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Hurricane Sandy struck New York City on October 29, 2012, causing not only a large amount of physical damage, but also straining people's health and disrupting health care services throughout the city. In prior research, we determined that emergency department (ED) visits from the most vulnerable hurricane evacuation flood zones in New York City increased after Hurricane Sandy for several medical diagnoses, but also for the diagnosis of homelessness. In the current study, we aimed to further explore this increase in ED visits for homelessness after Hurricane Sandy's landfall. We performed an observational before-and-after study using an all-payer claims database of ED visits in New York City to compare the demographic characteristics, insurance status, geographic distribution, and health conditions of ED patients with a primary or secondary ICD-9 diagnosis of homelessness or inadequate housing in the first week after Hurricane Sandy's landfall versus the baseline weekly average in 2012 prior to Hurricane Sandy. We found statistically significant increases in ED visits for diagnosis codes of homelessness or inadequate housing in the week after Hurricane Sandy's landfall. Those accessing the ED for homelessness or inadequate housing were more often elderly and insured by Medicare after versus before the hurricane. Secondary diagnoses among those with a primary ED diagnosis of homelessness or inadequate housing also differed after versus before Hurricane Sandy. These observed differences in the demographic, insurance, and co-existing diagnosis profiles of those with an ED diagnosis of homelessness or inadequate housing before and after Hurricane Sandy suggest that a new population cohort-potentially including those who had lost their homes as a result of storm damage-was accessing the ED for homelessness or other housing issues after the hurricane. Emergency departments may serve important public health and disaster response roles after a hurricane, particularly for people who are homeless or lack adequate housing. Further, tracking ED visits for homelessness may represent a novel surveillance mechanism to assess post-disaster infrastructure impact and to prepare for future disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Racial and ethnic disparities have been previously reported in acute stroke care. We sought to determine the effect of telemedicine (TM) on access to acute stroke care for racial and ethnic minorities in the state of Texas. Data were collected from the US Census Bureau, The Joint Commission and the American Hospital Association. Access for racial and ethnic minorities was determined by summing the population that could reach a primary stroke centre (PSC) or telemedicine spoke within specified time intervals using validated models. TM extended access to stroke expertise by 1.5 million residents. The odds of providing 60-minute access via TM were similar in Blacks and Whites (prevalence odds ratios (POR) 1.000, 95% CI 1.000-1.000), even after adjustment for urbanization (POR 1.000, 95% CI 1.000-1.001). The odds of providing access via TM were also similar for Hispanics and non-Hispanics (POR 1.000, 95% CI 1.000-1.000), even after adjustment for urbanization (POR 1.000, 95% CI 1.000-1.000). We found that telemedicine increased access to acute stroke care for 1.5 million Texans. While racial and ethnic disparities exist in other components of stroke care, we did not find evidence of disparities in access to the acute stroke expertise afforded by telemedicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on a study which aims at describing how Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) are prioritizing costreduction strategies related to acute unscheduled care using responses from a national survey of ACOs. It mentions that ACOs prioritize strategies to reduce emergency departments (ED) visits above reducing potentially avoidable inpatient admissions from the ED, despite significantly larger health care expenditures associated with inpatient hospitalizations.

Objectives. We sought to improve public health surveillance by using a geographic analysis of emergency department (ED) visits to determine local chronic disease prevalence. Methods. Using an all-payer administrative database, we determined the proportion of unique ED patients with diabetes, hypertension, or asthma. We compared these rates to those determined by the New York City Community Health Survey. For diabetes prevalence, we also analyzed the fidelity of longitudinal estimates using logistic regression and determined disease burden within census tracts using geocoded addresses. Results. We identified 4.4 million unique New York City adults visiting an ED between 2009 and 2012. When we compared our emergency sample to survey data, rates of neighborhood diabetes, hypertension, and asthma prevalence were similar (correlation coefficient = 0.86, 0.88, and 0.77, respectively). In addition, our method demonstrated less year-to-year scatter and identified significant variation of disease burden within neighborhoods among census tracts. Conclusions. Our method for determining chronic disease prevalence correlates with a validated health survey and may have higher reliability overtime and greater granularity at a local level. Our findings can improve public health surveillance by identifying local variation of disease prevalence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives This study explored what smartphone health applications (apps) are used by patients, how they learn about health apps, and how information about health apps is shared. Methods Patients seeking care in an academic ED were surveyed about the following regarding their health apps: use, knowledge, sharing, and desired app features. Demographics and health information were characterized by summary statistics. Results Of 300 participants, 212 (71%) owned smartphones, 201 (95%) had apps, and 94 (44%) had health apps. The most frequently downloaded health apps categories were exercise 46 (49%), brain teasers 30 (32%), and diet 23 (24%). The frequency of use of apps varied as six (6%) of health apps were downloaded but never used, 37 (39%) apps were used only a few times, and 40 (43%) health apps were used once per month. Only five apps (2%) were suggested to participants by health care providers, and many participants used health apps intermittently (55% of apps ≤ once a month). Participants indicated sharing information from 64 (59%) health apps, mostly within social networks (27 apps, 29%) and less often with health care providers (16 apps, 17%). Conclusions While mobile health has experienced tremendous growth over the past few years, use of health apps among our sample was low. The most commonly used apps were those that had broad functionality, while the most frequently used health apps encompassed the topics of exercise, diet, and brain teasers. While participants most often shared information about health apps within their social networks, information was less frequently shared with providers, and physician recommendation played a small role in influencing patient use of health apps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To complete a 30-year interrupted time- series analysis of the impact of austerity-related and prosperity-related events on the occurrence of suicide across Greece. Setting: Greece from 1 January 1983 to 31 December 2012. Participants: A total of 11 505 suicides, 9079 by men and 2426 by women, occurring in Greece over the study period. Primary and secondary outcomes: National data from the Hellenic Statistical Authority assembled as 360 monthly counts of: all suicides, male suicides, female suicides and all suicides plus potentially misclassified suicides. Results: In 30 years, the highest months of suicide in Greece occurred in 2012. The passage of new austerity measures in June 2011 marked the beginning of significant, abrupt and sustained increases in total suicides (+35.7%, p<0.001) and male suicides (+18.5%, p<0.01). Sensitivity analyses that figured in undercounting of suicides also found a significant, abrupt and sustained increase in June 2011 (+20.5%, p<0.001). Suicides by men in Greece also underwent a significant, abrupt and sustained increase in October 2008 when the Greek recession began (+13.1%, p<0.01), and an abrupt but temporary increase in April 2012 following a public suicide committed in response to austerity conditions (+29.7%, p<0.05). Suicides by women in Greece also underwent an abrupt and sustained increase in May 2011 following austerity- related events (+35.8%, p<0.05). One prosperity- related event, the January 2002 launch of the Euro in Greece, marked an abrupt but temporary decrease in male suicides (-27.1%, p<0.05). Conclusions: This is the first multidecade, national analysis of suicide in Greece using monthly data. Select austerity-related events in Greece corresponded to statistically significant increases for suicides overall, as well as for suicides among men and women. The consideration of future austerity measures should give greater weight to the unintended mental health consequences that may follow and the public messaging of these policies and related events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]