BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: To understand the association between shared decision-making (SDM) and health care expenditures and use among children with special health care needs (CSHCN). METHODS: We identified CSHCN <18 years in the 2002-2006 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey by…

The safe and limited use of psychotropic medications is a current federal priority following research revealing high prescription rates of these medications among children, with exceptionally high rates among children in foster care. The use of antipsychotics, a class of psychotropics…

BACKGROUND: Parental decision making is a critical component in the provision of palliative and end-of-life care, yet factors that parents perceive as influencing this process, when they are making decisions for their children, have not been well characterized. METTHODS: As part of a…

To compare hospital-based utilization for early childhood injuries between program recipients and local-area comparison families following statewide implementation of an evidence-based home visitation program, and to describe site-level program variation. Propensity score matching on…

There are ~1 million people in the United States living with HIV/AIDS, and >50,000 new infections occur each year. With an estimated 13% of all new infections occurring among young people aged 13 to 24 years and an increasing number of perinatally infected youth surviving to…

OBJECTIVE: To quantify the difference in weekday versus weekend occupancy, and the opportunity to smooth inpatient occupancy to reduce crowding at children's hospitals. METHODS: Daily inpatient census data for 39 freestanding, tertiary-care children's hospitals were used to calculate…

CONTEXT: The Children's Asthma Care (CAC) measure set evaluates whether children admitted to hospitals with asthma receive relievers (CAC-1) and systemic corticosteroids (CAC-2) and whether they are discharged with a home management plan of care (CAC-3). It is the only Joint…

BACKGROUND: The work of care for parents of children with complex special health care needs may be increasing, while excessive work demands may erode the quality of care. We sought to summarize knowledge and develop a general conceptual model of the work of care. METHODS: Systematic…

OBJECTIVES: To characterize patterns of electronic medical record (EMR) use at pediatric primary care acute visits. DESIGN: Direct observational study of 529 acute visits with 27 experienced pediatric clinician users. MEASUREMENTS: For each 20 s interval and at each stage of the…

Quantifying how close hospitals came to exhausting capacity during the outbreak of pandemic influenza A (H1N1) 2009 can help the health care system plan for more virulent pandemics. This ecologic analysis used emergency department (ED) and inpatient data from 34 US children's…