Beginning October 2015, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will require medical providers to utilize the vastly expanded ICD-10-CM system. Despite wide availability of information and mapping tools for the next generation of the ICD classification system, some of the challenges associated with transition from ICD-9-CM to ICD-10-CM are not well understood. To quantify the challenges faced by emergency physicians, we analyzed a subset of a 2010 Illinois Medicaid database of emergency department ICD-9-CM codes, seeking to determine the accuracy of existing mapping tools in order to better prepare emergency physicians for the change to the expanded ICD-10-CM system. We found that 27% of 1,830 codes represented convoluted multidirectional mappings. We then analyzed the convoluted transitions and found 8% of total visit encounters (23% of the convoluted transitions) were clinically incorrect. The ambiguity and inaccuracy of these mappings may impact the work flow associated with the translation process and affect the potential mapping between ICD codes and CPT (Current Procedural Codes) codes, which determine physician reimbursement.

In Chicago, major disparities exist across ethnic groups, income levels, and education levels for common chronic conditions and access to care. Concurrently, many of Chicago's youth are unemployed, and the number of minorities pursuing health professions is low. In an effort to eliminate this health equity gap, the University of Illinois at Chicago convened a community-university-hospital partnership to implement the CHAMPIONS NETWork (Community Health And eMPowerment through Integration Of Neighborhood-specific Strategies using a Novel Education & Technology-leveraged Workforce). This innovative workforce training program is a "High School to Career Training Academy" to empower underserved youth to improve population health in their communities, expose them to careers in the health sciences, and provide resources for them to become community and school advocates for healthy lifestyles. This program differs from other traditional pipeline programs because it gives its students a paid experience, extends beyond the summer, and broadens the focus to population health with patient contact. The CHAMPIONS NETWork creates a new type of health workforce that is both sustainable and replicable throughout the United States.

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Purpose Reviews adult emergency department (ED) visits for patients age 65 and older during one calendar year; determine the prevalence of weight classifications; identifies trends between BMI and discharge/admitting diagnoses, vital signs, and severity index. Methods The electronic medical records system and data from the ED billing service was reviewed for an urban academic institution with an annual volume of 125,000 for patients age > 65. Using a random number table, a retrospective cohort of 328 elderly patients was selected for review, representing a convenience sample of 2.6% of elderly ED visits. Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated, using the Center for Disease Control (CDC) formula with underweight (<18.5), normal (18.5 - 24.9), overweight (25 - 29.9), and obese (≥30). Results The majority of the cohort in this study was African-American and Hispanic (60% and 27% respectively), and there were a higher percentage of females than males (60% and 40% respectively). Approximately 29% of the patients were classified as normal weight, 35% classified as overweight, and 36% as obese. The older the patient, the more likely that patient belonged to a lower weight classification (p < 0.01). Those presenting with neurological, pulmonary or gastrointestinal complaints were more likely to be of a higher weight classification (p < 0.05). Patients who were hypertensive on arrival to the ED were more likely to be in a higher weight classification (p < 0.01). Conclusion Those patients with a higher weight classification had a strong correlation with selected abnormal vital signs and disease presentations. EDs are important sources of care for the elderly. EDs can serve as a previously untapped resource for screening and early referral exercise programs aimed at improving physical function/functional status and quality of life in the elderly patient population.