Identifying Patients With Hepatic Encephalopathy Using Administrative Data in the ICD-10 Era.

Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a common complication of cirrhosis resulting in relapsing-remitting mental status changes ranging from deficits in executive function to coma. Incident HE is associated with an abrupt increase in mortality1 and frequent hospitalization.2 To further the understanding of the burden and impact of HE at the population level, valid algorithms are required to identify patients in administrative data. An International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-9 code is specific for HE (572.2), offering a 0.92 positive predictive value (PPV) and 0.36 negative predictive value (NPV).3 When applied in an algorithm to patients with ICD-9 codes for cirrhosis (eg, 571.5), Kanwal et al4 found a PPV and NPV of 0.86 and 0.87. Unfortunately, the switch to ICD-10 in 2015 rendered algorithms validated using ICD-9 invalid. Kaplan et al5 previously showed that lactulose and rifaximin use correlated with grade of HE for Child classification. Herein, we validate a diagnostic coding algorithm for HE using ICD-10 and medication records.

Assessing the effects of the 2003 resident duty hours reform on internal medicine board scores.

PURPOSE: To determine whether the 2003 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) duty hours reform affected medical knowledge as reflected by written board scores for internal medicine (IM) residents. METHOD: The authors conducted a retrospective cohort analysis of postgraduate year 1 (PGY-1) Internal Medicine residents who started training before and after the 2003 duty hour reform using a merged data set of American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Board examination and the National Board of Medical Examiners (NMBE) United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 2 Clinical Knowledge test scores. Specifically, using four regression models, the authors compared IM residents beginning PGY-1 training in 2000 and completing training unexposed to the 2003 duty hours reform (PGY-1 2000 cohort, n = 5,475) to PGY-1 cohorts starting in 2001 through 2005 (n = 28,008), all with some exposure to the reform. RESULTS: The mean ABIM board score for the unexposed PGY-1 2000 cohort (n = 5,475) was 491, SD = 85. Adjusting for demographics, program, and USMLE Step 2 exam score, the mean differences (95% CI) in ABIM board scores between the PGY-1 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 cohorts minus the PGY-1 2000 cohort were -5.43 (-7.63, -3.23), -3.44 (-5.65, -1.24), 2.58 (0.36, 4.79), 11.10 (8.88, 13.33) and 11.28 (8.98, 13.58) points respectively. None of these differences exceeded one-fifth of an SD in ABIM board scores. CONCLUSIONS: The duty hours reforms of 2003 did not meaningfully affect medical knowledge as measured by scores on the ABIM board examinations.

Teaching hospital five-year mortality trends in the wake of duty hour reforms.

BACKGROUND: The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) implemented duty hour regulations for residents in 2003 and again in 2011. While previous studies showed no systematic impacts in the first 2 years post-reform, the impact on mortality in subsequent years has not been examined. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether duty hour regulations were associated with changes in mortality among Medicare patients in hospitals of different teaching intensity after the first 2 years post-reform. DESIGN: Observational study using interrupted time series analysis with data from July 1, 2000 to June 30, 2008. Logistic regression was used to examine the change in mortality for patients in more versus less teaching-intensive hospitals before (2000-2003) and after (2003-2008) duty hour reform, adjusting for patient comorbidities, time trends, and hospital site. PATIENTS: Medicare patients (n = 13,678,956) admitted to short-term acute care non-federal hospitals with principal diagnoses of acute myocardial infarction (AMI), gastrointestinal bleeding, or congestive heart failure (CHF); or a diagnosis-related group (DRG) classification of general, orthopedic, or vascular surgery. MAIN MEASURE: All-location mortality within 30 days of hospital admission. KEY RESULTS: In medical and surgical patients, there were no consistent changes in the odds of mortality at more vs. less teaching intensive hospitals in post-reform years 1-3. However, there were significant relative improvements in mortality for medical patients in the fourth and fifth years post-reform: Post4 (OR 0.88, 95 % CI [0.93-0.94]); Post5 (OR 0.87, [0.82-0.92]) and for surgical patients in the fifth year post-reform: Post5 (OR 0.91, [0.85-0.96]). CONCLUSIONS: Duty hour reform was associated with no significant change in mortality in the early years after implementation, and with a trend toward improved mortality among medical patients in the fourth and fifth years. It is unclear whether improvements in outcomes long after implementation can be attributed to the reform, but concerns about worsening outcomes seem unfounded.