Effect of private insurer bundled payment program for total joints on outcomes
Editor's Note This multi-center study led by Humana Inc, Louisville, Kentucky, finds that a bundled payment program offered by a Medicare Advantage insurer for lower extremity joint replacements was associated with reduced spending without changes in quality. A total of 23,034 lower extremity joint replacement surgical episodes (6,355 bundled, 16,679…
Telehealth care, MOUD during COVID-19 reduced risk for fatal drug overdoses
Editor's Note This study led by researchers from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds that federal actions taken to expand telehealth use for Medicare patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) and to facilitate provision of medications for OUD (MOUD) were associated…
Study: Redefining multimorbidity in older surgical patients may improve clinical decision-making
Editor's Note In this study, led by the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, researchers developed and validated better surgical specialty-specific multimorbidity definitions based on distinct characteristics of older inpatients undergoing general, orthopedic, or vascular surgery. The researchers used 2016 to 2017 Medicare administrative claims data on patients…
Older Black men more likely to die after surgery than others
Editor's Note This study led by researchers at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System and David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, finds that postoperative mortality was higher in Black men than Black women, White men, and White women. A total of 1,868,036 Black and White Medicare…
1-year mortality after major surgery in older adults
Editor's Note In this study, researchers from Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, find that mortality after major surgery is elevated in older adults who are frail or who have probable dementia. A total of 1,193 major surgical procedures in 992 Medicare beneficiaries were analyzed. Among the findings: Overall,…
Loneliness linked to postop mortality in Medicare patients
Editor's Note In this study of Medicare patients, researchers from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, find that loneliness is associated with an increased risk of death at 30 days after nonelective surgery. Of 4,453 patients in the analysis, 623 (14%) had nonelective surgery. The mean loneliness score was 1.5. Unadjusted…
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