Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1495475
21 QUALITY IMPROVEMENT & MEASUREMENT CMS hospital readmission reduction program ineffective for COPD, study suggests By Mariah Taylor R esearchers found CMS' Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program slowed adoption of quality inpatient care for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. e analysis, published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, compared the quality of inpatient COPD care before (January 2010 to September 2014) and aer (October 2014 to December 2018) the inclusion of COPD exacerbations in the program. Researchers analyzed data from nearly 950,000 hospital admissions for COPD exacerbation among 995 hospitals. HRRP, a Medicare program which penalizes hospitals for avoidable readmissions within 30 days of discharge in patients with certain conditions, slowed the use of recommended care. Before the program came into effect, use of recommended care increased 0.16 percent per month; aer, it increased by 0.01 percent. e decrease of nonrecommended care also slowed, going from 0.15 percent per month before HRRP down to 0.13 percent per month. e analysis also found the adoption of ideal care, defined as providing all elements of recommended care and none of nonrecommended care, cut in half, going from 0.24 percent per month before HRRP down to 0.11 percent aer implementation. "Sound health policy must follow evidence; it seems increasingly difficult to justify the HRRP through the lens of COPD, in which posthospital mortality increases are coupled with a slowing of improvements in the quality of inpatient care," the study authors wrote. n 'Difficult patient' flag leads to treatment disparities, researchers say By Ashleigh Hollowell B ehavioral flags in electronic health records are designed to to help prevent violence against clinicians, but the flags might also prevent some patients from receiving full care, according to a recent study. A retrospective study published Jan. 19 in JAMA Network Open analyzed more than 426,000 emergency room visits in three Philadelphia hospitals between January 2017 and December 2019. Of more than 195,000 patients included in the analysis, 683 had a behavioral flag. Researchers found patients with flags were likely to have one of more of the following characteristics: male, Black or have Medicaid insurance. Researchers also found flags led to some healthcare disparities: • Black patients received nearly twice as many flags as white patients (4 per 1000 patients versus 2.4 per 1000). • Among patients with a flag, Black patients had longer wait times compared with white patients — 10 minutes longer to be placed in a room and roughly nine minutes longer to see a clinician — but had shorter lengths of stay by nearly 40 minutes. • Of Black patients with a flag, 43 percent received no lab tests and 63 percent had no imaging, compared with 36 percent and 56 percent, respectively, for white patients. n Florida researchers win 'COVID-killing' nano-coating patent By Paige Twenter R esearchers at the University of Central Florida secured a patent for a "nanomaterial-based disinfectant that can kill several viruses," including SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, the Orlando- based school said Feb. 20. The "COVID-killing" nanomaterial requires a continuous light source to produce antiviral properties, which creates "a self-cleaning effect," according to a news release from the university. In a study published in 2022, the now-patented coating was found to kill SARS-CoV-2 and fight the Zika virus, SARS, parainfluenza, rhinovirus and vesicular stomatitis. Sudipta Seal, PhD, department chair of materials science and engineering at UCF, said the defectant's patent was approved faster than usual, proving its "great value for combating viruses and pathogen-born infections." n