Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Ideas For A Healthy Baby--Reducing Disparities In Use Of Publicly Reported Quality Data: Study Protocol For A Randomized Controlled Trial, Sarah L. Goff, Penelope S. Pekow, Katharine O. White, Tara Lagu, Kathleen M. Mazor, Peter K. Lindenauer

Peter Lindenauer MD

BACKGROUND: Publicly reported performance on quality measures is intended to enable patients to make more informed choices. Despite the growing availability of these reports, patients' use remains limited and disparities exist. Low health literacy and numeracy are two barriers that may contribute to these disparities. Patient navigators have helped patients overcome barriers such as these in other areas, such as cancer care and may prove useful for overcoming barriers to using publicly reported quality data. METHODS/DESIGN: The goals of this study are: to determine the efficacy of a patient navigator intervention to assist low-income pregnant women in the use of …

Outcomes Of Care By Hospitalists, General Internists, And Family Physicians, Peter K. Lindenauer, Michael B. Rothberg, Penelope Susan Pekow, Christopher Kenwood, Evan M. Benjamin, Andrew D. Auerbach

Peter Lindenauer MD

Background: The hospitalist model is rapidly altering the landscape for inpatient care in the United States, yet evidence about the clinical and economic outcomes of care by hospitalists is derived from a small number of single-hospital studies examining the practices of a few physicians.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 76,926 patients 18 years of age or older who were hospitalized between September 2002 and June 2005 for pneumonia, heart failure, chest pain, ischemic stroke, urinary tract infection, acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or acute myocardial infarction at 45 hospitals throughout the United States. We used …

Perioperative Beta-Blocker Therapy And Mortality After Major Noncardiac Surgery, Peter K. Lindenauer, Penelope Susan Pekow, Kaijun Wang, Dheeresh K. Mamidi, Benjamin Gutierrez, Evan M. Benjamin

Peter Lindenauer MD

Background: Despite limited evidence from randomized trials, perioperative treatment with beta-blockers is now widely advocated. We assessed the use of perioperative beta-blockers and their association with in-hospital mortality in routine clinical practice.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of patients 18 years of age or older who underwent major noncardiac surgery in 2000 and 2001 at 329 hospitals throughout the United States. We used propensity-score matching to adjust for differences between patients who received perioperative beta-blockers and those who did not receive such therapy and compared in-hospital mortality using multivariable logistic modeling.

Results: Of 782,969 patients, 663,635 (85 percent) …