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Background Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) has an ever-growing footprint in medicine. With this growth POCUS billing and reimbursement has become an area gaining quite a bit of attention as a means of funding and sustaining quality and education programs. Standardization across providers is needed to improve the financial viability of POCUS. Results We created an institutional collaborative which developed a framework to identify critical POCUS billing and reimbursement checkpoints. The framework, Billing I-AIM, provides a feasible structure to enhance provider-based reimbursement and perform quality improvement efforts across variable POCUS environments. Conclusions POCUS billing using the Billing I-AIM technique allows administrative oversight, quality assurance, and educational functions as well. A discussion of the framework and respective application is provided.

Background Universal pre-operative screening with SARS-CoV-2 PCR has been adopted by institutions to mitigate risk to healthcare workers (HCW) during aerosol-generating procedures such as intubation. However, there remains uncertainty regarding rates of false negative results and optimal sampling type. The objective was to determine the reliability of single, pre-operative SARS-CoV-2 testing from the nasopharynx in children undergoing general anesthesia. Methods Children < 18 years of age who underwent intubation for a procedure received pre-operative testing 24–48 hours prior with a nasopharyngeal (NP) swab or wash, in conjunction with intra-operative nasal wash (NW) and tracheal aspirate (TA) sampling. All paired samples underwent testing using the Simplexa DiaSorin platform or a modified Centers for Disease Control assay. Cohen’s Kappa was used for interrater reliability of each sample result. McNemar’s Test was used to compare result proportions by sample type. Positive and negative predictive values (PPV, NPV) were calculated based on the intraoperative NW as the reference standard. Analyses were conducted using SAS (v 9.4). Results We collected full sample sets from 364 children from April 14 to May 15; 66% of pre-operative samples were NP swabs. The median age was 6 years (IQR 2,13), 55% were male, 68% were white and 41% of children had a high-risk comorbidity. Most surgeries were conducted by general surgery (23%), followed by orthopedics (19%). Only 2.5% of children had respiratory symptoms, and 4.8% had a documented fever within a week of the procedure. SARS-CoV-2 positive samples occurred in 4/364 (1%) of pre-operative samples, 8/363 (2.2%) of intra-operative samples, and 8/348 (2.3%) of TA samples. The pre-operative test had 100% PPV and 99% NPV, and the TA had 100% PPV and 98.6% NPV (Table 1). There was very good agreement (Figure) between pre- and intraoperative upper respiratory sampling, with a Kappa of 0.66, (95% CI 0.35–0.97). There was no statistical difference in results by sample type. Table 1. Comparison of intra-operative and pre-operative nasopharyngeal sample results, test characteristics and test concordance Table 2. Comparison of intra-operative nasopharyngeal and tracheal aspirate sample results, test characteristics and test concordance Figure 1 Percent agreement between pre-operative and intra-operative samples Conclusion There is a high PPV and NPV of pre-operative SARS-CoV-2 PCR testing among children undergoing anesthesia. These data can help inform guidelines regarding appropriate precautions for HCW performing high risk procedures in asymptomatic pediatric patients. Disclosures Suchitra Rao, MD, BioFire (Grant/Research Support) Samuel Dominguez, MD, PhD, BioFire (Consultant, Research Grant or Support)

INTRODUCTION: Ketone formation is a normal response when hypoglycemia occurs. Since the majority of children with recurrent hypoglycemia cannot be diagnosed with a known endocrine or metabolic disorder on a critical sample, ketotic hypoglycemia has been described as the most common cause of low blood glucose concentrations in children. Critical samples, however, will miss the ketotic forms of glycogen storage disease (GSD), which present with elevated ketones, hypoglycemia, and normal hormonal concentrations.RESULTS: A total of 164 children (96 boys, 68 girls) were enrolled in the study. Prediction of pathogenicity of DNA changes using computer modeling confirmed pathology in 20 individuals [four GSD 0, two GSD VI, 12 GSD IX alpha, one GSD IX beta, one GSD IX gamma] (12 %). Boys were most likely to have changes in the PHKA2 gene, consistent with GSD IX alpha, an X-linked disorder.CONCLUSIONS: Mutations in genes involved in glycogen synthesis and degradation were commonly found in children with idiopathic ketotic hypoglycemia. GSD IX is likely an unappreciated cause of ketotic hypoglycemia in children, while GSD 0 and VI are relatively uncommon. GSD IX alpha should particularly be considered in boys with unexplained hypoglycemia.

Glycogen storage disease type I (GSD I) causes severe hypoglycemia during periods of fasting since both glycogenolysis and gluconeogenesis are impaired. Primary treatment in North America consists of cornstarch therapy every 3-4 h. Waxy maize extended release cornstarch was introduced for maintaining overnight glucose concentrations, but no studies have assessed long-term safety and efficacy of the product.To demonstrate the safety and efficacy of modified cornstarch in GSD I.An open-label overnight trial of extended release cornstarch was performed. Subjects with a successful trial (optimal metabolic control 2 or more hours longer than with traditional cornstarch) were given the option of continuing into the chronic observational phase. Subjects were assessed biochemically at baseline and after 12 months.Of the 106 subjects (93 GSD Ia/13 GSD Ib), efficacy was demonstrated in 82 patients (88%) with GSD Ia and 10 patients (77%) with GSD Ib. The success rate for extending fasting was 95% for females and 78% for males. Of the patients who entered the longitudinal phase, long-term data are available for 44 subjects. Mean duration of fasting on traditional cornstarch prior to study for the cohort was 4.1 and 7.8 h on the extended release cornstarch (P 0.001). All laboratory markers of metabolic control have remained stable in the chronically treated patients.Extended release cornstarch appears to improve the quality of life of patients with GSD I without sacrificing metabolic control. Avoiding the overnight dose of cornstarch should enhance safety in this population.