until March 2018. RESULTS: There were 177,862 liver transplant candidates with payer and outcomes data: The mean (SD) age was 54.1 (10.4) years, 64% were male, 39% had chronic hepatitis C with or without alcoholic liver disease (ALD), 19% had ALD alone, 17% had nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, and 16% had hepatocellular carcinoma. Fifty-nine percent were primarily covered by private insurance, 21% by Medicare, and 16% by Medicaid. After listing, 56% eventually received transplants (mean wait time of 229 days) and 22% dropped off the list. In multivariate analysis, adjusted for demographic and clinical factors, being covered by Medicare (odds ratio [OR], 0.81; 95% CI, 0.78-0.84) or Medicaid (OR, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.73-0.79) was independently associated with a lower chance of receiving a transplant (reference: private insurance). Posttransplant mortality was 11.6% at 1 year, 20.1% at 3 years, 26.8% at 5 years, and 41.6% at 10 years. Having Medicare (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 1.24; 95% CI, 1.17-1.31) or Medicaid (aHR, 1.14; 95% CI, 1.06-1.21) was independently associated with higher posttransplant mortality (P <.001) but not with the risk of graft loss (P >.05). CONCLUSIONS: Liver transplant candidates covered by Medicare or Medicaid have poorer wait-list outcomes and higher posttransplant mortality.

Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver is Contributing to the Increase in Cases of Liver Disease in US Emergency Departments.

GOALS/BACKGROUND: We aimed to assess temporal changes in the different types of liver disease (LD) cases and outcomes from emergency departments (EDs) across the United States. STUDY: We used data from the National Inpatient Survey database from 2005 to 2011. The International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) clinical modification codes identified hepatitis C virus (HCV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), alcoholic liver disease (ALD), nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and other LDs including autoimmune hepatitis. We excluded cases without LD, nonhepatocellular carcinoma-related cancers, human immunodeficiency virus infection, or those with missing information. Logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals. Controls were matched to cases without LD. RESULTS: During the study period, 20,641,839 cases were seen in EDs. Of these, 1,080,008 cases were related to LD and were matched to controls without LD (N=19,557,585). The number of cases with LD increased from 123,873 (2005) to 188,501 (2011) (P<0.0001). Among cases with LD, diagnosis of HCV, HBV, and ALD remained stable during the study years (41.60% vs. 38.20%, 3.70% vs. 2.80%, and 41.4% vs. 38.5%, respectively), whereas NAFLD doubled [6.00% of all LD (2005) to 11.90% of all LD (2011) (P<0.0001)]. Diagnosis of LD in the ED independently predicted increased patient mortality [odds ratio, 1.20 (1.17 to 1.22)]. CONCLUSIONS: The number of LD cases presenting to EDs is increasing, and a diagnosis of LD is associated with a higher patient mortality for those admitted through the ED. There is a dramatic increase of NAFLD diagnoses in the ED.

Liver Transplantation (LT) for Cryptogenic Cirrhosis (CC) and Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH) Cirrhosis: Data from the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR): 1994 to 2016.

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)-related cirrhosis and cryptogenic cirrhosis (CC) have become leading indications for liver transplantation (LT) in the US. Our aim was to compare the trends, clinical presentation, and outcomes for transplant candidates with NASH and CC.The Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (1994-2016) was used to select adult LT candidates and recipients with primary diagnoses of NASH and CC without hepatocellular carcinoma.Two lakh twenty-three thousand three hundred ninety-one LT candidates were listed between 1994 and 2016. Of these, 16,214 (7.3%) were listed for CC and 11,598 (5.2%) for NASH. Before 2004, NASH was seldom coded for an indication for LT, but became more common after 2009. Averaged across the study period, CC candidates compared with NASH candidates were younger and had fewer conditions of metabolic syndrome (MS). CC patients were more likely to have MS components in comparison to candidates with other chronic liver diseases (CLDs) (all P < .0001). For most of the study period, patients with CC or NASH were similarly more likely to be taken off the list due to deterioration or death, with to patients with other CLDs. Post-LT data were available for 14,052 transplant recipients with NASH or CC. With the exception of post-transplant diabetes, the outcomes of patients transplanted for CC and NASH were similar to those of other CLD patients.Number of LT due to CC and NASH cirrhosis is increasing. In the past decade, there is a shift from LT listing diagnosis from CC to NASH potentially related to increased awareness about NASH in transplant centers in the US.

Demographics, Resource Utilization, and Outcomes of Elderly Patients With Chronic Liver Disease Receiving Hospice Care in the United States.

OBJECTIVES: Hospice offers non-curative symptomatic management to improve patients' quality of life, satisfaction, and resource utilization. Hospice enrollment among patients with chronic liver disease (CLD) is not well studied. The aim of tis tudy is to examine the characteristics of Medicare enrollees with CLD, who were discharged to hospice. METHODS: Medicare patients discharged to hospice between 2010 and 2014 were identified in Medicare Inpatient and Hospice Files. CLDs and other co-morbidities were identified by International Classification of Diseases-ninth revision codes. Generalized linear model was used to estimate regression coefficients with P-values. Logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals. RESULTS: A total of 2,179 CLD patients and 34,986 controls without CLD met the inclusion criteria. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, alcoholic liver disease, and hepatitis C virus (HCV) were the most frequent cause of CLD. CLD patients were younger (70 vs. 83 years), more likely to be male (57.7 vs. 39.3%), had longer hospital stay (length of stay, LOS) (19.4 vs. 13.0 days), higher annual charges ($175,000 vs. $109,000), higher 30-day re-hospitalization rates (51.6 vs. 34.2%), and shorter hospice LOS (13.7 vs. 17.7 days) than controls (all P<0.001). Presence of HCV and congestive heart failure were the strongest contributors to increased total annual costs (34% and 31% higher, P<0.001), increased total annual LOS (26% and 43% higher, P<0.001), and increased 30-day readmission risk (2.20 and 2.19 times, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with CLD have longer and costly hospitalizations before hospice enrollment as compared with patients without CLD. It was highly likely that these patients were enrolled relatively late, which could potentially lead to less benefit from hospice.

Independent Predictors of Mortality and Resource Utilization in Viral Hepatitis Related Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

INTRODUCTION: Hepatitis B (HBV) and C viruses (HCV) are important causes of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Our aim was to assess mortality and resource utilization of patients with HCC-related to HBV and HCV. MATERIAL AND METHODS: National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER)-Medicare linked database (2001-2009) was used. Medicare claims included patient demographic information, diagnoses, treatment, procedures, ICD-9 codes, service dates, payments, coverage status, survival data, carrier claims, and Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MEDPAR) data. HCC related to HBV/HCV and non-cancer controls with HBV/HCV were included. Pair-wise comparisons were made by t-tests and chi-square tests. Logistic regression models to estimate odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used. RESULTS: We included 2,711 cases of HCC (518 HBV, 2,193 HCV-related) and 5,130 non-cancer controls (1,321 HBV, 3,809 HCV). Between 2001-2009, HCC cases related to HBV and HCV increased. Compared to controls, HBV and HCV patients with HCC were older, more likely to be male (73.2% vs 48.9% and 57.1% vs. 50.5%), die within one-year (49.3% vs. 20.3% and 52.2% vs. 19.2%), have decompensated cirrhosis (44.8% vs. 6.9% and 53.9% vs. 10.4%) and have higher inpatient ($60.471 vs. $47.223 and $56.033 vs. $41.005) and outpatient charges ($3,840 vs. $3,328 and $3,251 vs. $2,096) (all P < 0.05). In two separate multivariate analyses, independent predictors of one-year mortality were older age, being male and the presence of decompensated cirrhosis. CONCLUSIONS: The rate of viral hepatitis-related HCC is increasing. Mortality and resource utilization related to HBV and HCV-related HCC is substantial.

Long-term outcomes of heart transplant recipients with hepatitis C positivity: the data from the U.S. transplant registry.

BACKGROUND: Chronic HCV infection is often considered a contraindication for receiving a heart transplantation. METHODS: From the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients, we selected all adults with and without HCV infection who underwent a single-organ heart transplantation in 1995-2013; the mortality status was updated in September 2015. RESULTS: A total of 32 812 heart transplant recipients were included; N=756 (2.30%) HCV positive. Post-transplant patients were discharged alive at similar rates regardless of their HCV status (P=.10). Despite this, mortality in HCV+ heart transplant recipients was consistently higher throughout post-discharge follow-up (P<.002). In multivariate survival analysis, being HCV+ was independently associated with a higher post-transplant mortality: adjusted hazard ratio 1.35 (1.16-1.56), P<.0001. Other predictors of lower post-transplant survival included being obese at transplant and pre-transplant history of comorbidities (type 2 diabetes, COPD, hypertension) (all P<.05). No association of HCV infection with graft loss rates or time to graft loss was found (all P>.23). CONCLUSION: Chronic hepatitis C infection is associated with a significantly increased post-transplant mortality in heart transplant recipients. The introduction of new direct-acting antiviral agents may provide a treatment option for HCV pre- or post-heart transplantation which could have a positive impact on patients' survival.

Outcomes trends for acute myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, and pneumonia, 2005-2009.

OBJECTIVES: The CMS core conditions-acute myocardial infarction (AMI), congestive heart failure (CHF), and pneumonia-are a focus of hospital quality reporting and its value-based purchasing program. The study's purpose was to assess national trends of in-hospital mortality and resource utilization for these core measures. STUDY DESIGN: A time series study using outcomes from the 5 yearly cycles of the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (2005-2009). METHODS: Stratum-specific χ2 test for independence (binary or categorical parameters) or t test for a contrasted mean (continuous parameters) were used to identify parameters that changed significantly over time (in-hospital mortality, length of stay, cost, charges, severity of illness, diagnoses per case, procedures per case). Multiple logistic and linear regression models were used to identify factors associated with in-hospital deaths, hospital charges, and length of stay (LOS). RESULTS: In-hospital mortality decreased for AMI, CHF, and pneumonia. LOS was unchanged for CHF, but decreased for AMI and pneumonia. Average inflation-adjusted charges per case increased for all 3 conditions, while the average inflation-adjusted cost per case decreased for CHF and remained stable for AMI and pneumonia. The proportion of patients with extreme disability and extreme likelihood of dying, as defined by All-Patient-Refined Diagnosis Related Group, increased for all 3 diagnoses. The number of diagnoses and procedures were independently associated with LOS, cost, and charges for all 3 conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Many measures of quality of inpatient care and resource utilization for CMS core conditions improved despite increases in patient complexity and risk of mortality. Further research is necessary to determine the exact causes of these improvements.

Association of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in the United States from 2004 to 2009.

UNLABELLED: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is increasingly reported in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Our aim was to assess the prevalence and mortality of patients with NAFLD-HCC. We examined Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) registries (2004-2009) with Medicare-linkage files for HCC, which was identified by the International Classification of Diseases for Oncology, third edition codes using topography and morphology codes 8170-8175. Medicare-linked data was used to identify NAFLD, hepatitis C virus (HCV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), alcoholic liver disease (ALD), and other liver disease using International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification codes. NAFLD was also defined by clinical diagnosis (cryptogenic cirrhosis, obese-diabetics with cryptogenic liver disease). A logistic regression model was used to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for risk of HCC. In addition, adjusted hazard ratios for 1-year mortality were estimated by Cox's proportional hazard regression. A total of 4,929 HCC cases and 14,937 controls without HCC were included. Of the HCC cases, 54.9% were related to HCV, 16.4% to ALD, 14.1% to NAFLD, and 9.5% to HBV. Across the 6-year period (2004 to 2009), the number of NAFLD-HCC showed a 9% annual increase. NAFLD-HCC were older, had shorter survival time, more heart disease, and were more likely to die from their primary liver cancer (all P < 0.0001). Of those who received a transplant after HCC (n = 488), only 5% were related to NAFLD-HCC. In multivariate analysis, NAFLD increased the risk of 1-year mortality (OR, 1.21; 95% CI: 1.01-1.45). Additionally, older age, lower income, unstaged HCC increased risk of 1-year mortality while receiving a liver transplant (LT), and having localized tumor stage were protective (all P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: NAFLD is becoming a major cause of HCC in the United States. NAFLD HCC is associated with shorter survival time, more advanced tumor stage, and lower possibility of receiving a LT.

The outcomes of adult liver transplants in the United States from 1987 to 2013.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: In the past three decades, there have been major advances in the procedure and candidate selection for liver transplantation. The aim of this study was to assess the changes in outcomes of liver transplantations in the Unites States. METHODS: This observational study uses the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR) that includes all liver transplants from 1987 to 2013 (N = 108 707 adults). RESULTS: Four study cycles were introduced: 1987-1993, 1994-2000, 2001-2006, 2007-2013. The length of inpatient stay for receiving liver transplant substantially shortened (42-20 days), and so did the rate of acute post-transplant rejections (33-4%). The use of high risk donors and donors with chronic diseases increased significantly. Of transplant outcomes, despite recently reported unfavourable changes in clinico-demographic profile of liver transplant recipients (older age, substantial increases in all major comorbidities), the proportion of patients discharged alive increased from 78.2 to 91.8%. On the other hand, post-discharge 1-, 3- and 5-year mortality varied between 6.7 and 8.0%, 15.2 to 17.2% and 22.5 to 24.5%, respectively, and no consistent trend was found. Despite this, the rates of graft failure decreased: an approximately two-fold decrease in 1 year graft loss, and a 1.6-fold decrease in 5 year graft loss were observed. CONCLUSION: Despite all improvements in liver transplant technique and patient management, the changes in post-transplant outcomes vary. While inpatient mortality, graft losses and post-transplant infect-ion rates improved substantially, post-discharge mortality remains stable because of increasing losses to competing risks in patients with non-liver comorbidities.

Resource utilization and survival among Medicare patients with advanced liver disease.

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of advanced liver disease and its complications may be on the rise within the Medicare population. The study aim was trend assessment for prevalence, mortality and resource utilization of patients with advanced liver disease. METHODS: A retrospective, cross-sectional design was used to analyze a national sample of non-institutionalized Medicare in/outpatients from 2005 to 2009. Cases were ascertained by International Classification of Diseases, 9th Edition. Outcomes were overall mortality (within 1 year) and resource utilization [hospital length of stay (LOS/days) and institutional costs to Medicare]. Multivariate analyses were used to estimate the odds ratios for mortality predictors; linear regression was used for resource utilization predictors. RESULTS: A total of 21,913 beneficiaries with advanced liver disease were identified in the Medicare inpatient and outpatient administrative data sets from 2005 to 2009. Over 70 % of the beneficiaries with advanced liver disease died during study time period with 17 % dying while hospitalized. Predictors of mortality were: admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) and increasing Charlson Comorbidity Index. Predictors for increased LOS and cost were: ICU admission and having a thoracentesis procedure (both indicators of the levels of illness). CONCLUSIONS: Advanced liver disease and its related complication are increasing in the Medicare population and are associated with very high mortality. Further study is warranted to understand the drivers of the increased prevalence of advanced liver disease for earlier identification and treatment.

Trends in outpatient resource utilizations and outcomes for Medicare beneficiaries with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most common causes of chronic liver disease. The objective of this study was to describe the recent trend of health care resource utilization and short-term mortality of Medicare beneficiaries with NAFLD. METHODS: This study utilized data from a random sample of national outpatient claims of Medicare beneficiaries (2005 to 2010) who sought outpatient care for NAFLD. RESULTS: This study included 29,528 patients who sought outpatient care for NAFLD from 2005 to 2010. The annual number of patients increased consistently from 3585 in 2005 to 6646 in 2010. The prevalence of studied comorbidities including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension also increased significantly. At the same time, the mean yearly charge and the mean yearly payment increased significantly from $2624±$3308 and $561±$835 in 2005 to $3608±$5132 and $629±$1157 (P<0.05), respectively. The observed mortality rate remained stable around 2.84% (P=0.64). After adjusting for the other covariates, the total number of outpatient visits and all the comorbidities considered were the most determinant factors for yearly charge and yearly payment (P<0.0001). Overall mortality was associated with age, gender, number of outpatient visits, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia. CONCLUSIONS: The number of outpatient visits because of NAFLD rose between 2005 and 2010. Short-term mortality rates remained stable throughout the study period, whereas total annual charges and payments increased.

Clinical outcomes and resource utilisation in Medicare patients with chronic liver disease: a historical cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to assess recent trends in health resource utilisation and patient outcomes of Medicare beneficiaries with chronic liver disease (CLD). SETTING: Liver-related mortality is the 10th leading cause of death in the USA, and hepatitis C virus (HCV) and obesity-related non-alcoholic fatty liver disease are the major causes of CLD. As the US population ages and becomes more obese, the impact of CLD is expected to become more prominent for the Medicare population. PARTICIPANTS: This is a retrospective cohort study of Medicare beneficiaries with a diagnosis of CLD based on inpatient (N=21 576; 14 977 unique patients) and outpatient (N=515 990; 244 196 patients) claims from 2005 to 2010. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: The study outcomes included hospital length of stay (LOS) and inpatient mortality as well as inpatient and outpatient inflation-adjusted payments. RESULTS: Between 2005 and 2010, there was an annual decrease in LOS of 3.17% for CLD-related hospitalisations. Risk-adjusted in-hospital mortality decreased (OR 0.90, 95% CI 0.87 to 0.94), while short-term postdischarge mortality remained stable (1.00, 0.98 to 1.03). Inpatient per-claim payment increased from $11 769 in 2005 to $12 347 in 2010 (p=0.0006). Similarly, the average yearly payments for outpatient care increased from $366 to $404 (p<0.0001). This change in payment was observed together with a consistent decrease in the proportion of beneficiary-paid amount (25.4-20%, p<0.0001) as opposed to Medicare-paid amount (73.1-80%, p<0.0001). The major predictors of higher outpatient payments were younger age, Asian race or Hispanic ethnicity, living in California, and having more diagnoses and outpatient procedures per claim. The predictors of inpatient spending also included younger age, location and the number of inpatient procedures. CONCLUSIONS: Length of inpatient stay and inpatient mortality among Medicare beneficiaries with CLD decreased, while inpatient and outpatient spending increased.