BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES The purpose of the study was to use a best practice quality improvement process to identify and eliminate barriers to Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) integration in a Federally Qualified Health Center. SBIRT provides an initial method for addressing mental health and substance abuse concerns of patients. The method is very useful in integration of behavioral health screening in primary care. METHODS A Process Improvement Team used 4 Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles during a 10-week time frame to (1) reduce the reported frequency of barriers to the SBIRT process, (2) reduce non-value-added activities in the SBIRT workflow, (3) reduce bottlenecks, and (4) increase patient receipt of SBIRT. A modified Referral Barriers Questionnaire, a swim lane diagram, non-value-added versus value-added analysis, and a Shewhart control chart (P-chart) were used to evaluate process and outcome measures. RESULTS Nurses reported a 23.82% reduction in referral barrier frequency and a 21.12% increase in the helpfulness of SBIRT. Providers reported a 7.60% reduction in referral barrier frequency and a decrease in the helpfulness of SBIRT. The P-chart indicated that the process changes resulted in a positive shift in behaviors and an increase in patient receipt of SBIRT. CONCLUSION The use of a best practice quality improvement process resulted in improvements in workflow related to SBIRT, greater communication about SBIRT, and identification of barriers that blocked successful receipt of SBIRT.BACKGROUND The impact of freestanding emergency departments (FSEDs) on timeliness of care for trauma patients is not well understood.  https://www.selleckchem.com/products/salinomycin.html  This quality improvement project had 2 objectives (1) to determine whether significant delays in definitive care existed among trauma patients initially seen at FSEDs compared with those initially seen at other outlying sites prior to transfer to a level I trauma center; and (2) to determine the feasibility of identifying differences in time-to-definitive care and emergency department length of stay (ED LOS) based on initial treatment location. METHODS Trauma registry data from January 1, 2017, through December 31, 2017, from a verified level I trauma center were analyzed by location of initial presentation. Appropriate statistical tests are used to make comparisons across transport groups. RESULTS Patients initially seen at non-FSEDs experienced ED LOS that were, on average, 24.5 minutes greater than patients seen initially at FSEDs, although the difference was not statistically significant (P = .3112). Several challenges were identified in the feasibility analysis that will inform the design for a larger study including large quantities of missing time stamp data and potential selection bias. Prospective solutions were identified. CONCLUSION This project found that there were not significant differences in ED LOS for injured patients presenting initially to FSEDs or other non-FSED facilities, suggesting that timeliness of care was similar across location types.The State of Washington received a State Innovation Models (SIM) $65 million award from the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to improve population health and quality of care and reduce the growth of health care costs in the entire state, which has over 7 million residents. SIM is a "complex intervention" that implements several interacting components in a complex, decentralized health system to achieve goals, which poses challenges for evaluation. Our purpose is to present the state-level evaluation methods for Washington's SIM, a 3-year intervention (2016-2018). We apply the RE-AIM (reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance) evaluation framework to structure our evaluation. We create a conceptual model and a plan to use multiple and mixed methods to study SIM performance in the RE-AIM components from a statewide, population-based perspective.BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Data on mortality associated with hospital readmission are imprecise and highly variable. This study aimed to describe the rate of nonelective 30-day readmission and associated hospital mortality of patients discharged from the Internal Medicine Unit of a Brazilian tertiary public hospital. METHODS This retrospective cohort study included all patients discharged from the Internal Medicine Unit of our institution between September and November 2017 who were nonelectively readmitted within 30 days. RESULTS A total of 1047 hospital discharges were analyzed. The rate of nonelective 30-day readmission was 13.7%. Of these, 41 (28.5%) were early readmissions (0-7 days) and 103 (71.5%) were late readmissions (8-30 days). The hospital mortality rate during readmission was 27.8%, being significantly higher during early readmissions (41.5% vs 22.3%; P = .035). Early (as compared with late) readmission was associated with mortality during readmission (relative risk [RR] 1.95; 95% confidence interval, 1.18-3.22; P = .002), regardless of age and Charlson comorbidity index. CONCLUSION The Readmission rate was 13.7%, with an associated mortality of 27.8%. Early readmission was an independent predictor of mortality (RR 1.95) in relation to late readmission. Larger studies are needed to better identify this group of patients with an aim to adopt preventive measures.BACKGROUND The aim of this umbrella review was to summarize the research evidence on programs to improve the transition between ambulatory and hospital care. METHODS The MEDLINE database and the Cochrane library were searched. Systematic reviews of randomized controlled trials published between January 2000 and September 2018 in English or German were included. Studies were eligible if an assessment or coordination intervention had been evaluated and if patients had been transferred between hospital (defined as internal medicine, surgery, or unspecified hospital setting) and home (defined as any permanent residence). Risk of bias was assessed using the AMSTAR criteria. Results are presented descriptively and in table format. RESULTS Thirty-nine systematic reviews comprising 492 different studies were included. More than half of these studies were conducted in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. All studies evaluated strategies to improve discharge management (introduced after patients' arrival at the hospital); no study assessed strategies to improve admission management (initiated in primary care before patients' transition to hospital).