All Patient Refined Diagnosis Related Groups Research Articles

1348. Indirect Standardization to Improve Comparison of Children’s Hospitals’ Antimicrobial Use

BackgroundAntimicrobial use (AU) measured by days of therapy per 1000 patient-days (DOT/1000pd), the most established metric, varies widely between children’s hospitals despite robust adoption of antimicrobial stewardship. Differences in diagnoses and procedures (case mix) between hospitals are a source of AU variation not included in adjustment methods such as the Standardized Antimicrobial Administration Ratio. In this study, we evaluated an indirect standardization method to adjust children’s hospital AU for case mix.MethodsThis multicenter retrospective cohort study included 51 children’s hospitals participating in the Pediatric Health Information System database from 2016-2018. All inpatient, observation, and neonatal admissions were included, with a total of 2,558,948 discharges. Hospitalizations were grouped into 83 strata defined based on All Patients Refined Diagnosis Related Groups (APR-DRGs). Observed to expected (O:E) ratios were calculated by indirect standardization of mean antibiotic DOT per case, with expected values from 2016-2018 and observed values from 2018, and compared to DOT/1000pd. Outlier hospitals were defined by O:E z-scores corresponding to below 10th percentile (low outlier) and above 90th percentile (high outlier).ResultsAntibacterial DOT/1000pd ranged from 345 to 776 (2.2-fold variation from lowest to highest), whereas O:E ratios ranged from 0.8 to 1.14 (1.4-fold variation from lowest to highest) (Figure 1). O:E ratios were moderately correlated with DOT/1000pd (correlation estimate 0.45; 95% CI 0.19-0.64; p=0.0008). Three high outlier hospitals and 6 low outlier hospitals were identified. Examining hospitals with comparably high DOT/1000pd but discordant O:E ratios, differences could be explained by variation in both case mix and condition-specific AU within strata defined by APR-DRGs.Figure 1. Individual hospitals labeled on the X-axis, ordered by level of antibacterial DOT/1000pd (left axis), represented by bars. Diamonds represent O:E ratios derived by indirect standardization (right axis). Outlier hospitals (low and high) are highlighted in yellow. Dashed horizontal lines represent 10th percentile (lower) and 90th percentile (upper) limits of the O:E ratio distribution. ConclusionThe observed variation in DOT/1000pd between hospitals is reduced when indirect standardization is applied to account for case mix differences. This approach can be adapted for more specific uses including clinical conditions, patient populations, or antimicrobial agents. Indirect standardization may enhance stewardship efforts by providing adjusted comparisons that incorporate case mix differences between hospitals.Disclosures All Authors: No reported disclosures

Disparities Associated with Sepsis Mortality in Critically Ill Children.

Disparities in health care related to socioeconomic status and race/ethnicity are well documented in adult and neonatal sepsis, but they are less characterized in the critically ill pediatric population. This study investigated whether socioeconomic status and/or race/ethnicity is associated with mortality among children treated for sepsis in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). A retrospective cohort study was conducted using information from 48 children's hospitals included in the Pediatric Health Information System database. We included visits by children ≤ 21 years with All Patients Refined Diagnosis-Related Groups (APR-DRG) diagnosis codes of septicemia and disseminated infections that resulted in PICU admission from 2010 to 2016. Multivariable logistic regression was used to measure the effect of race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status (insurance status and median household income for zip code) on mortality after adjustment for age, gender, illness severity, and presence of complex chronic condition. Among the 14,276 patients with sepsis, the mortality rate was 6.8%. In multivariable analysis, socioeconomic status, but not race/ethnicity, was associated with mortality. In comparison to privately insured children, nonprivately insured children had increased odds of mortality (public: adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 1.2 [1.0, 1.5]; uninsured: aOR: 2.1 [1.2, 3.7]). Similarly, children living in zip codes with the lowest quartile of annual household income had higher odds of mortality than those in the highest quartile (aOR: 1.5 [1.0, 2.2]). These data suggest the presence of socioeconomic, but not racial/ethnic, disparities in mortality among children treated for sepsis. Further research is warranted to understand why such differences exist and how they may be addressed.

Associations Between Obesity and Use for Pediatric Hospitalizations.

Obesity is associated with poor outcomes for specific clinical groups of hospitalized children, but few data exist on outcomes of children with obesity on a larger scale during hospitalization. Therefore, we aimed to determine if use outcomes differ between hospitalized children with obesity and hospitalized children without obesity. We performed a retrospective longitudinal cohort study of all children aged 2 to 19 years hospitalized at a single academic institution between January 1, 2009, and December 31, 2016. BMI was calculated from documented height and weight; obesity was defined by using age- and sex-specific BMI percentile guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Only All Patient Refined Diagnosis-Related Groups (APR-DRGs) with >100 admissions during the study period were included. Primary outcome measures included hospital length of stay, hospital cost, and 14-day readmission. Generalized linear and logistic models were used to determine adjusted differences for outcome measures between patients with and without obesity. Of 78 756 included hospitalizations, obesity rates increased from 16.5% in 2009-2010 to 17.3% in 2015-2016 (P = .002). Only 6 (4.7%) of the 128 APR-DRGs examined were associated with increased use for patients with obesity: spinal procedures, tonsil and adenoid procedures, major respiratory procedures, peptic ulcer and gastritis, other musculoskeletal diagnoses, and other kidney and urinary tract diagnoses. There were no APR-DRGs with increased length of stay for children with obesity. Obesity is associated with increased hospitalization cost and readmission rates for a minority of diagnosis groups. Some groups of hospitalized children with obesity may benefit from targeted interventions to reduce obesity-specific risks. Future research should be focused on disparities in other relevant clinical outcomes.

Author response: Readmission to a different hospital following acute stroke is associated with worse outcomes.

We would like to thank Chen et al.1 for their interest in our study. We agree that it is important to consider stroke severity and the possibility that quality of care was suboptimal during the index admission. Indeed, we specifically designed our analyses to minimize the likelihood that readmissions were related to higher stroke severity or to unsatisfactory treatment at the first hospital. Although the Nationwide Readmissions Database does not include data on stroke severity, we used the All Patient Refined Diagnosis Related Groups (APRDRG) severity of illness and risk of mortality measures as a measure of overall illness severity. Our fully adjusted models account for both APRDRG severity and mortality. To minimize the likelihood that unsatisfactory treatment at the first hospital contributed to readmission, we excluded patients transferred to a higher level of care during index hospitalization. Finally, Table 2 reports the length of hospital stay and total charges of hospitalization during the index admission. In addition to demographics, vascular risk factors, insurance, discharge disposition, and APRDRG severity or mortality, our fully adjusted model also included adjustment for hospital characteristics, length of stay, and total charges during the index hospitalization.

Identifying children at high risk for infection-related decompensation using a predictive emergency department-based electronic assessment tool.

Electronic alert systems to identify potential sepsis in children presenting to the emergency department (ED) often either alert too frequently or fail to detect earlier stages of decompensation where timely treatment might prevent serious outcomes. We created a predictive tool that continuously monitors our hospital's electronic health record during ED visits. The tool incorporates new standards for normal/abnormal vital signs based on data from ∼1.2 million children at 169 hospitals. Eighty-two gold standard (GS) sepsis cases arising within 48h were identified through retrospective chart review of cases sampled from 35,586 ED visits during 2012 and 2014-2015. An additional 1,027 cases with high severity of illness (SOI) based on 3M's All Patient Refined - Diagnosis-Related Groups (APR-DRG) were identified from these and 26,026 additional visits during 2017. An iterative process assigned weights to main factors and interactions significantly associated with GS cases, creating an overall "score" that maximized the sensitivity for GS cases and positive predictive value for high SOI outcomes. Tool implementation began August 2017; subsequent improvements resulted in 77% sensitivity for identifying GS sepsis within 48h, 22.5% positive predictive value for major/extreme SOI outcomes, and 2% overall firing rate of ED patients. The incidence of high-severity outcomes increased rapidly with tool score. Admitted alert positive patients were hospitalized nearly twice as long as alert negative patients. Our ED-based electronic tool combines high sensitivity in predicting GS sepsis, high predictive value for physiologic decompensation, and a low firing rate. The tool can help optimize critical treatments for these high-risk children.

The need for hemodialysis is associated with increased mortality in mechanically ventilated children: a propensity score-matched outcome study.

Kidney replacement therapy (KRT) is frequently used in critically ill children. The objective of this study is to investigate if the requirement for hemodialysis(HD) is an independent risk factor for mortality in mechanically ventilated children METHODS: In this retrospective cohort study, we analyzed the 2012 and 2016 Kids Inpatient Database and used a weighted sample to obtain a national outcome estimate. For our analysis, we included children aged one month to 17 years who were mechanically ventilated; we then compared the demographics, comorbidities, and mortality rates of those patients who had undergone HD with those who did not. Statistical analysis was performed using the chi-squared test and regression models. The patients were matched 1:2 with a correlative propensity score using age, weekend admission, elective admission, gender, hospital region, income quartiles, race, presence of kidney failure, bone marrow transplantation(BMT), cardiac surgery, trauma, and All Patients Refined Diagnosis Related Groups (APR-DRG) severity score. The mortality rate was compared between the matched groups. Out of 100,289 mechanically ventilated children, 1393 (1.4%) underwent HD. The mortality rate was 32.5% in the HD group, compared with 8.8% in the control group (p < 0.05). Factors that were associated with higher mortality in HD patients included severe sepsis, BMT, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation therapy (ECMO). After propensity score-matched analysis, HD was still significantly associated with a higher risk of mortality (31.9% vs. 22.0%, p < 0.05) CONCLUSIONS: The requirement for HD in mechanically ventilated children is associated with higher mortality.

&lt;p&gt;Performance of Comprehensive Risk Adjustment for the Prediction of In-Hospital Events Using Administrative Healthcare Data: The Queralt Indices&lt;/p&gt;

BackgroundAccurate risk adjustment is crucial for healthcare management and benchmarking.PurposeWe aimed to compare the performance of classic comorbidity functions (Charlson’s and Elixhauser’s), of the All Patients Refined Diagnosis Related Groups (APR-DRG), and of the Queralt Indices, a family of novel, comprehensive comorbidity indices for the prediction of key clinical outcomes in hospitalized patients.Material and MethodsWe conducted an observational, retrospective cohort study using administrative healthcare data from 156,459 hospital discharges in Catalonia (Spain) during 2018. Study outcomes were in-hospital death, long hospital stay, and intensive care unit (ICU) stay. We evaluated the performance of the following indices: Charlson’s and Elixhauser’s functions, Queralt’s Index for secondary hospital discharge diagnoses (Queralt DxS), the overall Queralt’s Index, which includes pre-existing comorbidities, in-hospital complications, and principal discharge diagnosis (Queralt Dx), and the APR-DRG. Discriminative ability was evaluated using the area under the curve (AUC), and measures of goodness of fit were also computed. Subgroup analyses were conducted by principal discharge diagnosis, by age, and type of admission.ResultsQueralt DxS provided relevant risk adjustment information in a larger number of patients compared to Charlson’s and Elixhauser’s functions, and outperformed both for the prediction of the 3 study outcomes. Queralt Dx also outperformed Charlson’s and Elixhauser’s indices, and yielded superior predictive ability and goodness of fit compared to APR-DRG (AUC for in-hospital death 0.95 for Queralt Dx, 0.77–0.93 for all other indices; for ICU stay 0.84 for Queralt Dx, 0.73–0.83 for all other indices). The performance of Queralt DxS was at least as good as that of the APR-DRG in most principal discharge diagnosis subgroups.ConclusionOur findings suggest that risk adjustment should go beyond pre-existing comorbidities and include principal discharge diagnoses and in-hospital complications. Validation of comprehensive risk adjustment tools such as the Queralt indices in other settings is needed.

Abstract No. 621 Vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty in the United States, 2004 to 2015: national trends, short-term outcomes, and regional disparities in cost of care

to evaluate the national trends, patient characteristics, and outcome disparities for vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty procedures in the last decade (United States, 2004 – 2015). Data from the health care cost and utilization project was used to evaluate the national trends. The national inpatient sample of admissions (97% of US community hospitals) from 2012 – 2015 was pooled for outcome analysis. Patient characteristics, indices of disease severity (all-patient refined diagnosis related groups [APR-DRG] and Elixhauser comorbidity variables) and hospital characteristics were extracted. The estimated number of vertebroplasties has more than doubled in the last decade (from 3230 ± 303 in 2004 to 7500 ± 391 in 2015, relative rate of 2.1 ± 0.1, P <0.01). Likewise, the estimated number of kyphoplasties has more than tripled (from 686 ± 579 in 2004 to 24,680 ± 791, relative rate 3.3 ± 0.2, P <0.01) since 2004. In terms of outcomes, mortality associated with inpatient vertebroplasties and kyphoplasties has remained stable (ranging from 0.4% ± 0.1 to 1.0% ± 0.3). Meanwhile, there has been a marked increase in total hospital charges for vertebroplasties (29,545 ± 1798 in 2004 vs. 56,757 ± 2330 in 2015, P <0.01) and kyphoplasties (30,094 ± 1284 in 2004 vs. 75,363 ± 1476 in 2015, P <0.01). In multivariate analyses and after adjusting for patient characteristics, demographic variables and indicators of disease severity, we found significant disparities in the outcomes based on hospital location, teaching status, and ownership. Compared to West and South, patients in Northeast and Midwest had lengthier hospital stays (odds ratios [OR] of staying more than 8 days: 1.14 [1.04–1.25], P <0.01) yet lower hospital charges (OR for total charge of >50,000 USD: 0.57 [0.51–0.62], P <0.01). Teaching hospitals (vs. nonteaching) had lengthier hospital stays (OR: 1.28 [1.17–1.40], P <0.01) and similar hospital charges (OR: 0.98 [0.89–1.08], P:0.69 Number of vertebroplasties and kyphoplasties has more than doubled in the past decade. Despite comparable patient characteristics and disease severity, hospital charges were significantly higher in private owned, non-teaching hospitals in South and West regions of the US.

A Hospitalist-Led Team to Manage Patient Boarding in the Emergency Department: Impact on Hospital Length of Stay and Cost.

Admitted patients boarding in the emergency department (ED) while awaiting inpatient beds represent a bottleneck in patient flow. We sought to examine the impact on patient flow and potential for cost savings by an active management of boarded ED medical admissions by a hospitalist-led team, which included a hospitalist, an advanced practitioner, and a case manager. This was a retrospectively conducted analysis of a quality improvement pilot intervention implemented at a large tertiary center. We analyzed patients admitted under observation status between April 1, 2016 and June 30, 2016. We calculated the difference for length of stay (in hours) and direct cost between patients in the intervention group and a usual care group from a similar time period in the prior year matched on the all patients refined-diagnosis related groups (APR-DRG) and severity of illness (SOI) level. One hundred seventy-five observation patients were managed by the hospitalist team during the 3-month pilot period. This group had an average hospital stay of 26.0 hours compared with 29.7 hours in the usual care group. Direct costs resulted in the following results: average cost for the intervention patient group $1452 (±$775) versus $2524 (±$894) group, for an average savings of $1072 (P < 0.001), with a total estimated direct cost savings of $187,660. Active management of ED boarding patients by a hospitalist-led team is feasible and can lead to hospital cost savings and decrease in hospital stay. The findings from this pilot resulted in a decision to make the ED hospitalist-led team permanent in our institution. The evaluation of the program may help other hospitals to decide whether this intervention is worth pursuing in their own organization.

Standardised mortality ratios as a user-friendly performance metric and trigger for quality improvement in a Flemish hospital network: multicentre retrospective study

ObjectiveTo illustrate the development and use of standardised mortality rates (SMRs) as a trigger for quality improvement in a network of 27 hospitals.DesignThis research was a retrospective observational study. The...

Quality of coding within clinical datasets: A case-study using burn-related hospitalizations

The quality of clinical data held in administrative databases is crucial for appropriate funding of health care services. As Diagnosis-Related Groups (DRGs) continue to play an important role in hospital payment mechanisms, proper coding of diagnoses and procedures is of most concern. This study used an administrative, nationwide Portuguese inpatient database to characterize and assess coding patterns in burn-related hospitalization data, with a special focus on identifying suspected miscoding practices that could be affecting APR-DRG (All-Patient Refined Diagnosis-Related Groups) classification. Using coded clinical data of 4,182 burn-related admissions occurred between 2011 and 2015, we compared APR-DRG and Severity of Illness (SOI) frequencies between hospitals with a burn unit in Portugal. The frequencies of individual diagnosis and procedure codes among episodes grouped within the same APR-DRG were also compared. Hospitals with a burn unit in Portugal differed significantly in the frequencies of APR-DRGs 842 and 844. Proper coding of extensive third-degree burns might be related with the observed discrepant frequencies of APR-DRGs across the evaluated hospitals. Facilities also differed significantly concerning the proportions of SOI levels in certain APR-DRGs. Significant differences in reporting certain comorbidities and common hospital procedures, especially non-operating room procedures, might have influenced the observed discrepancies in SOI levels. Moreover, there seems to be a lack of standard in coding debridement procedures among the evaluated hospitals. Overall, we found some suspected coding patterns that could potentially be associated with miscoding practices impacting APR-DRG classification. Those findings could not only be relevant for planning future audit processes and improving medical coding practices, but also for discussing quality and desirable features of burn-related clinical data, keeping in mind their use for other purposes beyond DRG grouping, namely clinical and health care services research, as well as health care management.

Importance of coding co-morbidities for APR-DRG assignment: Focus on cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.

The All Patient-Refined Diagnosis-Related Groups (APR-DRGs) system has adjusted the basic DRG structure by incorporating four severity of illness (SOI) levels, which are used for determining hospital payment. A comprehensive report of all relevant diagnoses, namely the patient's underlying co-morbidities, is a key factor for ensuring that SOI determination will be adequate. In this study, we aimed to characterise the individual impact of co-morbidities on APR-DRG classification and hospital funding in the context of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Using 6 years of coded clinical data from a nationwide Portuguese inpatient database and support vector machine (SVM) models, we simulated and explored the APR-DRG classification to understand its response to individual removal of Charlson and Elixhauser co-morbidities. We also estimated the amount of hospital payments that could have been lost when co-morbidities are under-reported. In our scenario, most Charlson and Elixhauser co-morbidities did considerably influence SOI determination but had little impact on base APR-DRG assignment. The degree of influence of each co-morbidity on SOI was, however, quite specific to the base APR-DRG. Under-coding of all studied co-morbidities led to losses in hospital payments. Furthermore, our results based on the SVM models were consistent with overall APR-DRG grouping logics. Comprehensive reporting of pre-existing or newly acquired co-morbidities should be encouraged in hospitals as they have an important influence on SOI assignment and thus on hospital funding. Furthermore, we recommend that future guidelines to be used by medical coders should include specific rules concerning coding of co-morbidities.

Use of Intravenous Immunoglobulin G in HIT: Impact on Thrombosis and Mortality in a Population-Based Study

Introduction: Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) is a severe prothrombotic syndrome with a mortality rate of 10% (Lancet Haematol. 2018 May; 5(5):e220-e231). Case reports show that Intravenous Immunoglobulin G (IVIg) can rapidly and durably counteract HIT antibody-mediated platelet activation in the setting of severe persistent HIT (Chest. 2017 Sep;152(3):478-485 and others). While this data supports use of IVIg in severe HIT, it is well documented that “positive result bias” enhances the likelihood of publication of studies that demonstrate salutary effects of interventions. IVIg has a black box warning for thrombosis which lists a number of potential predisposing states for this complication including hypercoagulable conditions (such as HIT). Thus, one concern is that of new/worsening thrombosis in HIT patients treated with this drug, something that is not evaluable with the limited publications in this area. The Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) is the largest publicly available patient discharge database in the US that includes ~7 million discharges per year representative of discharges from all hospital types in the country. The goal of this study was to evaluate thrombosis, bleeding and mortality outcomes associated with IVIg use in HIT using the NIS database.Methods: Hospital discharges with an ICD-9-CM code for HIT (289.84) in the NIS were used to compare outcomes in adult patients (≥18yrs) who did and did not receive IVIg treatment (ICD-9-CM code 99.14) from October 1, 2008 to December 31, 2014. Discharges with diagnoses suggestive of a history of thrombosis (ICD-9-CM codes V12.51, V12.52, V12.55), idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (287.31), or secondary thrombocytopenia (287.4) were excluded. Patient characteristics included age, sex, all patient refined diagnosis related groups (APR-DRG) severity index, and APR-DRG mortality index. Outcomes included arterial thrombosis, venous thrombosis, bleeding, mortality, and a composite of all outcomes. Variables were compared by IVIg treatment status using survey weighted Chi-squared tests for categorical variables and ANOVA for continuous variables. Survey weighted multiple logistic regression was used to model each binary outcome by IVIg treatment status while adjusting for age, gender, APR-DRG severity index and mortality index. A matched analysis was performed as a sensitivity analysis for the multiple logistic regression results. Controls were matched with IVIg cases by exact gender, APRDRG severity index, and mortality index. Five matching controls were selected for each case based on nearest age. Conditional logistic regression was used to analyze each outcome using the matched dataset.Results: HIT patients treated with IVIg and those without were no different in age and sex (Table 1). Consistent with the limited published experience of IVIg use in HIT, those who received IVIg had more severe disease with greater likelihood of dying as indicated by their APR-DRG severity and mortality indices (Table 1). Multiple logistic regression showed that the adjusted odds ratio (aOR) was lower for all outcomes except bleeding in the IVIg-treated group, although this did not reach statistical significance (Fig 1; aOR of 0.766, 0.922, 1.049, 0.685 and 0.703 for arterial thrombosis, venous thrombosis, bleeding, death and composite outcome, respectively). Similar results were obtained in conditional logistic regression of matched data (Fig 2).Conclusions: Use of IVIg was not associated with worse thrombotic outcomes or mortality in HIT. On the contrary, results suggest a possible protective effect on these outcomes, but results did not achieve statistical significance possibly due to small numbers of IVIg-treated patients. The aOR was higher (but not significantly so) for bleeding in IVIg-treated HIT patients, however, this finding is consistent with the possibility that IVIg was used more frequently in patients who had more severe disease (and had already hemorrhaged), as suggested by worse APR-DRG severity and mortality indices in IVIg-treated patients. A prospective randomized treatment study may be necessary to provide conclusive data on IVIg efficacy and risk in HIT. [Display omitted] DisclosuresDhakal:Amgen: Honoraria; Celgene: Consultancy, Honoraria; Takeda: Honoraria. Aster:BloodCenter of Wisconsin: Patents & Royalties. Padmanabhan:Janssen Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy; GE Healthcare: Other: Material support for Clinical Quality Improvement Initiative; Retham Technologies LLC: Equity Ownership, Other: Retham seeks to develop HITDx(TM), a new assay for HIT diagnosis; BloodCenter of Wisconsin: Patents & Royalties: Patent/royalties for HIT diagnostic testing; Veralox Therapeutics: Other: Advisory Board; TerumoBCT: Consultancy.

Cost Savings from Reducing Pain Through the Delivery of Integrative Medicine Program to Hospitalized Patients.

An important task facing hospitals is improving pain management without raising costs. Integrative medicine (IM), a promising nonpharmacologic pain management strategy, is yet to be examined for its cost implications in an inpatient setting. This institution has had an inpatient IM department for over a decade. The purpose was to examine the relationship between changes in patients' pain, as a result of receiving IM therapy, and total cost of care during an inpatient hospital admission. In this retrospective analysis, data from an EPIC-based electronic health record (EHR) patient demographics, length of stay (LOS), and All Patient Refined Diagnosis Related Groups (APR-DRG) severity of illness measures were utilized. IM practitioners collected and entered patient-reported pain scores into the EHR. The authors regressed the demographic, change in pain, LOS, and APR-DRG variables with changes in pain on total cost for the hospital admission. To estimate cost savings to the hospital, they computed the average reduction in cost associated with reduction in pain by multiplying the coefficient for change in pain by average total cost. A large, tertiary care hospital in Minneapolis, MN. Adult inpatient admissions, 2730, during the study period where patients received IM for pain and met eligibility criteria. IM services provided to inpatients. Change in pain on an 11-point numeric rating scale before and after initial IM sessions; total costs for hospital admissions. Both LOS and age were found to increase cost, as did being white, male, married, and having APR-DRG severity coded as extreme. For patients receiving IM therapies, pain was reduced by an average of 2.05 points and this pain reduction was associated with a cost savings of $898 per hospital admission. For patients receiving IM therapies, pain was significantly reduced and costs were lowered by about 4%.

Outcomes of Laparoscopic Colectomy in Younger and Older Patients: An Analysis of Nationwide Readmission Database.

Prior studies report safety and effectiveness of laparoscopic colectomy in older patients. The study aimed to examine the impact of laparoscopic colectomy on 30-day readmissions, discharge destination, hospital length of stay, and cost in younger (19-65 years) and older adults (>65 years). We used the nationwide readmission database from 2013 to study adults undergoing elective colectomy. The outcomes were 30-day readmissions, discharge destination for the index hospitalization (routine, skilled nursing facility [SNF]/intermediate care facility [ICF], home healthcare), length of stay, and cost. Multivariable analyses were conducted to determine the association of laparoscopic colectomy on outcome; logistic regression for 30-day readmission, multinomial logistic regression for discharge destination, and linear regression for length of stay and cost. An interaction between age and colectomy approach was included, and all models controlled gender, income, insurance status, All Patients Refined Diagnosis Related Groups (APR-DRG), Elixhauser comorbidities, hospital bed size, ownership, and teaching status. Of 79,581 colectomies, 40.2% were laparoscopic. Laparoscopic colectomy was more frequent in younger patients (41.9% versus 38.5%, p < .0001). Regardless of age, patients undergoing laparoscopic colectomy were 20% less likely to be readmitted within 30 days (odds ratio [OR] 0.80, confidence interval [95% CI] 0.75-0.85). For postdischarge destination, laparoscopic colectomy offered higher benefits to younger patients (SNF/ICF: OR 0.42, 95% CI 0.36-0.49; home health: OR 0.32, 95% CI 0.30-0.35) than older patients (SNF/ICF: OR 0.50, 95% CI 0.47-0.54; home health: OR 0.59, 95% CI 0.55-0.62). Regardless of age, laparoscopic colectomy resulted in 1.46 days (p < .0001) shorter hospital stays compared to open colectomy. Laparoscopic colectomy had significantly lower cost compared to open approach, particularly in younger ($1,466) versus older ($632) patients. Laparoscopic colectomy is superior to an open approach, with fewer 30-day readmissions, fewer discharges to SNF/ICF or home health, shorter hospital stays, and less overall cost; younger patients benefit more than older patients.

Abstract TP192: Epidemiological Characteristics and Outcomes of Takayasu’s Arteritis in Acute Ischemic Stroke Hospitalization

Background: Takayasu’s arteritis (TA) is an uncommon disease, characterized by granulomatous vasculitis of medium and large arteries especially aorta and its branches. The incidence of TA is calculated to be 0.26-case/100,000/ year in the USA. Neurological involvement is reported in only a minority of patients and occurrence of neurological syndromes as the first manifestation of the disease has been rarely reported. We are describing epidemiological characteristics of a rare disease. Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort analysis of the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) (years 2000-2011) in adult hospitalizations for AIS to compare the outcomes [Death, All Patient Refined Diagnosis Related Groups (APRDRGs) Risk Mortality (likelihood of dying), Discharge Disposition, APRDRG severity (loss of function)] of patients with TA using ICD-9-CM codes. The APRDRGs are assigned using software developed by 3M Health Information Systems. We also compared their epidemiological characteristics like age, race, gender, preexisting comorbidities, length of stay, and expenditure for treatment. We performed weighted analysis using chi-square and t-test. Results: Among 5,223,800 AIS hospitalizations, 274 were diagnosed with TA. Analysis revealed most TA patients were female (90.7%) and younger in age (Mean: 50.3 years), in compare to non-TA. It was more common in white population. With high likelihood of dying, TA cohort had higher percentage of major loss of function in compare to non-TA. AIS with TA were having longer length of stay and higher cost of treatment (Table). Conclusion: Even though AIS hospitalizations with TA are relatively rare, further research is needed to determine other associations of TA, as it is a burden on healthcare, which has higher association with disability and higher cost.

The trauma registry compared to All Patient Refined Diagnosis Groups (APR-DRG)

BackgroundLiterature has shown there are significant differences between administrative databases and clinical registry data. Our objective was to compare the identification of trauma patients using All Patient Refined Diagnosis Related Groups (APR-DRG) as compared to the Trauma Registry and estimate the effects of those discrepancies on utilization. MethodsAdmitted pediatric patients from 1/2012–12/2013 were abstracted from the trauma registry. The patients were linked to corresponding administrative data using the Pediatric Health Information System database at a single children’s hospital. APR-DRGs referencing trauma were used to identify trauma patients. We compared variables related to utilization and diagnosis to determine the level of agreement between the two datasets. ResultsThere were 1942 trauma registry patients and 980 administrative records identified with trauma-specific APR-DRG during the study period. Forty-two percent (816/1942) of registry records had an associated trauma-specific APR-DRG; 69% of registry patients requiring ICU care had trauma APR-DRGs; 73% of registry patients with head injuries had trauma APR-DRGs. Only 21% of registry patients requiring surgical management had associated trauma APR-DRGs, and 12.5% of simple fractures had associated trauma APR-DRGs. ConclusionAPR-DRGs appeared to only capture a fraction of the entire trauma population and it tends to be the more severely ill patients. As a result, the administrative data was not able to accurately answer hospital or operating room utilization as well as specific information on diagnosis categories regarding trauma patients. APR-DRG administrative data should not be used as the only data source for evaluating the needs of a trauma program.

Roles of disease severity and post-discharge outpatient visits as predictors of hospital readmissions.

BackgroundRisks prediction models of 30-day all-cause hospital readmissions are multi-factorial. Severity of illness (SOI) and risk of mortality (ROM) categorized by All Patient Refined Diagnosis Related Groups (APR-DRG) seem to predict hospital readmission but lack large sample validation. Effects of risk reduction interventions including providing post-discharge outpatient visits remain uncertain. We aim to determine the accuracy of using SOI and ROM to predict readmission and further investigate the role of outpatient visits in association with hospital readmission.MethodsHospital readmission data were reviewed retrospectively from September 2012 through June 2015. Patient demographics and clinical variables including insurance type, homeless status, substance abuse, psychiatric problems, length of stay, SOI, ROM, ICD-10 diagnoses and medications prescribed at discharge, and prescription ratio at discharge (number of medications prescribed divided by number of ICD-10 diagnoses) were analyzed using logistic regression. Relationships among SOI, type of hospital visits, time between hospital visits, and readmissions were also investigated.ResultsA total of 6011 readmissions occurred from 55,532 index admissions. The adjusted odds ratios of SOI and ROM predicting readmissions were 1.31 (SOI: 95 % CI 1.25–1.38) and 1.09 (ROM: 95 % CI 1.05–1.14) separately. Ninety percent (5381/6011) of patients were readmitted from the Emergency Department (ED) or Urgent Care Center (UCC). Average time interval from index discharge date to ED/UCC visit was 9 days in both the no readmission and readmission groups (p > 0.05). Similar hospital readmission rates were noted during the first 10 days from index discharge regardless of whether post-index discharge patient clinic visits occurred when time-to-event analysis was performed.ConclusionsSOI and ROM significantly predict hospital readmission risk in general. Most readmissions occurred among patients presenting for ED/UCC visits after index discharge. Simply providing early post-discharge follow-up clinic visits does not seem to prevent hospital readmissions.

Reducing Inpatient Length of Stay Using a Multicollaborative Protocol for Management of Non-Intensive Care Unit Asthmatics.

Maximizing clinical efficiency through the reduction in inpatient length of stay (LOS) using standardized protocols has been a major objective among hospital administrators, most notably in the context of recent healthcare reimbursement changes at statewide levels. The objective of our project was to determine whether a synchronous change in an inpatient asthma protocol that relied on a respiratory therapist (RT)-driven bronchodilator weaning algorithm and bronchodilator therapy given through a metered dose inhaler (MDI) plus valved holding chamber (VHC) could impact clinical and financial outcomes. A pre-post study assessed patients aged 2-21 years of age admitted with a primary diagnosis of status asthmaticus. The effect of the protocol was measured from October 2014 to July 2015. Outcome variables included patient demographics, hospital LOS, all-patient refined diagnosis-related groups (APR-DRGs), and inpatient charges. Outcomes were compared between the preimplementation and postimplementation time periods. Statistical significance was measured using Wilcoxon signed-rank test and bootstrap logistic regression models. Protocol patients (n = 110) had a similar demographic and clinical profile compared with the matched population from the previous nonprotocol fiscal year (n = 150). Use of the protocol resulted in a significantly reduced LOS that maintained significance after adjusting for APR-DRGs weight (P < 0.05). The protocol did not alter the total hospital billing charges. A nonstatistically significant reduction in 30-day readmission rates was observed among those administered the protocol. An RT-led weaning protocol using a quantitative scoring system and MDI+VHC for bronchodilator administration resulted in a significantly reduced LOS.

Rates of Adverse Events and Outcomes among Stroke Patients Admitted to Primary Stroke Centers

To identify the beneficial effects of primary stroke centers (PSCs) certification by Joint Commission (JC), we compared the rates of in-hospital adverse events and discharge outcomes among ischemic stroke patients admitted to PSCs and those admitted to non-PSC hospitals in the United States. We obtained the data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample from 2010 and 2011. The analysis was limited to states that publicly reported hospital identity. PSCs were identified by matching the Nationwide Inpatient Sample hospital files with the list provided by JC. The analysis was limited to patients (age ≥18 years) discharged with a principal diagnosis of ischemic stroke (International Classification of Disease, 9th Revision, codes 433.x1, 434.x1). We identified a total of 123,131 ischemic stroke patients from 28 states. A total of 72,982 (59.3%) patients were admitted to PSCs. After adjusting for age, gender, race or ethnicity, comorbidities, All Patients Refined Diagnosis Related Groups (APR-DRG)-based disease severity, and hospital teaching status, patients admitted to PSCs were at lower risk of in-hospital adverse events complications: pneumonia (odds ratio [OR], .8; 95% confidence interval [CI], .7-.8) and sepsis (OR, .7; 95% CI, .6-.8). Patients admitted to PSCs were more likely to receive thrombolysis (OR, 1.6; 95% CI, 1.5-1.7). The mean cost of hospitalization (95% CI) of the patients was significantly higher in patients admitted at PSCs compared with those admitted at non PSC hospitals $47621 (47099-48144) vs. $35229 (34803-35654), P < .0001). The patients admitted to PSCs had lower inpatient mortality (OR, .8; 95% CI, .8-.9) and were more likely to be discharged with none to minimal disability (OR, 1.1; 95% CI, 1.0-1.1). Compared with non-PSC admissions, patients admitted to PSCs are less likely to experience hospital adverse events and more likely to experience better discharge outcomes.