Faculty Bibliography

BACKGROUND: To justify nonprofit hospital organizations' tax exemption, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires these organizations to report on efforts to identify and invest in local health needs via Community Health Needs Assessments (CHNAs), Implementation Strategies (ISs), and Schedule H (990H) tax forms. However, there is no requirement that 990H spending aligns with topics raised on CHNAs or ISs, and recent reports have questioned whether 990H reporting categories adequately measure investments in social determinants of health. To assess the utility of ACA-mandated reporting for tracking spending on social health needs, this cross-sectional study aimed to describe how often a need identified in CHNAs is reflected in plans noted in ISs and in spending reported in 990Hs. Using housing as an example of a social health need, we focused on communities with the most homelessness to study organizations most likely to address housing.
METHOD(S): We identified nonprofit hospital organizations with facilities in the 5 metropolitan areas with highest per-capita homelessness using Department of Housing & Urban Development data and the Community Benefit Insight (CBI) database. We reviewed organizations' public reporting documents, obtained via internet search and from CBI, to determine whether they ever addressed housing on CHNAs, ISs, and 990Hs from 2015-2017. We excluded 3 organizations for which we could not obtain all 3 documents.
RESULT(S): Of 47 organizations sampled (representing 57 facilities in Washington, DC; Santa Cruz County; Boston; New York City; and San Francisco), housing was noted in 55% (n=26) of CHNAs, 36% (n=17) of ISs, and 26% (n=12) of 990Hs. Among the 26 organizations that recognized housing needs in CHNAs, 10 noted housing-related plans in ISs, and 7 reported spending on housing in 990Hs.
CONCLUSION(S): Although many nonprofit hospital organizations in areas with high homelessness recognize housing as a health need, public reporting documents provide limited evidence that an identified community need for housing was translated into related plans and spending. Further investigation should explore whether discrepancies among documented needs, strategies, and spending reflect inadequacy of the 990H for capturing housing-related spending versus hospitals' uncertainty in whether or how to invest in housing after identifying it as a health need. Regulatory reform to increase guidance for social investments and require greater concordance among CHNAs, ISs, and 990Hs could promote accountability and transparency in organizations' efforts to address housing and other health-related social needs. LEARNING OBJECTIVE #1: Quantify use of public reporting documents by nonprofit hospitals in communities with high rates of homelessness to show how they identify and invest in housing as a community health need (Patient Care) LEARNING OBJECTIVE #2: Appraise policy opportunities to enhance Affordable Care Act-mandated reporting requirements to hold nonprofit hospital organizations accountable to improving community health (SystemsBased Practice)

Introduction/UNASSIGNED:An epidemic of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in India is fueling a growing demand for primary care and hospitalization services. Difficulties in coordinating inpatient and outpatient care create significant barriers to providing high-quality medical care. In this paper, we describe patient experiences, perceptions, and expectations of doctor-patient relationships in a secondary-level private hospital in Karnataka, India. Methods/UNASSIGNED:We conducted a cross-sectional, mixed-method needs assessment with surveys and in-depth interviews at Dr. TMA Pai Hospital (TMAPH), a secondary-level, private sector hospital in Karnataka, India. Inclusion criteria included all adults over 18 years old hospitalized at TMAPH in the past year. Patients were consecutively recruited from August 2019-October 2019 and asked to rate aspects of their relationship with their primary care provider (PCP). Descriptive statistics and multivariable logistic regression were used to analyze predictors of the doctor-patient relationship. Patients were interviewed regarding their perceptions of care coordination and doctor-patient relationships. General Thematic Analysis was utilized to analyze qualitative data and develop themes. Quantitative and qualitative findings were then merged to interpret the various dimensions of doctor-patient relationships. Results/UNASSIGNED:= 0.04). The following themes were developed from patient interviews: (1) patients trusted and respected their PCP believing they were receiving high quality care; and (2) despite perceived fragmentation in care, patients spoke favorably of their relationships with their doctors. Conclusions/UNASSIGNED:Among a sample of recently hospitalized patients, those with a PCP reported more positive doctor-patient relationships, though rates of dissatisfaction with doctors were still high. Further research and strategies are required to optimize continuity of care and doctor-patient relationships across the entire continuum of outpatient and inpatient care.

Background Prior studies of SLE clusters based on autoantibodies have utilized cross-sectional data from single centers. We applied clustering techniques to longitudinal and comprehensive autoantibody data from a large multinational, multiethnic inception cohort of well characterized SLE patients to identify clusters associated with disease outcomes. Methods We used demographic, clinical, and serological data at enrolment and follow-up visits years 3 and 5 from 805 patients who fulfilled the 1997 Updated ACR SLE criteria and were enrolled within 15 months of diagnosis. For each visit, ANA, dsDNA, Sm, U1-RNP, SSA/Ro60, SSB/La, Ro52/ TRIM21, histones, ribosomal P, Jo-1, centromere B, PCNA, anti-DFS70, lupus anticoagulant (LAC), IgG and IgM for anticardiolipin, anti-b2GP1, and aPS/PT, and IgG anti-b2GP1 D1 were performed at a single lab (except LAC). K-means clustering algorithm on principal component analysis (10 dimensions) transformed longitudinal ANA/autoantibody profiles was used. We compared cluster demographic/clinical outcomes, including longitudinal disease activity (total and adjusted mean SLEDAI- 2K), SLICC/ACR damage index and organ-specific domains, SLE therapies, and survival, using one-way ANOVA test and a Benjamini-Hochberg correction with false discovery rate alpha=0.05. Results were visualized using t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding. Results Four unique patient clusters were identified (table 1). Cluster 1, characterized by high frequency of anti-Sm and anti-RNP over time, was the youngest group at disease onset with a high proportion of subjects of Asian and African ancestry. At year 5, they had the highest disease activity, were more likely to have active hematologic and mucocutaneous involvement, and to be on/exposed to immunosuppressants/ biologics. Cluster 2, the largest cluster, had low frequency of anti-dsDNA, were oldest at disease onset, and at year 5, had the lowest disease activity, and were least likely to have nephritis and be on/exposed to immunosuppressants/biologics. Cluster 3 had the highest frequency of antiphospholipid antibodies over time, were more likely to be of European ancestry, have an elevated BMI, be former smokers, and by year 5, to have nephritis, neuropsychiatric involvement, including strokes and seizures (SLICC/ACR damage index). Cluster 4 was characterized by anti-SSA/Ro60, SSB/La, Ro52/TRIM21, histone antibodies, and low complements at year 5. Overall, survival of the 805 subjects was 94% at 5 years, and none of the clusters predicted survival. Conclusions Four SLE patient clusters associated with disease activity, organ involvement, and treatment were identified in this analysis of longitudinal ANA/autoantibody profiles in relation to SLE outcomes, suggesting these subsets might be identifiable based on extended autoantibody profiles early in disease and carry prognostic information

INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND:The attitudes of healthcare staff towards patients' safety, including awareness of the risk for adverse events, are significant elements of an organization's safety culture. AIM OF RESEARCH/UNASSIGNED:To evaluate nurses and physicians' attitudes towards factors influencing hospitalized patient safety. MATERIALS AND METHODS/METHODS:The research included 606 nurses and 527 physicians employed in surgical and medical wards in 21 Polish hospitals around the country. The Polish adaptation of the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ) was used to evaluate the factors influencing attitudes towards patient safety. RESULTS:Both nurses and physicians scored highest in stress recognition (SR) (71.6 and 80.86), while they evaluated working conditions (WC) the lowest (45.82 and 52,09). Nurses achieved statistically significantly lower scores compared to physicians in every aspect of the safety attitudes evaluation (p<0.05). The staff working in surgical wards obtained higher scores within stress recognition (SR) compared to the staff working in medical wards (78.12 vs. 73.72; p = 0.001). Overall, positive working conditions and effective teamwork can contribute to improving employees' attitudes towards patient safety. CONCLUSIONS:The results help identify unit level vulnerabilities associated with staff attitudes toward patient safety. They underscore the importance of management strategies that account for staff coping with occupational stressors to improve patient safety.

The first Covid-19 patient was admitted to Montefiore Medical Center (MMC) on March 10, 2020. Soon thereafter there was a rapid and exponential surge of Covid-19 admissions to MMC that could have resulted in catastrophic consequences if MMC had been overwhelmed, as happened in Europe. To adjust to this crisis our institution, under the inspiring leadership of Dr. Philip Ozuah, President and CEO of Montefiore Medicine, adopted an "all hands on deck" approach, mobilizing our entire workforce to expand our units to accommodate the growing number of patients being admitted. Given that the internal medicine (IM) and ICU units are part of the department of medicine (DOM), the DOM was at the center of this mobilization. The DOM is the largest department at MMC and mobilizing it required careful planning, seamless teamwork, and strong leadership. To achieve that goal, we applied a framework that we designate the "3C framework," denoting Coordination, Communication, and Collaboration. In this report we describe the many initiatives the Montefiore Einstein DOM implemented during the Covid-19 pandemic using the 3C framework. These included establishing the Medicine Covid-19 Taskforce to lead our efforts, starting a daily newsletter for up-to-date communications, rapidly expanding the ICU and IM units, converting most specialty inpatient consults to eConsults, coordinating research studies, and more. The goal of this report is to serve as a guide on how the 3C framework helped us organize, mobilize, and energize the department of medicine effectively and efficiently during this unprecedented crisis.