Articles Tagged With:
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Sorensen Ruling a Win for Anti-Kickback Defendant
In a rare win for a defendant convicted of violating the Anti-Kickback Statute, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit took the rare step of overturning the defendant’s conviction in United States v. Sorensen.
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Predictions for 2034 Include Nuclear Verdicts, Increased AI Use
Key trends in the healthcare industry will continue in the coming decade and exacerbate risk management challenges, according to an assessment by The Doctors Company, part of TDC Group, a malpractice insurer based in Napa, CA. Nuclear verdicts will continue to be a threat to healthcare organizations, and risk managers will have to contend with multiple trends that will require time and resources.
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Outpatient Management of Venous Thromboembolism Diagnosed in the ED
Venous thromboembolism, which includes deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, is a common presentation in the emergency department. A systematic approach, incorporating the patient’s history, risk factors, physical examination findings, and validated risk stratification tools, can effectively guide diagnostic evaluation. Many patients with venous thromboembolism can be safely managed in the outpatient setting.
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Antibiotics for Asymptomatic Bacteriuria: Using Urinalysis to Improve Stewardship
A cohort study found that in patients receiving antibiotics for a urinary tract infection, a urinalysis with pyuria and/or nitrituria identified 40% more cases of unnecessary antibiotic use compared to asymptomatic bacteriuria.
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Addressing the Recurrence of Bacterial Vaginosis: The Emerging Role of Male-Partner Therapy
This open-label, randomized controlled trial involving 164 monogamous heterosexual couples demonstrated that for women diagnosed with bacterial vaginosis (BV), concurrent male partner treatment with a combination of oral metronidazole and topical clindamycin resulted in an 43% absolute risk reduction in BV recurrence at 12 weeks, representing a hazard ratio of 0.37 (95% confidence interval, 0.22 to 0.61).
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Vasectomy Follow-Up Rates: How Good Are They?
In this retrospective cohort study of 2,567 patients at a single institution, 42.1% of men did not follow up at all after vasectomy for semen analysis. Of those with spermatozoa on the initial testing post-vasectomy, 43.3% of men failed to return for repeat testing.
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Adolescent Pregnancy
Adolescent pregnancy is shaped by socioeconomic disadvantage, rural residence, early marriage, history of abuse, and limited contraceptive access. These factors increase the risk for anemia, stillbirth, preeclampsia, preterm birth, and low birthweight in adolescent mothers. Meaningful reduction requires coordinated, multisectoral action, with targeted educational and reproductive health interventions focused on adolescents.
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Does Thoracentesis Speed Recovery from Heart Failure?
An unblinded, multicentered, randomized trial of patients with acute heart failure hospital admissions and significant pleural effusions showed that early thoracentesis, in addition to recommended medical therapy, did not reduce mortality or length of stay, or increase days alive out of the hospital for 90 days. However, it was relatively safe and could be employed in selected persistently symptomatic patients with very large effusions.
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Echocardiography vs. CMR for Quantitating Aortic Regurgitation
A small study of echocardiography compared to cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging in patients with chronic aortic regurgitation of variable severity has shown that the simple use of the color Doppler regurgitant jet vena contracta width and the end-diastolic left ventricular volume index by two-dimensional echocardiographic imaging can accurately predict who has clinically significant regurgitation.
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Stroke Risk in Patients with New AF During Hospitalization for Other Reasons
In a Canadian administrative database study of patients who developed atrial fibrillation during a hospitalization for other reasons, researchers followed the patients for one year to ascertain the risk of subsequent stroke. The incidence of stroke in those not anticoagulated generally was below the 2% per year threshold recommended for treatment with anticoagulants. However, in those with a CHA2DS2-VA score ≥ 5 (sex not included based on new data) and in those admitted for cardiac medical problems, the 95% confidence intervals of stroke risk did cross 2%. Thus, selected patients may be candidates for anticoagulation.