BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Observation status, in contrast to inpatient status, is a billing designation for hospital payment. Observation-status stays are presumed to be shorter and less resource-intensive, but utilization for pediatric observation-status stays has not been studied…

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: There is evidence suggesting that physicians have a limited foundation of knowledge on health care finances and limited awareness of hospital costs and charges. The objective was to analyze general pediatric attending physicians' and residents' knowledge of…

IMPORTANCE: Antimicrobial stewardship programs have been effective for inpatients, often through prescribing audit and feedback. However, most antimicrobial use occurs in outpatients with acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs). OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of an…

OBJECTIVE: To improve human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination rates, we studied the effectiveness of targeting automated decision support to families, clinicians, or both. METHODS: Twenty-two primary care practices were cluster-randomized to receive a 3-part clinician-focused…

Almost 50% of children have not received all the recommended vaccines at some point before their second birthday, according to a study of 300,000 children that was recently published in JAMA Pediatrics. While some cases of skipped vaccines may be due to missed opportunities or…

It was early evening on December 23, 2009, when I raced across an underground tunnel in the US Capitol complex. It was dimly lit and quiet. Most staffers on Capitol Hill had already left for the holidays; only a few of the senator’s advisors remained. They, like I, had stayed to watch…

One of six commentaries on “Obesity: Chasing an Elusive Epidemic,” by Daniel Callahan, from the January-February 2013 issue.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effects of electronic health record-based clinical decision support (CDS) and physician performance feedback on adherence to guidelines for acute otitis media (AOM) and otitis media with effusion (OME). METHODS: We conducted a factorial-design cluster…

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to assess urban adolescents' knowledge of and attitudes about emergency contraception (EC) and to assess the intention to use EC in particular hypothetical situations. We hypothesized that knowledge about EC would be limited, but that adolescents would…

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Parents of children with complex chronic conditions report fragmented care, unmet medical needs, and financial strain from health care costs. The aim of this study was to identify both prevalent themes discussed during pediatric palliative care consultation…