Related Articles

Objective

We compared differences in the hospital charges, length of hospital stay, and mortality between patients with healthcare- and community-associated bloodstream infections, urinary tract infections, and pneumonia due to antimicrobial-resistant versus -susceptible bacterial strains.

Methods

A retrospective analysis of an electronic database compiled from laboratory, pharmacy, surgery, financial, and patient location and device utilization sources was undertaken on 5699 inpatients who developed healthcare-or community-associated infections between 2006 and 2008 from 4 hospitals (1 community, 1 pediatric, 2 tertiary/quaternary care) in Manhattan. The main outcome measures were hospital charges, length of stay, and mortality among patients with antimicrobial-resistant and -susceptible infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecium, Enterococcus faecalis, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Acinetobacter baumannii.

Results

Controlling for multiple confounders using linear regression and nearest neighbor matching based on propensity score estimates, resistant healthcare- and community-associated infections, when compared with susceptible strains of the same organism, were associated with significantly higher charges ($15 626; confidence interval [CI], $4339–$26 913 and $25 573; CI, $9331–$41 816, respectively) and longer hospital stays for community-associated infections (3.3; CI, 1.5–5.4). Patients with resistant healthcare-associated infections also had a significantly higher death rate (0.04; CI, 0.01–0.08).

Conclusions

With careful matching of patients infected with the same organism, antimicrobial resistance was associated with higher charges, length of stay, and death rates. The difference in estimates after accounting for censoring for death highlight divergent social and hospital incentives in reducing patient risk for antimicrobial resistant infections.

Background

Hospital inpatient complications are one of a number of adverse health care outcomes. Reducing complications has been identified as an approach to improving care and saving resources as part of the health care reform efforts in the United States.

An objective of this study was to describe the Potentially Preventable Complications software developed as a tool for evaluating hospital inpatient outcomes. Additional objectives included demonstration of the use of this software to evaluate the connection between health care outcomes and expenses in United States administrative data at the state and local levels and the use of the software to plan and implement interventions to reduce hospital complications in one U.S. metropolitan area.

Methods

The study described the Potentially Preventable Complications software as a tool for evaluating these inpatient hospital outcomes. Through administrative hospital charge data from California and Maryland and through cost data from three hospitals in Syracuse, New York, expenses for patients with and without complications were compared. These comparisons were based on patients in the same All Patients Refined Diagnosis Related Groups and severity of illness categories. This analysis included tests of statistical significance.

In addition, the study included a planning process for use of the Potentially Preventable Complications software in three Syracuse hospitals to plan and implement reductions in hospital inpatient complications. The use of the PPC software in cost comparisons and reduction of complications included tests of statistical significance.

Results

The study demonstrated that Potentially Preventable Complications were associated with significantly increased cost in administrative data from the United States in California and Maryland and in actual cost data from the hospitals of Syracuse, New York. The implementation of interventions in the Syracuse hospitals was associated with the reduction of complications for urinary tract infection, decubitus ulcer, and pulmonary embolism.

Conclusions

The study demonstrated that the Potentially Preventable Complications software could be used to evaluate hospital outcomes and related costs at the aggregate and diagnosis specific levels. It also indicated that the system could be used to plan and implement interventions to improve outcomes on an individual or multihospital basis.

Background

Major postoperative complications are associated with a substantial increase in hospital costs. Trauma patients are known to have a higher rate of complications than the general surgery population. We sought to utilize the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) methodology to evaluate hospital costs, length of stay, and payment associated with complications in trauma patients.

Study Design

Using NSQIP principles, patient data were collected on 512 adult patients admitted to the trauma service for > 24 hours at a Level 1 trauma center (2004–2005). Patients were placed in one of three groups: no complications (none), ≥ 1 minor complication (minor, e.g., urinary tract infection), or ≥ 1 major complication (major, e.g., pneumonia). Total hospital charges, costs, payment, and length of stay associated with each complication group were determined from a cost accounting database. Multiple regression was used to determine the costs of each type of complication after adjusting for differences in age, gender, new injury severity score (nISS), Glasgow coma scale score (GCS), maximum head abbreviated injury scale (AIS), and first emergency department systolic blood pressure.

Results

330 (64%) patients had no complications, 53 (10%) had ≥ 1 minor complication, and 129 (25%) had ≥ 1 major complication. Median hospital charges increased from $33,833 (none) to $81,936 (minor) and $150,885 (major). The mean contribution to margin per day was similar for the no complication and minor complication groups ($994 vs $1,115, p=0.7). Despite higher costs, the patients in the major complication group generated a higher mean contribution to margin per day when compared to the no complication group ($2,168, p<0.001). The attributable increase in median total hospital costs when adjusted for confounding variables was $19,915 for the minor complication group (p<0.001), and $40,555 for the major complication group (p<0.001).

Conclusion

Understanding the costs associated with traumatic injury provides a window for assessing the potential cost reductions associated with improved quality care. To optimize system benefits, payers and providers should develop integrated reimbursement methodologies which align incentives to provide quality care.

Background:

The objective of this study was to examine the rates of blood transfusions, prolonged length of stay, intraoperative and postoperative complications, as well as in-hospital mortality, stratified according to institutional academic status in patients undergoing radical cystectomy (RC).

Methods:

Within the Health Care Utilization Project Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS), we focused on patients in whom RC was performed between 1998 and 2007. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were fitted to predict the likelihood of blood transfusions, prolonged length of stay, intraoperative and postoperative complications, and in-hospital mortality. Covariates included age, race, gender, Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), hospital region, insurance status, annual hospital caseload (AHC), year of surgery and urinary diversion.

Results:

Overall, 12 262 patients underwent RC. Of those, 7892 (64.4%) were from academic institutions. Patients treated at academic institutions were younger and healthier at baseline (all p < 0.001). RCs performed at academic institutions were associated with fewer postoperative complications (28.8% vs. 32.9%, p < 0.001), shorter length of stay (54.0% vs. 56.2%, p = 0.02) and lower in-hospital mortality rates (2.1 vs. 3.0%, p = 0.002). In multivariable analyses, patients who underwent RC at an academic hospital were 12% less likely to succumb to postoperative complications (odds ratio=0.88, p = 0.003).

Interpretation:

Even after adjusting for AHC, RCs performed at academic institutions are associated with better postoperative outcomes than RCs performed at non-academic institutions. From a public health prospective, performing RCs at academic institutions may help reduce costs associated with the management of complications and prolonged length of stay.

Background

This study describes the continuation of a program to constrain health care costs by limiting inpatient hospital programs among the hospitals of Syracuse, New York. Through a community demonstration project, it identified components of individual hospital programs for reduction of complications and their impact on the frequency and rates of these outcomes.

Findings

This study involved the implementation of interventions by three hospitals using the Potentially Preventable Complications System developed by 3M™ Health Information Systems. The program is noteworthy because it included competing hospitals in the same community working together to reduce adverse patient outcomes and related costs.

The study data identified statistically significant reductions in the frequency of high and low volume complications during the three year period at two of the hospitals. At both of these hospitals, aggregate complication rates also declined. At these hospitals, the differences between actual complication rates and severity adjusted complication rates were also reduced.

At the third hospital, specific and aggregate complication rates remained the same or increased slightly. Differences between these rates and those of severity adjusted comparison population also remained the same or increased.

Conclusions

Results of the study suggested that, in one community health care system, the progress of reducing complications involved different experiences. At two hospitals with relatively higher rates at the beginning of the study, management by administrative and clinical staff outside quality assurance produced significant reductions in complication rates, while at a hospital with lower rates, management by quality assurance staff had little effect on reducing the rate of PPCs.

Postoperative pulmonary complications (PPC) are a major cause of morbidity, mortality, prolonged hospital stay, and increased cost of care. Physiotherapy (PT) programs in post-surgical and critical area patients are aimed to reduce the risks of PPC due to long-term bed-rest, to improve the patient’s quality of life and residual function, and to avoid new hospitalizations. At this purpose, PT programs apply advanced cost-effective therapeutic modalities to decrease complications and patient’s ventilator-dependency. Strategies to reduce PPC include monitoring and reduction of risk factors, improving preoperative status, patient education, smoking cessation, intra-operative and postoperative pulmonary care. Different PT techniques, as a part of the comprehensive management of patients undergoing cardiac, upper abdominal, and thoracic surgery, may prevent and treat PPC such as secretion retention, atelectasis, and pneumonia.

We modeled estimates of the incidence, deaths, and direct medical costs of Staphylococcus aureus infections in hospitalized patients in the New York City metropolitan area in 1995 by using hospital discharge data collected by the New York State Department of Health and standard sources for the costs of health care. We also examined the relative impact of methicillin-resistant versus -sensitive strains of S. aureus and of community-acquired versus nosocomial infections. S. aureus-associated hospitalizations resulted in approximately twice the length of stay, deaths, and medical costs of typical hospitalizations; methicillin-resistant and -sensitive infections had similar direct medical costs, but resistant infections caused more deaths (21% versus 8%). Community-acquired and nosocomial infections had similar death rates, but community-acquired infections appeared to have increased direct medical costs per patient ($35,300 versus $28,800). The results of our study indicate that reducing the incidence of methicillin-resistant and -sensitive nosocomial infections would reduce the societal costs of S. aureus infection.

Complicated skin and soft tissue infections (cSSTIs) are among the most rapidly increasing reasons for hospitalization. To describe inpatients with regard to patient characteristics, cSSTI origin, appropriateness of initial antibiotics, and outcomes, we performed a retrospective cohort study in patients hospitalized for cSSTI. To identify independent predictors of outcomes, we performed multivariate analyses. Of 1,096 eligible patients, 48.7% had health care-associated (HCA) cSSTI and 51.3% had community-acquired (CA) cSSTI. After adjustment for baseline variables, hospital length of stay (LOS) was longer for HCA than for CA cSSTI (difference, 2.1 days; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.8 to 3.5; P < 0.05). Other covariates associated with a longer LOS were need for dialysis (regression coefficient ± standard error, 4.5 ± 1.1) and diabetic wound diagnosis (2.6 ± 1.0) (all P < 0.05). In the subset with culture-positive cSSTI within 24 h of admission, the most common pathogen was Staphylococcus aureus (298/449 [66.4%]), of which 74.8% (223/298) were methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). Eighty-three patients (18.5%) received inappropriate initial antibiotics. After adjustment for other variables, the following were associated with inappropriate initial therapy: direct admission to hospital (not via emergency department), cSSTI caused by MRSA or mixed pathogens, and cSSTI caused by pathogens other than S. aureus or streptococci (all P < 0.05). We did not find an association between inappropriate therapy and outcomes, except in the subset with ulcers (adjusted odds ratio, 11.8; 95% CI, 1.3 to 111.1; P = 0.03). More studies are needed to examine the impact of HCA cSSTI and inappropriate initial therapy on outcomes.

Diabetes affects approximately one quarter of all hospitalized patients. Poor inpatient glycemic control has been associated with increased risk for multiple adverse events including surgical site infections, prolonged hospital length of stay, and mortality. Inpatient glycemic control protocols based on physiologic basal-bolus insulin regimens have been shown to improve glycemia and clinical outcomes and are recommended by the American Diabetes Association, the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, and the Society of Hospital Medicine for inpatient glycemic management of noncritically ill patients. The 2009 Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act will catalyze widespread computerized medication order entry implementation over the next few years. Here, we focus on the noncritical care setting and review the background on inpatient glycemic management as it pertains to computerized order entry, the translation and efficacy of computerizing glycemic control protocols, and the barriers to computerizing glycemic protocols.

OBJECTIVE: To empirically determine if a substance abuse comorbidity is related to longer inpatient stays for patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and affective psychoses. STUDY DESIGN: A cross-sectional analysis of patients in three states: Maryland, California, and Arizona. Using multivariate techniques, we control for the effects of patient severity, insurance, and hospital characteristics on length of stay. DATA COLLECTION: We used a patient-level and state-specific hospital discharge database merged with hospital characteristics from the American Hospital Association. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The conventional wisdom is that patients with a substance abuse comorbidity have longer inpatient stays than similar patients without a substance abuse comorbidity. We did not observe this trend. We found wide variation in length of stay by state and patients' health insurance. In some cases, length of stay was statistically shorter for patients with a substance abuse comorbidity. CONCLUSIONS: Our research demonstrates that a substance abuse comorbidity does not necessarily equate to longer inpatient stays and that previous studies may overstate the impact of substance abuse on inpatient care utilization. In addition, we find that a relationship between substance abuse and length of stay may not be generalizable across states, diagnoses, hospitals, and/or insurance types. Future studies of the impact of substance abuse on inpatient stays need to control for these important covariates.

The needs of hospitalized geriatric patients differ from the needs of hospitalized younger adults. In an attempt to improve systems of care for the older adult, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services classified urinary tract infections related to the use of indwelling urinary catheters (IUC) as one of eight “never events.” The insertion of an IUC is a commonly performed procedure that can cause an array of iatrogenic complications. In addition, the placement of an IUC without medical indication is a risk factor for prolonged hospitalization and inpatient mortality. Foley catheterization has been documented as a culprit in urosepsis and as being associated with geriatric syndromes such as delirium and functional impairment. This article will discuss the indications for the IUC, the complications that can occur because of the IUC, and comment on the Kaiser Permanente Southern California Region's efforts to minimize the unnecessary use of the IUC. Thoughtful and judicious use of the IUC, such as minimizing the use of urinary catheterization, either by not inserting an IUC or by removing it as soon as it is no longer needed, will most likely reduce inpatient morbidity and improve the health of the hospitalized older adult.

Background

Reducing patient length of stay is a high priority for health service providers. Preliminary information suggests additional Saturday rehabilitation services could reduce the time a patient stays in hospital by three days. This large trial will examine if providing additional physiotherapy and occupational therapy services on a Saturday reduces health care costs, and improves the health of hospital inpatients receiving rehabilitation compared to the usual Monday to Friday service. We will also investigate the cost effectiveness and patient outcomes of such a service.

Methods/Design

A randomised controlled trial will evaluate the effect of providing additional physiotherapy and occupational therapy for rehabilitation. Seven hundred and twelve patients receiving inpatient rehabilitation at two metropolitan sites will be randomly allocated to the intervention group or control group. The control group will receive usual care physiotherapy and occupational therapy from Monday to Friday while the intervention group will receive the same amount of rehabilitation as the control group Monday to Friday plus a full physiotherapy and occupational therapy service on Saturday. The primary outcomes will be patient length of stay, quality of life (EuroQol questionnaire), the Functional Independence Measure (FIM), and health utilization and cost data. Secondary outcomes will assess clinical outcomes relevant to the goals of therapy: the 10 metre walk test, the timed up and go test, the Personal Care Participation Assessment and Resource Tool (PC PART), and the modified motor assessment scale. Blinded assessors will assess outcomes at admission and discharge, and follow up data on quality of life, function and health care costs will be collected at 6 and 12 months after discharge. Between group differences will be analysed with analysis of covariance using baseline measures as the covariate. A health economic analysis will be carried out alongside the randomised controlled trial.

Discussion

This paper outlines the study protocol for the first fully powered randomised controlled trial incorporating a health economic analysis to establish if additional Saturday allied health services for rehabilitation inpatients reduces length of stay without compromising discharge outcomes. If successful, this trial will have substantial health benefits for the patients and for organizations delivering rehabilitation services.

Clinical trial registration number

Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12609000973213

Objectives

To compare post-acute intermediate care in an inpatient nurse-led unit with conventional post-acute care on general medical wards of an acute hospital and to examine the model of care in a nurse-led unit.

Design

Randomised controlled trial with six month follow up.

Setting

Urban teaching hospital and surrounding area, including nine community hospitals.

Participants

238 patients accepted for admission to nurse-led unit.

Interventions

Care in nurse-led unit or usual post-acute care.

Main outcome measures

Patients' length of stay, functional status, subsequent move to more dependent living arrangement.

Results

Inpatient length of stay was significantly longer in the nurse-led unit than in general medical wards (14.3 days longer (95% confidence interval 7.8 to 20.7)), but this difference became non-significant when transfers to community hospitals were included in the measure of initial length of stay (4.5 days longer (−3.6 to 12.5)). No differences were observed in mortality, functional status, or living arrangements at any time. Patients in the nurse-led unit received significantly fewer minor medical investigations and, after controlling for length of stay, significantly fewer major reviews, tests, or drug changes.

Conclusions

The nurse-led unit seemed to be a safe alternative to conventional management, but a full accounting of such units' place in the local continuum of care and the costs associated with acute hospitals managing post-acute patients is needed if nurse-led units are to become an effective part of the government's recent commitment to intermediate care.

Objective

To explore the clinical impact and economic burden of hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) in trauma patients using a nationally representative database.

Design

Retrospective study.

Setting

The Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Nationwide Inpatient Sample.

Patients

Trauma patients.

Main Outcome Measures

We examined the association between HAIs (sepsis, pneumonia, Staphylococcus infections, and Clostridium difficile–associated disease) and in-hospital mortality, length of stay, and inpatient costs using logistic regression and generalized linear models.

Results

After controlling for patient demographics, mechanism of injury, injury type, injury severity, and comorbidities, we found that mortality, cost, and length of stay were significantly higher in patients with HAIs compared with patients without HAIs. Patients with sepsis had a nearly 6-fold higher odds of death compared with patients without an HAI (odds ratio, 5.78; 95% confidence interval, 5.03–6.64; P < .001). Patients with other HAIs had a 1.5- to1.9-fold higher odds of mortality compared with controls (P < .005). Patients with HAIs had costs that were approximately 2- to 2.5-fold higher compared with patients without HAIs (P < .001). The median length of stay was approximately 2-fold higher in patients with HAIs compared with patients without HAIs (P < .001).

Conclusions

Trauma patients with HAIs are at increased risk for mortality, have longer lengths of stay, and incur higher inpatient costs. In light of the preventability of many HAIs and the magnitude of the clinical and economic burden associated with HAIs, policies aiming to decrease the incidence of HAIs may have a potentially large impact on outcomes in injured patients.

Canada could slash public-health expenditures by 15% with no reduction in Canadians' health status by substituting less costly types of delivery and forms of treatment in more appropriate settings, says the recently released report of the Queen's-University of Ottawa Project on Cost-effectiveness of the Canadian Health Care System. Sustainable Health Care for Canada concludes that the system could be made more efficient by reducing the number of acute-care beds and cutting patients' length of stay in hospital. It also suggests substituting continuing care for acute care and relying less on institutionalization of the elderly and more on alternatives such as residential or community care. The report also suggests that as Canada experiments with decentralization, it may be time to look at other regulatory models for health care, including the mixed-market approach.

Objective

To determine whether mortality rates for patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) changed in New Jersey after implementation of the Health Care Reform Act, which reduced subsidies for hospital care for the uninsured and changed hospital payment to price competition from a rate-setting system based on hospital cost.

Data Sources/Study Setting

Patient discharge data from hospitals in New Jersey and New York from 1990 through 1996 and the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS).

Study Design

A comparison between states over time of unadjusted and risk-adjusted mortality and cardiac procedure rates.

Data Collection

Discharge data were obtained for 286,640 patients with the primary diagnosis of AMI admitted to hospitals in New Jersey or New York from 1990 through 1996. Records of 364,273 NIS patients were used to corroborate time trends.

Principal Findings

There were no significant differences in AMI mortality among insured patients in New Jersey relative to New York or the NIS. However, there was a relative increase in mortality of 41 to 57 percent among uninsured New Jersey patients post-reform, and their rates of expensive cardiac procedures decreased concomitantly.

Conclusions

The introduction of hospital price competition and reductions in subsidies for hospital care of the uninsured were associated with an increased mortality rate among uninsured New Jersey AMI patients. A relative decrease in the use of cardiac procedures in New Jersey may partly explain this finding. Additional studies should be done to identify whether other market reforms have been associated with changes in the quality of care.

Abstract

Objective

To compare length of stay and total hospital costs among patients admitted to hospital under the care of family physicians who were their usual health care providers in the community (group A) and patients admitted to the same inpatient service under the care of family physicians who were not their usual health care providers (group B).

Design

Retrospective observational study.

Setting

A large urban hospital in Vancouver, BC.

Participants

All adult admissions to the family practice inpatient service between April 1, 2006, and June 30, 2008.

Main outcome measures

Ratio of length of stay to expected length of stay and total hospital costs per resource intensity weight unit. Multivariate linear regression was performed to determine the effect of admitting group (group A vs group B) on the natural logarithm transformations of the outcomes.

Results

The median acute length of stay was 8.0 days (interquartile range [IQR] 4.0 to 13.0 days) for group A admissions and 8.0 days (IQR 4.0 to 15.0 days) for group B admissions. The median (IQR) total hospital costs were $6498 ($4035 to $11 313) for group A admissions and $6798 ($4040 to $12 713) for group B admissions. After adjustment for patient characteristics, patients admitted to hospital under the care of their own family physicians did not significantly differ in terms of acute length of stay to expected length of stay ratio (percent change 0.6%, P = .942) or total hospital costs per resource intensity weight unit (percent change −2.0%, P = .722) compared with patients admitted under the care of other family physicians.

Conclusion

These findings suggest that having networks of family physicians involved in hospital care for patients is not less efficient than having family physicians provide care for their own patients.

The average total hospitalization costs for adult cancer patients with neutropenic complications were quantified and the average length of hospital stay (LOS), all-cause mortality during hospitalization and reimbursement rates were determined. This observational retrospective cohort study identified adult patients with cancer who were hospitalized from January 2005 through June 2008 using a large private US health care database (>342 inpatient facilities). ICD-9-CM diagnosis codes identified patients by cancer type and who had neutropenic complications. The utilization and accounting systems of the hospitals were used to calculate mean (±95% confidence interval) hospitalization costs and LOS and percent all-cause mortality and reimbursement. Costs were adjusted to 2009 US dollars. There were 3,814 patients who had cancer and neutropenia, 1,809 (47.4%) also had an infection or fever and 1,188 (31.1%) had infection. Mean hospitalization costs were $18,042 (95% CI 16,997–19,087) for patients with neutropenia, $22,839 (95% CI 21,006–24,672) for patients with neutropenia plus infection or fever and $27,587 (95% CI 24,927–30,247) for patients with neutropenia plus infection. Mean LOS were 9 days (95% CI 8.7–9.3), 10.7 days (95% CI 10.2–11.2) and 12.6 days (95% CI 11.9–13.3), respectively. Mortality followed a similar trend; 8.3, 13.7 and 19.4%, respectively. By cancer type, hematologic malignancies had the highest average hospitalization costs and longest mean LOS of $52,579 (95% CI 42,183–62,975) and 20.3 days (95% CI 17.4–23.2), and a high mortality rate of 20.0%, while primary breast cancer patients had the lowest cost of $8,413 (95% CI 6,103–10,723), shortest LOS of 5.5 days (95% CI 4.2–6.8) and lowest mortality (0%). Mean reimbursement rates were 100.0, 101.5 and 95.4% for patients with neutropenia, neutropenia plus infection or fever and neutropenia plus infection, respectively. Hospitalized cancer patients with neutropenic complications had a higher all-cause mortality rate and higher inpatient hospitalization costs than those previously published. Results from this study suggest that costs for inpatient hospitalized cancer patients with neutropenic complications are principally reimbursed by payers.

The lengths of hospital stay among adult inpatients discharged during 1962 from the medical and surgical specialty departments of a large urban university-affiliated general hospital have been examined. Data are shown comparing the durations of hospitalization of patients who had a private physician directly responsible for their hospital care (private patients) and of those who did not (staff patients). The relation between the lengths of stay of private patients and those of staff patients varied considerably from one hospital department to another. On the medical services, staff patients had longer hospital stays than did private patients, a discrepancy that could not be accounted for by differences between the two groups in age, race, sex, or source of payment for hospitalization and it is being studied further. A major cause of the apparent difference in lengths of hospitalization between private and staff surgical patients proved to be inconsistencies in the criteria used to define the terms “hospital admission” and “inpatient” among various patient groups. Some of the possible effects of variations in the definition of these terms and of the terms “medical patients” and “surgical patients” in hospital-use studies are discussed.

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Introduction

Because of rationing of the limited pool of health care resources, access to total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is limited, but investigation of variables that predict complications, length of hospital stay, cost and outcomes of TKA may allow us to optimize the available resources. The objective of this study was to examine the effect of various factors on complication rates after TKA in patients managed in Ontario.

Methods

Patients who had undergone an elective TKA between 1993 and 1996, as captured in the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) database, formed the study cohort. The CIHI dataset was used to obtain information regarding in-hospital complications, hospital length of stay, revision rates, infection rates and mortality. Generalized estimating linear or logistic regression equations were used to model outcomes as a function of age, gender, comorbidity, diagnosis and provider volume.

Results

During the study period, 14 352 patients in Ontario underwent TKA. Mortality at 3 months was associated with patient age, gender and comorbidity. There was no association between provider volume and mortality or the infection rate. Higher revision rates at 1 and 3 years were significantly associated with lower patient age and low hospital volume (p < 0.05). Hospitals in which fewer than 48 TKA procedures were done per year (< 40th percentile) had 2.2-fold greater 1-year revision rates than hospitals performing more than 113 TKAs annually (> 80th percentile). Complications during admission were associated with increased patient age and comorbidity, and higher hospital volume. Longer hospital stay was associated with female gender, increasing patient comorbidity and age, and lower provider volume. Surgeons who performed fewer than 14 TKAs annually (< 40th percentile) kept patients in hospital an average of 1.4 days longer than surgeons performing more than 42 TKAs annually (> 80th percentile).

Conclusions

Patient variables significantly affect the rate of complications. Age, sex and comorbidity were significant predictors of complications, length of hospital stay and mortality after TKA. Although low surgeon volume was related to longer hospital stay, there was no association between surgeon volume and complication rates. The increased early revision rate for low-volume hospitals demands further study.

OBJECTIVE: To develop and test a new outcome measure, Conditional Length of Stay (CLOS), to assess hospital performance when deaths are rare and complication data are not available. DATA SOURCES: The 1991 and 1992 MedisGroups National Comparative Data Base. STUDY DESIGN: We use engineering reliability theory traditionally applied to estimate mechanical failure rates to construct a CLOS measure. Specifically, we use the Hollander-Proschan statistic to test if LOS distributions display an "extended" pattern of decreasing hazards after a transition point, suggesting that "the longer a patient has stayed in the hospital, the longer a patient will likely stay in the hospital" versus an alternative possibility that "the longer a patient has stayed in the hospital, the faster a patient will likely be discharged from the hospital." DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION METHODS: Abstracted records from 7,777 pediatric pneumonia cases and 3,413 pediatric appendectomy cases were available for analysis. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: For both conditions, the Hollander-Proschan statistic strongly displays an "extended" pattern of LOS by day 3 (p<.0001) associated with declining rates of discharge. This extended pattern coincides with increasing patient complication rates. Worse admission severity and chronic disease contribute to lower rates of discharge after day 3. CONCLUSIONS: Patient stays tend to become prolonged after complications. By studying CLOS, one can determine when the rate of hospital discharge begins to diminish--without the need to directly observe complications. Policymakers looking for an objective outcome measure may find that CLOS aids in the analysis of a hospital's management of complicated patients without requiring complication data, thereby facilitating analyses concerning the management of patients whose care has become complicated.

A randomised controlled trial has been conducted into the effects of discharging patients from hospital either 48 hours or six to seven days after operations for inguinal hernia and varicose veins. There was no statistically significant difference in major postoperative complications between the two lengths of stay for either of the two conditions. Similarly there was no difference between the two groups of hernia patients in relation to eventual recurrences. There was no significant difference in length of convalescence between long-stay and short-stay patients in full-time occupations. The savings to the statutory services of discharging patients early were estimated at 25.72 pounds per patient. Patients appeared to approve of the type of care they experienced, regardless of length of stay. However, the families of short-stay patients were significantly less enthusiastic in their attitudes towards the policy of early discharge than the families of long-stay patients.

A partially age-related admission policy coupled with a "single-ward" scheme for treatment and rehabilitation was introduced by the Hull geriatric department in 1970. With rare exceptions, elderly patients needing hospital care have been admitted directly to the geriatric unit, and the proportion of the retired population admitted by the general physicians has been greatly reduced. The proportion of inpatients needing continuing care has been reduced to less than 20%, the mean length of inpatient stay has fallen to under 30 days, and separate long-stay wards are no longer needed. More than 91% of patients are admitted without preceding domiciliary assessment, and only 5-6% of admissions are transferred from other units within the area.

BACKGROUND:

Hyperglycemia is a marker of poor clinical outcomes in studies evaluating hospitalized critically ill patients.

OBJECTIVES:

To identify whether glycemic control is associated with health outcomes including acute coronary events, renal failure, infection, hospital length of stay, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, sepsis and mortality in noncritically ill patients administered parenteral nutrition (PN), and to compare the current standard of care for glucose monitoring at the Foothills Medical Centre (Calgary, Alberta) with the 2009 American Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition guidelines.

METHODS:

A retrospective chart review of 100 adult (18 years of age or older) non-ICU inpatients who received PN for seven days or longer at the Foothills Medical Centre was conducted.

RESULTS:

Seventeen patients (17%) had a mean blood glucose level of 10.0 mmol/L or greater. PN patients with a mean blood glucose level of 10 mmol/L or greater had a higher rate of mortality than patients with a mean blood glucose level of less than 10 mmol/L (OR 7.22; 95% CI 1.08 to 48.29; P=0.042). Hyperglycemia was independently and significantly associated with mortality when adjusted for age and sex. Acute coronary events, renal failure, infection, hospital length of stay, ventilator use and ICU admissions were not associated with hyperglycemia. Only one-half of those with hyperglycemia, and none of the patients in the euglycemic group, received adequate glucose monitoring during the first two days of PN.

CONCLUSION:

Hyperglycemia in noncritically ill inpatients receiving PN was found to be a risk factor for increased mortality.

Abstract

Objective

Efforts to improve health care outcomes in the United States have led some organizations to recommend specific hospital settings or case volumes for complex medical diagnoses and procedures. But there are few studies of the effect of setting and volume on maternal outcomes, particularly in complicated conditions, such as diabetes. Our objective was to estimate the effect of hospital setting and volume on childbirth morbidity and length of stay in pregnancies complicated by type 2 and gestational diabetes.

Methods

We analyzed Maryland hospital discharge data during 1999–2004. The dependent variables were primary cesarean delivery, episiotomy, a composite variable for severe maternal morbidity, and hospital length of stay. The independent variables were hospital setting (community, non-teaching hospitals, community, teaching hospitals, and academic medical centers) and tertiles of annual hospital diabetes delivery volume. Multivariable regression analysis was used to assess the relation of hospital setting with each outcome, adjusting for hospital volume and maternal case mix.

Results

5,507 deliveries with type 2 (15%) and gestational (85%) diabetes were analyzed. Primary cesarean delivery rates among women with any diabetes did not vary across settings. After adjustment for volume and patient case mix, the likelihood of severe maternal morbidity was higher among deliveries at academic centers compared to community, non-teaching hospitals (odds ratio [OR], 2.1; 95% confidence interval: 1.0, 4.2). Academic centers had a protective effect (OR, 0.3; 95% CI: 0.2, 0.7) and community teaching hospitals had a borderline protective effect (OR, 0.8; 95% CI: 0.7, 1.0) on episiotomy, compared to community, non-teaching hospitals. Length of stay was greater at academic centers and community, teaching hospitals compared to community, non-teaching hospitals (5.4 days, 3.5 days vs. 2.8 days, respectively). We did not identify an independent association between hospital diabetes volume and clinical outcomes after adjustment for case mix.

Conclusions

Among women with type 2 and gestational diabetes, hospital setting is associated with a higher likelihood of severe maternal morbidity and length of stay, independent of volume. Patient case mix accounts for some of the variation across settings. The volume-outcome relationship found with other complex medical conditions or procedures was not found among diabetic pregnancies. Further investigations are needed to explain variations in outcomes across hospital settings and volumes.