Journal of general internal medicine
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To examine city-level kidney disease mortality rates and Black:White racial inequities for the USA and its largest cities, and to determine if these measures changed over the past decade. ⋯ The largest US cities experience widely varying kidney disease mortality rates and widespread racial inequities. These local data on racial inequities in kidney disease mortality can be used by city leaders and health stakeholders to increase awareness, guide the allocation of limited resources, monitor trends over time, and support targeted population health strategies.
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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services launched the 4-year Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative (CPC Classic) in 2012 and its 5-year successor, CPC Plus (CPC+), in 2017 to test whether improving primary care delivery in five areas-and providing practices with financial and technical support-reduced spending and improved quality. This is the first study to examine long-term effects of a primary care practice transformation model. ⋯ The emergence of favorable effects on hospitalizations in years 5 and 6 suggests primary care transformation takes time to translate into lower hospitalizations. Longer tests of models are needed.
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Patients who have had COVID-19 often report persistent symptoms after resolution of their acute illness. Recent reports suggest that vaccination may be associated with improvement in post-acute symptoms. We used data from a prospective cohort to assess differences in post-acute sequelae of COVID (PASC) among vaccinated vs. unvaccinated patients. ⋯ Our findings suggest that COVID vaccination is not associated with improvement in PASC. Additional studies are needed to better understand the mechanisms underlying PASC and to develop effective treatments.