JAMA network open
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Temporary financial assistance (TFA) for housing-related expenses is a key component of interventions to prevent homelessness or to quickly house those who have become homeless. Through the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) program, the department provides TFA to veterans in need of housing assistance. ⋯ This study found that receipt of TFA through the SSVF program was associated with increased rates of stable housing. These results may inform national policy debates regarding the optimal solutions to prevent and reduce housing instability.
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Comparative Study
Trends in US Pediatric Hospital Admissions in 2020 Compared With the Decade Before the COVID-19 Pandemic.
In early 2020, the United States declared a public health emergency in response to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and implemented a variety of social distancing measures. The association between the COVID-19 pandemic and the number of pediatric admissions is unclear. ⋯ In this cross-sectional study, pediatric admissions to US hospitals decreased in 2020 across an array of pediatric conditions. Although some conditions may have decreased in incidence, others may represent unmet needs in pediatric care during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Effectiveness of Internet-Based Exercises Aimed at Treating Knee Osteoarthritis: The iBEAT-OA Randomized Clinical Trial.
Osteoarthritis is a prevalent, debilitating, and costly chronic disease for which recommended first-line treatment is underused. ⋯ These findings suggest that this internet-delivered, evidence-based, first-line osteoarthritis treatment was superior to routine self-managed usual care and could be provided without harm to people with osteoarthritis. Effect sizes observed in the intervention group corresponded to clinically important improvements.
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Previous efforts to examine severe maternal morbidity (SMM) in the US have focused on delivery hospitalizations. Little is known about de novo SMM that occurs after delivery discharge. ⋯ In this study, 15.7% of SMM cases in the Medicaid cohort and 14.1% of SMM cases in the commercial insurance cohort first occurred after the delivery hospitalization, with notable disparities in factors and maternal characteristics associated with the development of SMM. These findings suggest a need to expand the focus of SMM assessment to the postdelivery discharge period.
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The Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program publicly reports and financially penalizes hospitals according to 30-day risk-standardized readmission rates (RSRRs) exclusively among traditional Medicare (TM) beneficiaries but not persons with Medicare Advantage (MA) coverage. Exclusively reporting readmission rates for the TM population may not accurately reflect hospitals' readmission rates for older adults. ⋯ In this cohort study, the inclusion of data from MA patients changed the penalty status of a substantial fraction of US hospitals for at least 1 of 3 reported conditions. This suggests that policy makers should consider including all hospital patients, regardless of insurance status, when assessing hospital quality measures.