Journal of hospital medicine : an official publication of the Society of Hospital Medicine
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As healthcare organizations examine the associated benefits of employing a larger hospitalist workforce, there is a need to better understand the association with patients' quality, experience, and efficiency. However, there is a lack of information regarding how hospital use of hospitalists over time influences hospital scoring on quality programs, such as the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Inpatient Value-Based Purchasing (HVBP) Program. This study examines the association between hospitalist staffing between 2014 and 2019 and HVBP scores. ⋯ There are benefits associated with TPS, Patient Experience, and Efficiency from employing hospitalists. Managers should seek opportunities to leverage hospitalists' expertise in providing care, particularly in improving care processes.
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Underlying comorbidities are common in children with pneumonia. ⋯ Comorbidity-related functional limitations are important predictors of disease outcomes in children with pneumonia. Consideration of functional limitations, rather than the presence of comorbidity alone, is critical when assessing risk of severe outcomes.