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Abstract Background All jawed-vertebrates have four T cell receptor (TCR) chains: alpha (TRA), beta (TRB), gamma (TRG) and delta (TRD). Marsupials appear unique by having an additional TCR: mu (TRM). The evolutionary origin of TRM and its relationship to other TCR remain obscure, and is confounded by previous results that support TRM being a hybrid between a TCR and immunoglobulin locus. The availability of the first marsupial genome sequence allows investigation of these evolutionary relationships. Results The organization of the conventional TCR loci, encoding the TRA, TRB, TRG and TRD chains, in the opossum Monodelphis domestica are highly conserved with and of similar complexity to that of eutherians (placental mammals). There is a high degree of conserved synteny in the genomic regions encoding the conventional TCR across mammals and birds. In contrast the chromosomal region containing TRM is not well conserved across mammals. None of the conventional TCR loci contain variable region gene segments with homology to those found in TRM; rather TRM variable genes are most similar to that of immunoglobulin heavy chain genes. Conclusion Complete genomic analyses of the opossum TCR loci continue to support an origin of TRM as a hybrid between a TCR and immunoglobulin locus. None of the conventional TCR loci contain evidence that such a recombination event occurred, rather they demonstrate a high degree of stability across distantly related mammals. TRM, therefore, appears to be derived from receptor genes no longer extant in placental mammals. These analyses provide the first genomic scale structural detail of marsupial TCR genes, a lineage of mammals used as models of early development and human disease.

Objective: Opioid overdose is a public health epidemic adversely impacting individuals and communities. To combat this, California passed a law mandating that prescribers offer a naloxone prescription in certain circumstances. Our objective was to evaluate associations with California's naloxone prescription mandate and emergency department (ED) overdose visits/hospitalizations, opioid and naloxone prescribing, and 30-day mortality., Methods: This retrospective cohort study included data from January 1, 2018, to December 31, 2019, and included all Kaiser Permanente Southern California (KPSC) members aged >10 years across 15 KPSC EDs. Exposure was defined as presentation to the ED within the study period. The primary outcome was ED visits for opioid overdose pre- and post-implementation of California's naloxone prescription mandate., Results: A total of 1.1 million ED visits (534K pre/576K post) were included in the study population. ED opioid overdose visits were 344 (6.4/10,000) pre-policy and 351 (6.1/10,000) post-policy implementation, while non-opioid overdose visits were 309 (5.8/10,000) pre-implementation and 411 (7.1/10,000) post-implementation. The unadjusted rate of visits with opioid prescriptions decreased significantly (14.9% pre to 13.5% post) after implementation. ED naloxone prescriptions increased substantially (104 pre vs. 6031 post). Primary adjusted interrupted time series analysis found no statistical difference between monthly opioid overdose visits pre versus post (odds ratio 1.02, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.98‒1.07). Difference-in-differences analysis revealed no significant changes in hospitalization (coefficient [CE] = ‒0.05, 95% CI = ‒0.11 to 0.02) or 30-day mortality (CE = ‒0.01, 95% CI = ‒0.03 to 0.01)., Conclusion: This study revealed that the implementation of California's naloxone prescription mandate was associated with significantly increased naloxone prescribing and decreased opioid prescribing, but no significant change in ED opioid overdose visits, hospitalizations, or 30-day mortality. This indicates that increasing naloxone prescribing alone may not be sufficient to lower opioid overdose rates., Competing Interests: The authors declare they have no conflicts of interest., (© 2024 The Author(s). Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians Open published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American College of Emergency Physicians.)

Background: Invasive bacterial infections (IBIs) in febrile infants are rare but potentially devastating. We aimed to derive and validate a predictive model for IBI among febrile infants age 7-60 days., Methods: Data were abstracted retrospectively from electronic records of 37 emergency departments (EDs) for infants with a measured temperature >=100.4 F who underwent an ED evaluation with blood and urine cultures. Models to predict IBI were developed and validated respectively using a random 80/20 dataset split, including 10-fold cross-validation. We used precision recall curves as the classification metric., Results: Of 4411 eligible infants with a mean age of 37 days, 29% had characteristics that would likely have excluded them from existing risk stratification protocols. There were 196 patients with IBI (4.4%), including 43 (1.0%) with bacterial meningitis. Analytic approaches varied in performance characteristics (precision recall range 0.04-0.29, area under the curve range 0.5-0.84), with the XGBoost model demonstrating the best performance (0.29, 0.84). The five most important variables were serum white blood count, maximum temperature, absolute neutrophil count, absolute band count, and age in days., Conclusion: A machine learning model (XGBoost) demonstrated the best performance in predicting a rare outcome among febrile infants, including those excluded from existing algorithms., Impact: Several models for the risk stratification of febrile infants have been developed. There is a need for a preferred comprehensive model free from limitations and algorithm exclusions that accurately predicts IBIs. This is the first study to derive an all-inclusive predictive model for febrile infants aged 7-60 days in a community ED sample with IBI as a primary outcome. This machine learning model demonstrates potential for clinical utility in predicting IBI., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to the International Pediatric Research Foundation, Inc.)

Objectives: Diagnostic errors are the leading cause of preventable harm in clinical practice. Implementable tools to quantify and target this problem are needed. To address this gap, we aimed to generalize the Symptom-Disease Pair Analysis of Diagnostic Error (SPADE) framework by developing its computable phenotype and then demonstrated how that schema could be applied in multiple clinical contexts., Methods: We created an information model for the SPADE processes, then mapped data fields from electronic health records (EHR) and claims data in use to that model to create the SPADE information model (intention) and the SPADE computable phenotype (extension). Later we validated the computable phenotype and tested it in four case studies in three different health systems to demonstrate its utility., Results: We mapped and tested the SPADE computable phenotype in three different sites using four different case studies. We showed that data fields to compute an SPADE base measure are fully available in the EHR Data Warehouse for extraction and can operationalize the SPADE framework from provider and/or insurer perspective, and they could be implemented on numerous health systems for future work in monitor misdiagnosis-related harms., Conclusions: Data for the SPADE base measure is readily available in EHR and administrative claims. The method of data extraction is potentially universally applicable, and the data extracted is conveniently available within a network system. Further study is needed to validate the computable phenotype across different settings with different data infrastructures., (© 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston.)

Objectives: To develop a COVID-19-specific deterioration index for hospitalized patients: the COVID Hospitalized Patient Deterioration Index (COVID-HDI). This index builds on the proprietary Epic Deterioration Index, which was not developed for predicting respiratory deterioration events among patients with COVID-19., Study Design: A retrospective observational cohort was used to develop and validate the COVID-HDI model to predict respiratory deterioration or death among hospitalized patients with COVID-19. Deterioration events were defined as death or requiring high-flow oxygen, bilevel positive airway pressure, mechanical ventilation, or intensive-level care within 72 hours of run time. The sample included hospitalized patients with COVID-19 diagnoses or positive tests at Kaiser Permanente Southern California between May 3, 2020, and October 17, 2020., Methods: Machine learning models and 118 candidate predictors were used to generate benchmark performance. Logit regression with least absolute shrinkage and selection operator and physician input were used to finalize the model. Split-sample cross-validation was used to train and test the model., Results: The area under the receiver operating curve was 0.83. COVID-HDI identifies patients at low risk (negative predictive value [NPV] > 98.5%) and borderline low risk (NPV > 95%) of an event. Of all patients, 74% were identified as being at low or borderline low risk at some point during their hospitalization and could be considered for discharge with or without home monitoring. A high-risk group with a positive predictive value of 51% included 12% of patients. Model performance remained high in a recent cohort of patients., Conclusions: COVID-HDI is a parsimonious, well-calibrated, and accurate model that may support clinical decision-making around discharge and escalation of care.

Introduction There is considerable variation in the approach to infants presenting to the emergency department (ED) with fever. The authors' primary aim was to develop a robust set of algorithms using community ED data to inform modifications of broader clinical guidance. Methods The authors report the development of California Febrile Infant Risk Stratification Tool (CA FIRST) using key components of the Roseville Protocol (ROS) and American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG). Expanded guidance was derived using a retrospective analysis of a cohort of 3527 febrile infants aged 7-90 days presenting to any Kaiser Permanente Northern California ED between 2010 and 2019 who underwent a core febrile infant evaluation. Results Melding ROS and AAP CPG algorithms in infants 7-60 days old, CA FIRST Algorithms had comparable performance characteristics to ROS and AAP CPG. CA FIRST enhancements included guidance on febrile infants 61-90 days old, high-risk infants, infants with bronchiolitis, and infants who received immunizations within the prior 48 hours. This retrospective analysis revealed that of 235 febrile infants 22-90 days old with respiratory syncytial virus and 221 who had fever in the 48 hours following vaccination, there were no cases of invasive bacterial infection. Discussion CA FIRST is a set of 13 algorithms providing a thoughtful and flexible approach to the febrile infant while minimizing unnecessary interventions. Conclusions CA FIRST Algorithms empower clinicians to manage most febrile infants. Algorithms are being modified as new data become available, imparting useful and ever-current educational information within a learning health care system., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest None declared

Background and Objectives: Few studies have tested multiple socio-ecological risk factors assocated with firearm injury among pediatric populations and distinguished self-inflicted from non-self-inflicted injury. To address this gap, the current study examined demographic, individual psychosocial, and neighborhood variables as risk factors for firearm injury among a large cohort of children and adolescents., Methods: Retrospective cohort study. Data were obtained from the electronic health records of a large integrated healthcare system. The cohort included children <18 years with at least one clinical encounter between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2018. Poisson regression was used to examine demographic (age, gender, race and ethnicity, Medicaid status), psychosocial (depression, substance use disorder, medical comorbidities), and neighborhood education variables as potential risk factors for non-self-inflicted and self-inflicted firearm injuries., Results: For non-self-inflicted injury, the highest relative risk was found for children age 12-17 years old compared to 0-5 year olds (RR = 37.57); other risk factors included male gender, Black and Hispanic race and ethnicity (compared to White race), being a Medicaid recipient, lower neighborhood education, and substance use disorder diagnosis. For self-inflicted injury, only age 12-17 years old and male gender were associated with increased risk., Conclusions: These results reinforce the established higher risk for firearm injury among adolescent males, highlight differences between self-inflicted and non-self-inflicted injuries, and the need to consider demographic, psychosocial, and neighborhood variables as risk factors to inform interventions aimed to reduce firearm injuries among children and adolescents., (Copyright © 2022 Academic Pediatric Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective Physical restraints are used in emergency departments (EDs) to address behavioral emergencies in situations in which less restrictive methods have failed. The objective of this study was to evaluate for associations between patient/visit characteristics and physical restraint use. Study Design This study was designed as a cross-sectional, retrospective study of all encounters at Kaiser Permanente Northern California EDs from January 1, 2016, to December 31, 2019, to evaluate differences in patient and visit characteristics between visits involving physical restraint use and those without. Methods Using electronic health record data, this study identified physical restraint use among ED encounters and extracted demographic, clinical, and facility characteristics. The authors calculated odds ratios for physical restraint placement, adjusting for patient and visit characteristics and accounting for within-patient clustering. Results Among 4,410,816 encounters (representing 1,791,673 patients), 6369 encounters (0.1%) involved physical restraint use among 5,554 patients (0.3%). Variables associated with the lowest odds of physical restraint included female sex, presentation to the ED in more recent years, and presence of intentional self-harm/suicidal ideation. Variables associated with the highest odds of physical restraint included higher visit acuity and weekend presentations to the ED. Discussion This study, which leveraged a large, diverse patient sample generalizable to the Northern California population, found several patient and visit characteristics associated with physical restraint use in the ED. Conclusion Results of this study may help identify patient groups and situational factors that are most likely to lead to physical restraint use and structural factors contributing to disparities in care, thereby informing interventions to reduce physical restraint use when possible.

Background and Objectives: In 2021, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) published the Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG) for management of well-appearing, febrile infants 8 to 60 days old. For older infants, the guideline relies on several inflammatory markers, including tests not rapidly available in many settings like C-reactive protein (CRP) and procalcitonin (PCT). This study describes the performance of the AAP CPG for detecting invasive bacterial infections (IBI) without using CRP and PCT., Methods: This retrospective cohort study included infants aged 8 to 60 days old presenting to Kaiser Permanente Northern California emergency departments between 2010 and 2019 with temperatures ≥38°C who met AAP CPG inclusion criteria and underwent complete blood counts, blood cultures, and urinalyses. Performance characteristics for detecting IBI were calculated for each age group., Results: Among 1433 eligible infants, there were 57 (4.0%) bacteremia and 9 (0.6%) bacterial meningitis cases. Using absolute neutrophil count >5200/mm3 and temperature >38.5°C as inflammatory markers, 3 (5%) infants with IBI were misidentified. Sensitivities and specificities for detecting infants with IBIs in each age group were: 8 to 21 days: 100% (95% confidence interval [CI] 83.9%-100%) and 0% (95% CI 0%-1.4%); 22 to 28 days: 88.9% (95% CI 51.8%-99.7%) and 40.4% (95% CI 33.2%- 48.1%); and 29 to 60 days: 93.3% (95% CI 77.9%-99.2%) and 32.1% (95% CI 29.1%- 35.3%). Invasive interventions were recommended for 100% of infants aged 8 to 21 days; 58% to 100% of infants aged 22 to 28 days; and 0% to 69% of infants aged 29 to 60 days., Conclusions: When CRP and PCT are not available, the AAP CPG detected IBI in young, febrile infants with high sensitivity but low specificity., (Copyright © 2023 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.)

Background: Health systems are increasingly attempting to intervene on social adversity as a strategy to improve health care outcomes. To inform health system efforts to screen for social adversity, we sought to explore the stability of social risk and interest in assistance over time and to evaluate whether the social risk was associated with subsequent healthcare utilization., Methods: We surveyed Kaiser Permanente members receiving subsidies from the healthcare exchange in Southern California to assess their social risk and desire for assistance using the Accountable Health Communities instrument. A subset of initial respondents was randomized to be re-surveyed at either three or six months later., Results: A total of 228 participants completed the survey at both time points. Social risks were moderate to strongly stable across three and six months (Kappa range = .59-.89); however, social adversity profiles that included participants' desire for assistance were more labile (3-month Kappa = .52; 95% CI = .41-.64 & 6-month Kappa = .48; 95% CI = .36-.6). Only housing-related social risks were associated with an increase in acute care (emergency, urgent care) six months after initial screening; no other associations between social risk and utilization were observed., Conclusions: This study suggests that screening for social risk may be appropriate at intervals of six months, or perhaps longer, but that assessing desire for assistance may need to occur more frequently. Housing risks were associated with increases in acute care. Health systems may need to engage in screening and referral to resources to improve overall care and ultimately patient total health., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Background: There is limited data regarding the rates and severity of child maltreatment in medical settings during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the reports are somewhat contradictory., Objective: To examine the rates of emergency department (ED) child maltreatment (CM) diagnosis before and after the California statewide stay-at-home order, as well as potential disparities by age, gender, race/ethnicity, and Medicaid status., Methods: A retrospective pre-post interrupted time series was conducted using data from the electronic health records of children (<18 years) with at least one emergency department visit between January 1, 2019 and September 30, 2021. Enactment of the stay-at-home order in California, March 2020 was used to determine a change in trend of rates of diagnosis of CM in the ED., Results: Overall the study included 407,228 pediatric ED visits. There was a significant change in the percentage of CM visits immediately after the stay-at-home order, followed by small month to month decreases returning to near pre-stay-at-home order levels. This significant increase was driven by higher risk for children <4 years old. The increased rate of CM in the first month after the stay-at-home order was also elevated for female, Black, and Hispanic children., Conclusions: Our results indicated the rates of CM diagnoses in the ED doubled after the March 2020 stay-at-home order in California. Additionally, our findings suggest that some children may be at higher risk than others, which supports the importance of social safety nets for children in times of national emergency., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Aims: Stress echocardiography (SE) findings and interpretations are commonly documented in free-text reports. Reusing SE results requires laborious manual reviews. This study aimed to develop and validate an automated method for abstracting SE reports in a large cohort., Methods and Results: This study included adult patients who had SE within 30 days of their emergency department visit for suspected acute coronary syndrome in a large integrated healthcare system. An automated natural language processing (NLP) algorithm was developed to abstract SE reports and classify overall SE results into normal, non-diagnostic, infarction, and ischaemia categories. Randomly selected reports ( n = 140) were double-blindly reviewed by cardiologists to perform criterion validity of the NLP algorithm. Construct validity was tested on the entire cohort using abstracted SE data and additional clinical variables. The NLP algorithm abstracted 6346 consecutive SE reports. Cardiologists had good agreements on the overall SE results on the 140 reports: Kappa (0.83) and intraclass correlation coefficient (0.89). The NLP algorithm achieved 98.6% specificity and negative predictive value, 95.7% sensitivity, positive predictive value, and F -score on the overall SE results and near-perfect scores on ischaemia findings. The 30-day acute myocardial infarction or death outcomes were highest among patients with ischaemia (5.0%), followed by infarction (1.4%), non-diagnostic (0.8%), and normal (0.3%) results. We found substantial variations in the format and quality of SE reports, even within the same institution., Conclusions: Natural language processing is an accurate and efficient method for abstracting unstructured SE reports. This approach creates new opportunities for research, public health measures, and care improvement., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest: Author, B.C.S., was a consultant for Medtronic. The remaining authors have no conflicts of interest to report., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology.)

Objective: Describe emergency department (ED) management and patient outcomes for febrile infants 29-60 days of age who received a lumbar puncture (LP), with focus on timing of antibiotics and type of physician performing LP., Methods: Retrospective observational study of 35 California EDs from January 1, 2010 through December 31, 2019. Primary analysis was among patients with successful LP and primary outcome was hospital length of stay (LOS). Logistic regression analysis included variables associated with LOS of at least 2 days. Secondary outcomes were bacterial meningitis, hospital admission, length of antibiotics, and readmission., Results: Among 2569 febrile infants (median age 39 days), 667 underwent successful LP and 633 received intravenous antibiotics. Most infants ( n  = 559, 88.3%) had their LP before intravenous antibiotic administration. Pediatricians performed 54% of LPs and emergency physicians 34%. Sixteen infants (0.6% of 2569) were diagnosed with bacterial meningitis, and none died. Five hundred and fifty-eight (88%) infants receiving an LP were hospitalized. Among patients receiving an LP and antibiotics ( n  = 633), 6.5% were readmitted within 30 days. Patients receiving antibiotics before LP had a longer length of antibiotics (+ 7.9 hours, 95% confidence interval [CI] 3.8-13.4). Primary analysis found no association between timing of antibiotics and LOS (odds ratio [OR] 0.67, 95% CI 0.34-1.30), but shorter LOS when emergency physicians performed the LP (OR 0.66, 95% CI 0.45-0.97)., Conclusions: Febrile infants in the ED had no deaths and few cases of bacterial meningitis. In community EDs, where a pediatrician is often not available, successful LP by emergency physician was associated with reduced inpatient LOS., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest. None of the authors have any financial or personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work., (© 2022 The Authors. JACEP Open published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American College of Emergency Physicians.)

Background: Findings and interpretations of myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) studies are documented in free-text MPI reports. MPI results are essential for research, but manual review is prohibitively time consuming. This study aimed to develop and validate an automated method to abstract MPI reports., Methods: We developed a natural language processing (NLP) algorithm to abstract MPI reports. Randomly selected reports were double-blindly reviewed by two cardiologists to validate the NLP algorithm. Secondary analyses were performed to describe patient outcomes based on abstracted-MPI results on 16,957 MPI tests from adult patients evaluated for suspected ACS., Results: The NLP algorithm achieved high sensitivity (96.7%) and specificity (98.9%) on the MPI categorical results and had a similar degree of agreement compared to the physician reviewers. Patients with abnormal MPI results had higher rates of 30-day acute myocardial infarction or death compared to patients with normal results. We identified issues related to the quality of the reports that not only affect communication with referring physicians but also challenges for automated abstraction., Conclusion: NLP is an accurate and efficient strategy to abstract results from the free-text MPI reports. Our findings will facilitate future research to understand the benefits of MPI studies but requires validation in other settings., (© 2020. American Society of Nuclear Cardiology.)

Importance: Opioid addiction or dependency is a serious crisis in the US that affects public health as well as social and economic welfare. The State of California passed Assembly Bill (AB) 2760 in 2018 that mandates the coprescription of naloxone and opioids for patients with a high overdose risk., Objective: To assess whether the AB 2760-based electronic prompts were associated with increased naloxone orders for opioid users and reduced opioid prescribing when integrated into the practitioner workflow., Design, Setting, and Participants: This cohort study used interrupted time series mixed models to evaluate data obtained from the regional integrated health care system Kaiser Permanente Southern California (KPSC) from January 1, 2018, to December 31, 2019. Clinician participants were continuously employed at KPSC during the study period and ordered an opioid analgesic for eligible patients in 2018. Patient participants were KPSC members aged 18 years or older who received an opioid analgesic prescription during the study period. A series of AB 2760-based electronic prompts were integrated into the KPSC electronic health record system on December 27, 2018. The prompts are triggered or activated when 1 or more opioid prescribing conditions, defined in the AB 2760, are met at outpatient visits. Data were analyzed from January 8, 2021, to September 15, 2021., Exposures: Assembly Bill 2760-based electronic prompts for outpatient opioid prescriptions in the electronic health record system., Main Outcomes and Measures: Primary outcomes were changes in outpatient naloxone order rates among patients who were prescribed opioids and changes in outpatient opioid prescribing rates. Secondary outcomes were total morphine milligram equivalents (MMEs) ordered per prescriber-month, prompts-targeted objectives, and unintended consequences. Risk for opioid abuse among 3 types of patients was also assessed., Results: The 6515 eligible clinicians (mean [SD] age, 45.9 [9.43] years; 3604 men [55.3%]) included in the study served 500 711 unique patients in 1 903 289 outpatient encounters (mean [SD] age, 60.4 [15.67] years; 1 121 004 women [58.9%]) in which an opioid analgesic was prescribed. Naloxone order rate increased from 2.0% in December 2018 to 13.2% in January 2019 and then continued to increase to 27.1% in December 2019. Outpatient opioid prescribing rates decreased by 15.1% (rate ratio [RR], 0.85; 95% CI, 0.83-0.87) per prescriber-month when the electronic prompts were implemented. The postimplementation trend increased by 0.7% per prescriber-month (RR, 1.01; 95% CI, 1.01-1.01); the overall trend was still decreasing. The total MMEs per prescriber-month decreased by 7.8% (RR, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.89-0.96) after implementation of the prompts. The postimplementation trend tapered off. Other safe opioid prescribing measures also improved after implementation (decreases in concomitant muscle relaxants orders [RR, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.89-1.00], initial [RR, 0.86; 0.83-0.89] and renewal [RR, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.62-0.69] opioid orders, and long-term high-dose orders [RR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.94-0.98])., Conclusions and Relevance: This study found an association between implementation of AB 2760-based prompts and increased naloxone order rate; improved opioid prescribing measures (ie, decreased concomitant muscle relaxants orders, initial and renewal opioid orders, and long-term high-dose orders), except monthly median MMEs; and reduced opioid prescribing. The findings suggest that opioid overdose risks can be mitigated by encouraging safe prescribing habits.

This study examined injuries that may precede a child maltreatment (CM) diagnosis, by age, race/ethnicity, gender, and Medicaid status using a retrospective case-control design among child members of a large integrated healthcare system ( N = 9152 participants, n = 4576 case). Injury categories based on diagnosis codes from medical visits were bruising, fractures, lacerations, head injury, burns, falls, and unspecified injury. Results showed that all injury categories were significant predictors of a subsequent CM diagnosis, but only for children < 3 years old. Specifically, fracture and head injury were the highest risk for a subsequent CM diagnosis. All injury types were significant predictors of maltreatment diagnosis for Hispanic children < 3 years, which was not the case for the other race/ethnicities. Overall, these findings suggest that all types of injury within these specific categories should have a more thorough assessment for possible abuse for children under 3 years. This work can inform the development of clinical decision support tools to aid healthcare providers in detecting abusive injuries.

Background: Chest pain is the top reason for hospitalization/observation in the USA, but it is unclear if this strategy improves patient outcomes., Objective: The objective of this study was to compare 30-day outcomes for patients admitted versus discharged after a negative emergency department (ED) evaluation for suspected acute coronary syndrome., Design: A retrospective, multi-site, cohort study of adult encounters with chest pain presenting to one of 13 Kaiser Permanente Southern California EDs between January 1, 2015, and December 1, 2017. Instrumental variable analysis was used to mitigate potential confounding by unobserved factors., Patients: All adult patients presenting to an ED with chest pain, in whom an acute myocardial infarction was not diagnosed in the ED, were included., Main Measures: The primary outcome was 30-day acute myocardial infarction or all-cause mortality, and secondary outcomes included 30-day revascularization and major adverse cardiac events., Key Results: In total, 77,652 patient encounters were included in the study (n=11,026 admitted, 14.2%). Three hundred twenty-two (0.4%) had an acute myocardial infarction (n=193, 0.2%) or death (n=137, 0.2%) within 30 days of ED visit (1.5% hospitalized versus 0.2% discharged). Very few (0.3%) patients underwent coronary revascularization within 30 days (0.7% hospitalized versus 0.2% discharged). Instrumental variable analysis found no adjusted differences in 30-day patient outcomes between the hospitalized cohort and those discharged (risk reduction 0.002, 95% CI -0.002 to 0.007). Similarly, there were no differences in coronary revascularization (risk reduction 0.003, 95% CI -0.002 to 0.007)., Conclusion: Among ED patients with chest pain not diagnosed with an acute myocardial infarction, risk of major adverse cardiac events is quite low, and there does not appear to be any benefit in 30-day outcomes for those admitted or observed in the hospital compared to those discharged with outpatient follow-up., (© 2021. Society of General Internal Medicine.)

Purpose: Because social conditions such as food insecurity and housing instability shape health outcomes, health systems are increasingly screening for and addressing patients' social risks. This study documented the prevalence of social risks and examined the desire for assistance in addressing those risks in a US-based integrated delivery system., Methods: A survey was administered to Kaiser Permanente members on subsidized exchange health insurance plans (2018-2019). The survey included questions about 4 domains of social risks, desire for help, and attitudes. We conducted a descriptive analysis and estimated multivariate modified Poisson regression models., Results: Of 438 participants, 212 (48%) reported at least 1 social risk factor. Housing instability was the most common (70%) factor reported. Members with social risks reported more discomfort being screened for social risks (14.2% vs 5.4%; P = .002) than those without risks, although 90% of participants believed that health systems should assist in addressing social risks. Among those with 1-2 social risks, however, only 27% desired assistance. Non-Hispanic Black participants who reported a social risk were more than twice as likely to desire assistance compared with non-Hispanic White participants (adjusted relative risk [RR] 2.2; 95% CI, 1.3-3.8)., Conclusions: Athough most survey participants believed health systems have a role in addressing social risks, a minority of those reporting a risk wanted assistance and reported more discomfort being screened for risk factors than those without risks. Health systems should work to increase the comfort of patients in reporting risks, explore how to successfully assist them when desired, and offer resources to address these risks outside the health care sector. VISUAL ABSTRACT ., (© 2022 Annals of Family Medicine, Inc.)

Background: The demands for healthcare resources following a COVID-19 diagnosis are substantial, but not currently quantified., Objective: To describe trends in healthcare utilization within 180 days for patients diagnosed with COVID-19 and identify patient factors associated with increased healthcare use., Design: Observational cohort study., Patients: A total of 64,011 patients with a test-confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis from March to September 2020 in a large integrated healthcare system in Southern California., Main Measures: Overall healthcare utilization during the 180 days following COVID-19 diagnosis, as well as encounter types and reasons for visits during the first 30 days. Poisson regression was used to identify patient factors associated with higher utilization. Analyses were performed separately for patients who were and were not hospitalized for COVID-19., Key Results: Healthcare utilization was about twice as high for hospitalized patients compared to non-hospitalized patients in all time periods. The average number of visits was highest in the first 30 days (hospitalized: 12.3 visits/30 person-days; non-hospitalized: 6.6) and gradually decreased over time. In the first 30 days, the majority of healthcare visits were telehealth encounters (hospitalized: 9.0 visits; non-hospitalized: 5.6 visits), and the most prevalent reasons for visits were COVID-related diagnoses, COVID-related symptoms, and respiratory-related conditions. For hospitalized patients, older age (≥65: RR 1.27, 95% CI 1.15-1.41), female gender (RR 1.07, 95% CI 1.05-1.09), and higher BMI (≥40: RR 1.07, 95% CI 1.03-1.10) were associated with higher total utilization. For non-hospitalized patients, older age, female gender, higher BMI, non-white race/ethnicity, former smoking, and greater number of pre-existing comorbidities were all associated with increased utilization., Conclusions: Patients with COVID-19 seek healthcare frequently within 30 days of diagnosis, placing high demands on health systems. Identifying ways to support patients diagnosed with COVID-19 while adequately providing the usual recommended care to our communities will be important as we recover from the pandemic., (© 2021. Society of General Internal Medicine.)

Study Objective: To assess if having a mental health and/or substance use disorder is associated with a missed acute myocardial infarction diagnosis in the emergency department (ED)., Methods: This was a retrospective cohort analysis (2009 to 2017) of adult ED encounters at Kaiser Permanente Southern California. We used the validated symptom-disease pair analysis of diagnostic error methodological approach to "look back" and "look forward" and identify missed acute myocardial infarctions within 30 days of a treat-and-release ED visit. We use adjusted logistic regression to report the odds of missed acute myocardial infarction among patients with a history of mental health and/or substance use disorders., Results: The look-back analysis identified 44,473 acute myocardial infarction hospital encounters; 574 (1.3%) diagnoses were missed. The odds of missed diagnoses were higher in patients with mental health disorders (odds ratio [OR] 1.48, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.23 to 1.77) but not in those with substance abuse disorders (OR 1.22, 95% CI 0.91 to 1.62). The highest risk was observed in those with co-occurring disorders (OR 1.90, 95% CI 1.30 to 2.76). The look-forward analysis identified 325,088 chest pain/dyspnea ED encounters; 508 (0.2%) were missed acute myocardial infarctions. No significant associations of missed acute myocardial infarction were revealed in either group (mental health disorder: OR 0.92, 95% CI 0.71 to 1.18; substance use disorder: OR 1.22, 95% CI 0.80 to 1.85)., Conclusion: The look-back analysis identified patients with mental illness at increased risk of missed acute myocardial infarction diagnosis, with the highest risk observed in those with a history of comorbid substance abuse. Having substance use disorders alone did not increase this risk in either cohort. The look-forward analysis revealed challenges in prospectively identifying high-risk patients to target for improvement., (Copyright © 2021 American College of Emergency Physicians. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Develop and validate a risk score using variables available during an Emergency Department (ED) encounter to predict adverse events among patients with suspected COVID-19., Methods: A retrospective cohort study of adult visits for suspected COVID-19 between March 1 - April 30, 2020 at 15 EDs in Southern California. The primary outcomes were death or respiratory decompensation within 7-days. We used least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) models and logistic regression to derive a risk score. We report metrics for derivation and validation cohorts, and subgroups with pneumonia or COVID-19 diagnoses., Results: 26,600 ED encounters were included and 1079 experienced an adverse event. Five categories (comorbidities, obesity/BMI ≥ 40, vital signs, age and sex) were included in the final score. The area under the curve (AUC) in the derivation cohort was 0.891 (95% CI, 0.880-0.901); similar performance was observed in the validation cohort (AUC = 0.895, 95% CI, 0.874-0.916). Sensitivity ranging from 100% (Score 0) to 41.7% (Score of ≥15) and specificity from 13.9% (score 0) to 96.8% (score ≥ 15). In the subgroups with pneumonia (n = 3252) the AUCs were 0.780 (derivation, 95% CI 0.759-0.801) and 0.832 (validation, 95% CI 0.794-0.870), while for COVID-19 diagnoses (n = 2059) the AUCs were 0.867 (95% CI 0.843-0.892) and 0.837 (95% CI 0.774-0.899) respectively., Conclusion: Physicians evaluating ED patients with pneumonia, COVID-19, or symptoms suspicious for COVID-19 can apply the COVAS score to assist with decisions to hospitalize or discharge patients during the SARS CoV-2 pandemic., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Financial burden can affect healthcare utilization. Few studies have assessed the short-term associations between material (debt, trouble paying rent) and psychological (worry or distress about affording future healthcare) financial risks, and subsequent outpatient and emergency healthcare use. Worry was defined as concerns about affording future healthcare., Objective: Examine whether worry about affording healthcare is associated with healthcare utilization when controlling for material risk and general anxiety DESIGN: Longitudinal observational study PARTICIPANTS: Kaiser Permanente members with exchange-based federally subsidized health insurance (n = 450, 45% response rate) MAIN MEASURES: Survey measures of financial risks (material difficulty paying for medical care and worry about affording healthcare) and general anxiety. Healthcare use (primary care, urgent care, emergency department, and outpatient specialty visits) in the 6 months following survey completion., Key Results: Emergency department and primary care visits were not associated with material risk, worry about affording care, or general anxiety in individual and pooled analyses (all 95% confidence intervals (CI) for relative risk (RR) included 1). Although no individual predictor was associated with urgent care use (all 95% CIs for RR included 1), worry about affording prescriptions (relative risk (RR) = 2.01; 95% CI 1.14, 3.55) and general anxiety (RR = 0.38; 95% CI 0.15, 0.95) were significant when included in the same model, suggesting the two confounded each other. Worry about affording healthcare services was associated with fewer specialty care visits (RR = 0.40; 95% CI 0.25, 0.64) even when controlling for material risk and general anxiety, although general anxiety was also associated with more specialty care visits (RR = 1.98; 95% CI, 1.23, 3.18)., Conclusions: Screening for both general anxiety and financial worry may assist with specialty care utilization. Identifying these concerns may provide more opportunities to assist patients. Future research should examine interventions to reduce worry about cost of care.

Background: While participation in sports-related activities results in improved health outcomes, high school athletes are at risk for lower extremity injuries, especially ankle, knee, and thigh injuries. Efforts to promote the adoption and implementation of evidence-driven approaches to reduce injury risk among school-aged athletes are needed. However, there is limited research regarding the perceived barriers, facilitators, and adherence factors that may influence the successful implementation of effective warm-up routines among this population., Methods: We conducted a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews and focus groups to assess high school basketball coach and player current practices, knowledge, and perspectives about warm-ups and lower-extremity injuries (LEIs). We interviewed coaches (n = 12) and players (n = 30) from May to October 2019. Participants were recruited from public high schools in a joint school district in Southern California. Multiple coders employed thematic analysis of the data using validated methods., Results: Coaches and players reported regular engagement (e.g., daily) in warm-up routines, but the time dedicated (range 5-45 min), types of exercises, and order varied substantially. Players often co-lead the warm-up practice with the coach or assistant coach. Despite regular engagement in warm-up, players and coaches report multiple challenges, including (1) limited time and space to warm-up effectively at games, (2) a perception that young players are not prone to injury, (3) competing demands for coaches' time during practice, and (4) coaches' lack of knowledge. Coaches and players perceive that warming up before practice will result in fewer injuries, and many players are motivated to warm up as a result of their personal injury experience; however, they desire guidance on the ideal exercises for preventing injury and training on the proper form for each exercise., Conclusions: Regular involvement in basketball warm-up routines is common among high school teams, but the methods and time dedicated to these practices varied. Players and coaches are eager for more information on warm-up programs shown to reduce LEIs.

Background: Current guidelines for patients with suspected acute myocardial infarction are mainly based on troponin testing, commonly requiring an emergency department visit. HEAR score (History, Electrocardiogram, Age, and Risk factors) is a risk stratification tool validated in Europe, deduced from the HEART score (History, Electrocardiogram, Age, Risk factors, and Troponin), already implemented in clinical practice. We aimed to validate the HEAR score to rule out an acute myocardial infarction without needing biomarker testing., Methods: Retrospective cohort study at 15 emergency departments between May 2016 and December 2017. All adult encounters evaluated for possible acute myocardial infarction with a physician-documented HEART score for health plan members of Kaiser Permanente Southern California were included. Patients with an ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, those under hospice care, or with a "do not resuscitate" status were excluded. HEAR scores from 0-8 were calculated for each encounter and used to report 30-day acute myocardial infarction or all-cause mortality for each score., Results: There were 22,109 patient encounters included in the study. Overall, 30-day acute myocardial infarction or death occurred in 1.1% of patients. Among the 4106 patients (19%) with a HEAR score <2, 3 died and 2 experienced an acute myocardial infarction within 30 days (0.1%; 95% confidence interval, 0.1-0.3). Sensitivity and specificity were 97.9% and 18.8%, respectively., Conclusions: A low HEAR score may accurately identify patients with a very low risk of 30-day acute myocardial infarction or death, representing a cohort of patients who might appropriately forego biomarker testing. Future research is warranted to assess the impact of implementing the HEAR score into routine clinical practice., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Study Objective: We compare clinical management and outcomes of emergency department (ED) encounters by sex after implementation of a clinical care pathway in 15 community EDs that standardized recommendations based on patient risk, using the History, ECG, Age, Risk Factors, and Troponin (HEART) score., Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of adult ED encounters evaluated for suspected acute coronary syndrome with a documented HEART score from May 20, 2016, to December 1, 2017. The primary outcomes were hospitalization or 30-day stress testing. Secondary outcomes included 30-day acute myocardial infarction or all-cause death (major adverse cardiac event). A generalized estimating equation regression model was used to compare the odds of hospitalization or stress testing by sex; we report HEART scores (0 to 10) stratified by sex and describing major adverse cardiac events., Results: A total of 34,715 adult ED encounters met the inclusion criteria (56.0% women). A higher proportion of women were classified as low risk (60.5% versus 52.4%; odds ratio [OR] 1.39; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.33 to 1.45). Women were hospitalized or received stress testing less frequently than men for low HEART scores (18.8% versus 22.8%; OR 0.79; 95% CI 0.73 to 0.84) and intermediate ones (46.7% versus 49.7%; OR 0.88; 95% CI 0.83 to 0.95), but similarly for high-risk ones (74.1% versus 74.4%; OR 0.99; 95% CI 0.77 to 1.28). Women had 18% lower odds of hospitalization or noninvasive cardiac testing (OR 0.82; 95% CI 0.78 to 0.86), even after adjusting for HEART score and comorbidities. Men had higher risks of major adverse cardiac events than women for all HEART score categories but the risk for men was significantly higher among low-risk HEART scores (0.4% versus 0.1%)., Conclusion: Women with low-risk HEART scores are hospitalized or stress tested less than men, which is likely appropriate, and women have better outcomes than men. Use of the HEART score has the potential to reduce sex disparities in acute coronary syndrome care., (Copyright © 2020 American College of Emergency Physicians. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Importance: Chest pain is among the most common reasons for emergency department (ED) presentations. However, most patients are at low risk for acute coronary syndrome (ACS), with low cardiac adverse outcomes rates. Biomarker testing with troponin levels is key in the initial assessment for ACS. Although serial troponin testing can improve the diagnosis of ACS in clinical practice, some patients deemed to be low risk are discharged after a single negative troponin test result., Objective: To report the clinical outcomes of patients discharged after a single negative troponin test result compared with patients discharged after serial troponin measurements., Design, Setting, and Participants: This is a retrospective cohort study of ED encounters from May 5, 2016, to December 1, 2017, across 15 community EDs within an integrated health care system in southern California. The study cohort includes 27 918 adult ED encounters in which patients were evaluated for suspected ACS with a HEART (history, electrocardiogram, age, risk factors, and troponin) score and an initial conventional troponin-I measurement below the level of detection (<0.02 ng/mL). Statistical analysis was performed from December 1, 2019, to December 1, 2020., Exposure: Single troponin test vs multiple troponin tests., Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome was acute myocardial infarction or cardiac mortality; secondary outcomes included coronary artery bypass graft, percutaneous coronary intervention, invasive coronary angiography, and unstable angina within 30 days of discharge. A multivariable logistic regression model was performed to evaluate the association between testing strategies and clinical outcomes., Results: A total of 27 918 patient encounters (16 212 women [58.1%]; mean [SD] age, 58.7 [15.2] years) were included in the study. Of patients with an initial troponin measurement below the level of detection, 14 459 (51.8%) were discharged after a single troponin measurement, and 13 459 (48.2%) underwent serial troponin tests. After adjustment for cardiac risk factors and comorbidities, there was no statistically significant difference in the primary outcome of acute myocardial infarction or cardiac mortality within 30 days between the 2 groups (single troponin, 56 [0.4%] vs serial troponin, 52 [0.4%]; adjusted odds ratio, 1.41 [95% CI, 0.96-2.07]). Patients discharged after a single troponin test had lower rates of coronary artery bypass graft (adjusted odds ratio, 0.24 [95% CI, 0.11-0.48]) and invasive coronary angiography (adjusted odds ratio, 0.46 [95% CI, 0.38-0.56])., Conclusions and Relevance: This study suggests that patients are routinely discharged from the ED after a single negative troponin test result, and when compared with serial troponin testing, a single troponin test appears safe based on current physician decision-making, with no difference in rates of 30-day cardiac mortality and acute myocardial infarction, which are low in both groups.

Background: Wide variation exists for hospital admission rates for the evaluation of possible acute coronary syndrome, but there are limited data on physician-level variation. Our aim is to describe physicians' rates of admission for suspected acute coronary syndrome and associated 30-day major adverse events., Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of adult emergency department chest pain encounters from January 2016 to December 2017 across 15 community emergency departments within an integrated health system in Southern California. The unit of analysis was the Emergency physician. The primary outcome was the proportion of patients admitted/observed in the hospital. Secondary analysis described the 30-day incidence of death or acute myocardial infarction., Results: Thirty-eight thousand seven hundred seventy-eight patients encounters were included among 327 managing physicians. The median number of encounters per physician was 123 (interquartile range, 82-157) with an overall admission/observation rate of 14.0%. Wide variation in individual physician admission rates were observed (unadjusted, 1.5%-68.9%) and persisted after case-mix adjustments (adjusted, 5.5%-27.8%). More clinical experience was associated with a higher likelihood of hospital care. There was no difference in 30-day death or acute myocardial infarction between high- and low-admitting physician quartiles (unadjusted, 1.70% versus 0.82% and adjusted, 1.33% versus 1.29%)., Conclusions: Wide variation persists in physician-level admission rates for emergency department chest pain evaluation, even in a well-integrated health system. There was no associated benefit in 30-day death or acute myocardial infarction for patients evaluated by high-admitting physicians. This suggests an additional opportunity to investigate the safe reduction of physician-level variation in the use of hospital care.

Objective: Pain management following spine surgery can be challenging as patients routinely suffer from chronic pain and opioid tolerance. The increasing popularity of buprenorphine use for pain management in this population may further complicate perioperative pain management due to the limited efficacy of other opioids in the presence of buprenorphine. This study describes perioperative management and outcomes in patients on chronic buprenorphine who underwent elective inpatient spine surgery., Design: The authors performed a retrospective chart review of all patients >18 years of age taking chronic buprenorphine for any indication who had elective inpatient spine surgery at a single institution. Perioperative pain management data were analyzed for all patients who underwent spine surgery and were maintained on buprenorphine during their hospital stay., Setting: The study was performed at a single tertiary academic medical center., Main Outcome Measures: The primary outcome measures were post-operative pain scores and analgesic medication requirements., Results: Twelve patients on buprenorphine underwent inpatient spine surgery. Acceptable pain control was achieved in all cases. Management included preoperative dose limitation of buprenorphine when indicated and the extensive use of multimodal analgesia., Conclusion: The question whether patients presenting for painful, elective surgery should continue using buprenorphine perioperatively is an area of controversy, and the present manuscript provides more evidence for the concept of therapy continuation with buprenorphine.

Background: The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of changing the laboratory-reported D-dimer reference intervals to age-adjusted reference intervals on the use of advanced chest imaging and 30-day adverse events among emergency department (ED) encounters., Methods: A retrospective interrupted time-series analysis of ED encounters for patients > 50 years evaluated for suspected pulmonary embolism (PE) from April 2014 to April 2016. The primary outcome was use of advanced diagnostic imaging, and the secondary outcome was 30-day mortality or PE diagnosis. Secondary analyses also quantified delayed PE diagnoses pre- and postintervention. A generalized estimating equation segmented logistic regression model, adjusting for patient and facility characteristics, was used to determine changes in odds of diagnostic imaging and 30-day mortality or PE diagnoses., Results: A total of 10,534 (5,153 pre- and 5,381 postimplementation) ED encounters were included. Advanced imaging was obtained in 35.9% of pre- versus 33% of postimplementation encounters. Age-adjusted D-dimer (AADD) showed a small and nonsignificant decrease in month-to-month trends of advanced chest imaging postimplementation (odds ratio [OR] = 0.98, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.96 to 1.00). Use of advanced imaging in patients with D-dimer values lower than 500 ng/mL fibrinogen-equivalent units (FEU) was similar in the preintervention (5.8%) and postintervention (6.8%) periods. However, imaging was obtained in 30% of patients postintervention with a D-dimer result less than AADD reference interval , but more than the historical 500 ng/mL FEU reference interval. Implementing an AADD threshold demonstrated no change in the rate of 30-day adverse events (missed PE or mortality)., Conclusion: Changing the laboratory-reported D-dimer reference intervals for evaluation of PE was not associated with reduction in advanced chest imaging and did not increase 30-day adverse events. However, there was substantial noncompliance with the age-adjusted reference intervals in the postintervention period likely blunting the impact of this intervention., (© 2020 by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine.)

Importance: Professional guidelines recommend noninvasive cardiac testing (NIT) within 72 hours of an emergency department (ED) evaluation for suspected acute coronary syndrome. However, there is inexact evidence that this strategy reduces the risk of future death or acute myocardial infarction (MI)., Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of early NIT in reducing the risk of death or acute MI within 30 days., Design, Setting, and Participants: This retrospective, multicenter cohort study within the Kaiser Permanente Southern California integrated health care delivery system compared the effectiveness of early noninvasive cardiac testing vs no testing in patients with chest pain and in whom acute MI was ruled out who presented to an ED from January 2015 to December 2017. Patients were followed up for up to 30 days after emergency department discharge., Exposures: Noninvasive cardiac testing performed within 3 days of an ED evaluation for suspected acute coronary syndrome., Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome was composite risk of death or acute MI, within 30 days of an ED discharge., Results: A total of 79 040 patients were evaluated in this study, of whom 57.7% were female. The mean (SD) age of the cohort was 57 (16) years, and 16 164 patients (21%) had completed early NIT. The absolute risk of death or MI within 30 days was low (<1%). Early NIT had the minor benefit of reducing the absolute composite risk of death or MI (0.4% [95% CI, -0.6% to -0.3%]), and, separately, of death (0.2% [95% CI, -0.2% to -0.1%]), MI (-0.3% [95% CI, -0.5% to -0.1%]), and major adverse cardiac event (-0.5% [95% CI, -0.7% to -0.3%]). The number needed to treat was 250 to avoid 1 death or MI, 500 to avoid 1 death, 333 to avoid 1 MI, and 200 to avoid 1 major adverse cardiovascular event within 30 days. Subgroup analysis revealed a number needed to treat of 14 to avoid 1 death or MI in the subset of patients with elevated troponin., Conclusions and Relevance: Early NIT was associated with a small decrease in the risk of death or MI in patients admitted to the ED with suspected acute coronary syndrome, but this clinical strategy may not be optimal for most patients given the large number needed to treat.

Electronic health record data for pediatric members of Kaiser Permanente Southern California were used to identify key variables (ie, the number of emergency department visits and the number of providers) available in early infancy (0-6 months) placing children at higher risk of a maltreatment diagnosis in the first 5 years of life. The analytic sample included 96 462 children age 0 to 5 years born from January 1, 2009, to June 30, 2018. Poisson regression showed that children with ≥2 emergency department visits from birth to 6 months were at twice the risk of a maltreatment diagnosis before age 2 and 5 years compared with those children with no emergency department visits. Children with more continuity of primary care providers (0-5 providers) in the first 6 months of life were at lower risk of a maltreatment diagnosis at 2 years and 5 years than those children who saw multiple providers (6+). Information about medical utilization in early infancy may help physicians and other medical providers identify children at higher risk of maltreatment and prevent future incidents.

Objective: We sought to identify sub-groups of "low-risk" HEART score patients (history, ECG, age, risk factors, and troponin) at elevated risk of acute myocardial infarction or death within 30 days., Methods: We performed a secondary analysis of prospective emergency department (ED) encounters for suspected acute coronary syndrome in a large health system with low-risk HEART scores (0-5 points). Logistic regression using the 5 components of the HEART score analyzed the increase risk attributable to points from each of the 5 score components., Results: Of 30,971 encounters among 28,992 unique patients, 135 (0.44%, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.37-0.51) experienced acute myocardial infarction or death. Risk increased for each component of the HEART score from 0 to 1 to 2 points (history, 0.4% to 0.5% to 0.6%; ECG, 0.3% to 0.7% to 0.7%; age, 0.2% to 0.3% to 0.7%; risk factors, 0.1% to 0.4% to 0.8%), except troponin, which had the highest risk with 1 point (troponin, 0.4% to 2.7% to 0.9%). Odds ratios from our regression, which adjusts for other components, showed a similar pattern (from 1 vs 0 and 2 vs 0 points, respectively: history, 1.0 and 1.8; ECG, 2.2 and 3.5; age, 1.2 and 2.1; risk factors, 2.4 and 4.2; and troponin, 6.0 and 3.6)., Conclusion: Among "low-risk" suspected acute coronary syndrome encounters, increasing points within each of the 5 categories demonstrated small increases in risk of death or acute myocardial infarction, with the troponin and ECG components representing the largest risk increases., Competing Interests: BCS was a consultant for Medtronic. The other authors declare no conflicts of interest., (© 2020 The Authors. JACEP Open published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of the American College of Emergency Physicians.)

Background: Obesity, race/ethnicity, and other correlated characteristics have emerged as high-profile risk factors for adverse coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-associated outcomes, yet studies have not adequately disentangled their effects., Objective: To determine the adjusted effect of body mass index (BMI), associated comorbidities, time, neighborhood-level sociodemographic factors, and other factors on risk for death due to COVID-19., Design: Retrospective cohort study., Setting: Kaiser Permanente Southern California, a large integrated health care organization., Patients: Kaiser Permanente Southern California members diagnosed with COVID-19 from 13 February to 2 May 2020., Measurements: Multivariable Poisson regression estimated the adjusted effect of BMI and other factors on risk for death at 21 days; models were also stratified by age and sex., Results: Among 6916 patients with COVID-19, there was a J-shaped association between BMI and risk for death, even after adjustment for obesity-related comorbidities. Compared with patients with a BMI of 18.5 to 24 kg/m 2 , those with BMIs of 40 to 44 kg/m 2 and greater than 45 kg/m 2 had relative risks of 2.68 (95% CI, 1.43 to 5.04) and 4.18 (CI, 2.12 to 8.26), respectively. This risk was most striking among those aged 60 years or younger and men. Increased risk for death associated with Black or Latino race/ethnicity or other sociodemographic characteristics was not detected., Limitation: Deaths occurring outside a health care setting and not captured in membership files may have been missed., Conclusion: Obesity plays a profound role in risk for death from COVID-19, particularly in male patients and younger populations. Our capitated system with more equalized health care access may explain the absence of effect of racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities on death. Our data highlight the leading role of severe obesity over correlated risk factors, providing a target for early intervention., Primary Funding Source: Roche-Genentech.

Objective: Evidence suggests that exposure to opioids in adolescence increases risk of future opioid use. We evaluate if exposure to high versus low intensity opioid prescribers in the Emergency Department (ED) influences the risk of future opioid use in adolescents., Methods: Retrospective study of opioid-naïve patients 10 to 17 years seen in one of 14 EDs between January 2013 and December 2014. We categorized ED providers into quartiles according to the proportion of encounters resulting in opioid prescriptions. Primary outcome was use of opioids in the subsequent 12 months. Analysis adjusted for patient characteristics and compared future use of opioids for patients seen by the lowest versus the highest prescribing quartiles., Results: We included 9,688 patient encounters evaluated by the lowest opioid prescribing physician quartile versus 9,467 in the highest. The highest quartile gave opioid prescriptions to 14.9% of their patients compared to 2.8% for the lowest quartile. No association with future opioid use was found for patients evaluated by low versus high prescriber quartiles (OR 0.99, 95% CI 0.90-1.08). Patients with increasing age (OR 2.15, 95% CI 1.92-2.42) and white versus Hispanic ethnicity (OR 1.55, 95% CI 1.33-1.80) were associated with recurrent opioid use., Conclusion: We found no association between high intensity opioid prescribers and recurrent 12 month use of opioids in opioid-naïve adolescents seen in the ED. This likely reflects various factors that put adolescents at risk for recurrent opioid use and may indicate the importance of the second prescription from primary care after initial exposure to opioids., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest All authors have no competing interests to declare., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Research shows the profound impact of social factors on health, lead many healths systems to incorporate social risk screening. To help healthcare systems select among various screening tools we compared two tools, the Your Current Life Situation (YCLS) and the Accountable Health Communities (AHC) Screening tools, on key psychometric properties., Method: Kaiser Permanente Southern California subsidized exchange members ( n = 1008) were randomly invited to complete a survey containing either the YCLS or the AHC tool, as well as other measures related to care experience and health. Healthcare use was measured through the electronic health record. Agreement between the AHC and YCLS was assessed using adjusted kappas for six domains (food - worry, food - pay, insecure housing, housing quality, transportation, utilities). To assess predictive validity, items on the AHC and YCLS were compared to self-rated health and receipt of a flu shot., Results: Responders ( n = 450) and non-responders ( n = 558) significantly differed on sex, language, and depression ( P < 0.05) but not anxiety, race/ethnicity, or healthcare use. Agreement between the AHC and YCLS tools was substantial on all items (kappas > 0.60) except for housing quality (kappa 0.52). Four out of six screening questions on the AHC tool and four out of seven on the YCLS tool were associated with self-rated health ( P < 0.03). No social needs were associated with flu shot receipt except utilities on the AHC tool ( P = 0.028)., Conclusion: In this sample, the AHC and YCLS tools are similar in their ability to screen for social risks. Differences observed likely stem from the timeframe and wording of the questions, which can be used to guide selection in healthcare systems., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2020 Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care.)

Objectives: Diagnostic error is a serious public health problem. Measuring diagnostic performance remains elusive. We sought to measure misdiagnosis-related harms following missed acute myocardial infarctions (AMI) in the emergency department (ED) using the symptom-disease pair analysis of diagnostic error (SPADE) method., Methods: Retrospective administrative data analysis (2009-2017) from a single, integrated health system using International Classification of Diseases (ICD) coded discharge diagnoses. We looked back 30 days from AMI hospitalizations for antecedent ED treat-and-release visits to identify symptoms linked to probable missed AMI (observed > expected). We then looked forward from these ED discharge diagnoses to identify symptom-disease pair misdiagnosis-related harms (AMI hospitalizations within 30-days, representing diagnostic adverse events)., Results: A total of 44,473 AMI hospitalizations were associated with 2,874 treat-and-release ED visits in the prior 30 days. The top plausibly-related ED discharge diagnoses were "chest pain" and "dyspnea" with excess treat-and-release visit rates of 9.8% (95% CI 8.5-11.2%) and 3.4% (95% CI 2.7-4.2%), respectively. These represented 574 probable missed AMIs resulting in hospitalization (adverse event rate per AMI 1.3%, 95% CI 1.2-1.4%). Looking forward, 325,088 chest pain or dyspnea ED discharges were followed by 508 AMI hospitalizations (adverse event rate per symptom discharge 0.2%, 95% CI 0.1-0.2%)., Conclusions: The SPADE method precisely quantifies misdiagnosis-related harms from missed AMIs using administrative data. This approach could facilitate future assessment of diagnostic performance across health systems. These results correspond to ∼10,000 potentially-preventable harms annually in the US. However, relatively low error and adverse event rates may pose challenges to reducing harms for this ED symptom-disease pair., (© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston.)

Background: As more health care organizations integrate social needs screening and navigation programs into clinical care delivery, the patient perspective is necessary to guide implementation and achieve patient-centered care., Objectives: To examine patients' perceptions of whether social needs affect health and attitudes toward healthcare system efforts to screen for and address social needs., Research Design: Multi-site, self-administered survey to assess (1) patient perceptions of the health impact of commonly identified social needs; (2) experience of social needs; (3) degree of support for a health system addressing social needs, including which social needs should be screened for and intervened upon; and (4) attitudes toward a health system utilizing resources to address social needs. Analyses were conducted using multivariable logistic regression models with clinic site cluster adjustment., Subjects: Adult patients at seven primary care clinics within a large, integrated health system in Southern California., Main Measures: Survey measures of experience with, acceptability of, and attitudes toward clinical social determinants of health screening and navigation., Key Results: A total of 1161 patients participated, representing a 79% response rate. Most respondents (69%) agreed that social needs impact health and agreed their health system should ask about social needs (85%) and help address social needs (88%). Patients with social needs in the last year were more likely to (1) agree social needs impact health (OR 10.2, p < 0.001), (2) support their health system asking patients about social needs (OR 3.7, p < 0.001), and (3) support addressing patient social needs (OR 3.5, p < 0.001). Differences by social need history, gender, age, race, ethnicity, and education were found., Conclusions: Most patients at a large integrated health system supported clinical social needs screening and intervention. Differences in attitudes by social need history, gender, age, race, ethnicity, and education may indicate opportunities to develop more equitable, patient-centered approaches to addressing social needs.

Background Noninvasive cardiac tests, including exercise treadmill tests (ETTs), are commonly utilized in the evaluation of patients in the emergency department with suspected acute coronary syndrome. However, there are ongoing debates on their clinical utility and cost-effectiveness. It is important to be able to use ETT results for research, but manual review is prohibitively time-consuming for large studies. We developed and validated an automated method to interpret ETT results from electronic health records. To demonstrate the algorithm's utility, we tested the associations between ETT results with 30-day patient outcomes in a large population. Methods and Results A retrospective analysis of adult emergency department encounters resulting in an ETT within 30 days was performed. A set of randomly selected reports were double-blind reviewed by 2 physicians to validate a natural language processing algorithm designed to categorize ETT results into normal, ischemic, nondiagnostic, and equivocal categories. Natural language processing then searched and categorized results of 5214 ETT reports. The natural language processing algorithm achieved 96.4% sensitivity and 94.8% specificity in identifying normal versus all other categories. The rates of 30-day death or acute myocardial infarction varied ( P <0.001) by categories for normal (0.08%), ischemic (1.9%), nondiagnostic (0.77%), and equivocal (0.58%) groups achieving good discrimination (C-statistic, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.7-0.92). Conclusions Natural language processing is an accurate and efficient strategy to facilitate large-scale outcome studies of noninvasive cardiac tests. We found that most patients are at low risk and have normal ETT results, while those with abnormal, nondiagnostic, or equivocal results have slightly higher risks and warrant future investigation.

Study Objective: Professional guidelines recommend 72-hour cardiac stress testing after an emergency department (ED) evaluation for possible acute coronary syndrome. There are limited data on actual compliance rates and effect on patient outcomes. Our aim is to describe rates of completion of noninvasive cardiac stress testing and associated 30-day major adverse cardiac events., Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of ED encounters from June 2015 to June 2017 across 13 community EDs within an integrated health system in Southern California. The study population included all adults with a chest pain diagnosis, troponin value, and discharge with an order for an outpatient cardiac stress test. The primary outcome was the proportion of patients who completed an outpatient stress test within the recommended 3 days, 4 to 30 days, or not at all. Secondary analysis described the 30-day incidence of major adverse cardiac events., Results: During the study period, 24,459 patients presented with a chest pain evaluation requiring troponin analysis and stress test ordering from the ED. Of these, we studied the 7,988 patients who were discharged home to complete diagnostic testing, having been deemed appropriate by the treating clinicians for an outpatient stress test. The stress test completion rate was 31.3% within 3 days and 58.7% between 4 and 30 days, and 10.0% of patients did not complete the ordered test. The 30-day rates of major adverse cardiac events were low (death 0.0%, acute myocardial infarction 0.7%, and revascularization 0.3%). Rapid receipt of stress testing was not associated with improved 30-day major adverse cardiac events (odds ratio 0.92; 95% confidence interval 0.55 to 1.54)., Conclusion: Less than one third of patients completed outpatient stress testing within the guideline-recommended 3 days after initial evaluation. More important, the low adverse event rates suggest that selective outpatient stress testing is safe. In this cohort of patients selected for outpatient cardiac stress testing in a well-integrated health system, there does not appear to be any associated benefit of stress testing within 3 days, nor within 30 days, compared with those who never received testing at all. The lack of benefit of obtaining timely testing, in combination with low rates of objective adverse events, may warrant reassessment of the current guidelines., (Copyright © 2019 American College of Emergency Physicians. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: Adolescents and young adults are at high risk for opioid misuse and abuse. The emergency department (ED) plays a key role in treatment of acute and chronic pain and is a primary place that this patient population is exposed to prescription opioids. We evaluate the effect of patient age on use of opioids for adolescents and young adults in community EDs., Methods: Retrospective cohort study of adolescent and young adult encounters in 14 community EDs from 2013 to 2014. We evaluate the percent of ED encounters with parenteral and/or oral opioids administered, morphine milligram equivalents per ED patient encounter, and percent of patient encounters discharged with an opioid prescription. Age was the main exposure. The association between outcomes and age was examined using bivariate and multivariate logistic regression adjusting for measurable confounders., Results: There were 259,632 adolescent and young adult encounters in our sample, average age 17.6 years, with 15.8% given opioids. Increasing patient age was associated with a significant increase in the percent of encounters with opioids given (AOR, 1.11; 95% CI 1.10-1.11), morphine milligram equivalents administered (β 0.38; 95% CI 0.33-0.43 for parenteral and β 0.26; 95% CI 0.23-0.28 for oral), and percent of patients receiving outpatient prescriptions (AOR, 1.14; 95% CI 1.13-1.14). Significant variability also existed between medical centers (AOR, 2.02; 95% CI 1.86-2.20)., Conclusion: For adolescent and young adult patients in the ED, there is a significant association between opioid prescribing and increasing age. This describes an opportunity to reduce opioid use in older adolescents and young adults., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Study Objective: We describe the association of implementing a History, ECG, Age, Risk Factors, and Troponin (HEART) care pathway on use of hospital care and noninvasive stress testing, as well as 30-day patient outcomes in community emergency departments (EDs)., Methods: We performed a prospective interrupted-time-series study of adult encounters for patients evaluated for suspected acute coronary syndrome. The primary outcome was hospitalization or observation, noninvasive stress testing, or both within 30 days. The secondary outcome was 30-day all-cause mortality or acute myocardial infarction. A generalized estimating equation segmented logistic regression model was used to compare the odds of the primary outcome before and after HEART implementation. All models were adjusted for patient and facility characteristics and fit with physicians as a clustering variable., Results: A total of 65,393 ED encounters (before, 30,522; after, 34,871) were included in the study. Overall, 33.5% (before, 35.5%; after, 31.8%) of ED chest pain encounters resulted in hospitalization or observation, noninvasive stress testing, or both. Primary adjusted results found a significant decrease in the primary outcome postimplementation (odds ratio 0.984; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.974 to 0.995). This resulted in an absolute adjusted month-to-month decrease of 4.39% (95% CI 3.72% to 5.07%) after 12 months' follow-up, with a continued trend downward. There was no difference in 30-day mortality or myocardial infarction (0.6% [before] versus 0.6% [after]; odds ratio 1.02; 95% CI 0.97 to 1.08)., Conclusion: Implementation of a HEART pathway in the ED evaluation of patients with chest pain resulted in less inpatient care and noninvasive cardiac testing and was safe. Using HEART to risk stratify chest pain patients can improve the efficiency and quality of care., (Copyright © 2019 American College of Emergency Physicians. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Clinical screening for basic social needs-such as food and housing insecurity-is becoming more common as health systems develop programs to address social determinants of health. Clinician attitudes toward such programs are largely unexplored., Objective: To describe the attitudes and experiences of social needs screening among a variety of clinicians and other health care professionals., Research Design: Multicenter electronic and paper-based survey., Subjects: Two hundred fifty-eight clinicians including primarily physicians, social workers, nurses, and pharmacists from a large integrated health system in Southern California., Measures: Level of agreement with prompts exploring attitudes toward and barriers to screening and addressing social needs in different clinical settings., Results: Overall, most health professionals supported social needs screening in clinical settings (84%). Only a minority (41%) of clinicians expressed confidence in their ability to address social needs, and less than a quarter (23%) routinely screen for social needs currently. Clinicians perceived lack of time to ask (60%) and resources (50%) to address social needs as their most significant barriers. We found differences by health profession in attitudes toward and barriers to screening for social needs, with physicians more likely to cite time constraints as a barrier., Conclusions: Clinicians largely support social needs programs, but they also recognize key barriers to their implementation. Health systems interested in implementing social needs programs should consider the clinician perspective around the time and resources required for such programs and address these perceived barriers.