The American journal of emergency medicine
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When hospital-based specialists including emergency physicians, anesthesiologists, pathologists and radiologists are not included in the same insurance networks as their parent hospitals, it creates confusion and leads to unexpected costs for patients. This study explored the frequency with which hospital-based physicians at academic medical centers are not included in the network directories for the same insurance networks as their parent teaching hospitals. ⋯ For insurance plans offered through the federal and state marketplace exchanges, hospital-based specialists frequently are not included in the directories for the insurance networks in which their parent teaching hospitals participate. Further research is needed to explore this issue at non-academic hospitals and for off-exchange insurance products, and to determine effective policy solutions.
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There is widespread geographic variation in healthcare quality, but we often lack clear strategies for improving quality in underserved areas. This study characterized geographic disparities in stroke care quality to assess whether improved access to neurological services has the potential to bridge the care quality gap, particularly in terms of alteplase (rt-PA) administration. ⋯ The large quality gap in stroke care between metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas could be at least partly addressed through improved procedural efforts by stroke center certification increasing the supply of neurological services, (i.e. through training and hiring new neurologists) or by adopting decision support systems such as telemedicine.
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Acute hyperglycemia is a common condition among patients with diabetes who are admitted to the emergency department (ED) for acute ischemic stroke (AIS). Previous findings regarding the association between hyperglycemia at admission and adverse outcomes among patients with diabetes and AIS have been inconsistent. When investigating this association, it is necessary to consider premorbid blood glucose control. ⋯ We found that 1) HbA1c-based adjusted glycemic variables, including the glycemic gap and stress hyperglycemia ratio, were associated with both AIS severity and neurological status at discharge; additionally, 2) HbA1c-based adjusted glycemic variables showed superior discriminative power compared with acute hyperglycemia regarding the development of severe AIS. We conclude that both the glycemic gap and stress hyperglycemia ratio might be useful in assessing the disease severity and prognosis of patients presenting with AIS. Further prospective long-term follow-up studies should be performed to validate these findings.