Hospitalizations for Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions and Quality of Primary Care

Medical Care ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Purificación Magán ◽  
Ángel Alberquilla ◽  
Ángel Otero ◽  
José Manuel Ribera
BMJ Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. e028744 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geraldine McDarby ◽  
Breda Smyth

BackgroundIn 2016, the Irish acute hospital system operated well above internationally recommended occupancy targets. Investment in primary care can prevent hospital admissions of ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSCs).ObjectiveTo measure the impact of ACSCs on acute hospital capacity in the Irish public system and identify specific care areas for enhanced primary care provision.DesignNational Hospital In-patient Enquiry System data were used to calculate 2011–2016 standardised bed day rates for selected ACSC conditions. A prioritisation exercise was undertaken to identify the most significant contributors to bed days within our hospital system. Poisson regression was used to determine change over time using incidence rate ratios (IRR).ResultsIn 2016 ACSCs accounted for almost 20% of acute public hospital beds (n=871 328 bed days) with adults over 65 representing 69.1% (n=602 392) of these. Vaccine preventable conditions represented 39.1% of ACSCs. Influenza and pneumonia were responsible for 99.8% of these, increasing by 8.2% (IRR: 1.02; 95% CI 1.02 to 1.03) from 2011 to 2016. Pyelonephritis represented 47.6% of acute ACSC bed days, increasing by 46.5% (IRR: 1.07; 95% CI 1.06 to 1.08) over the 5 years examined.ConclusionsPrioritisation for targeted investment in integrated care programmes is enabled through analysis of ACSC’s in terms of acute hospital bed days. This analysis demonstrates that primary care investment in integrated care programmes for respiratory ACSC’s from prevention to rehabilitation at scale could assist with bed capacity in acute hospitals in Ireland. In adults 65 years and over, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients, the current analysis supports targeting community based pulmonary rehabilitation including pneumococcal and influenza vaccination programmes in order to reduce the burden of infection and hospitalisations. Further exploration of pyelonephritis is necessary in order to ascertain patient profile and appropriateness of admissions.


2003 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 324-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
John F. Steiner ◽  
Patricia A. Braun ◽  
Paul Melinkovich ◽  
Judith E. Glazner ◽  
Vijayalaxmi Chandramouli ◽  
...  

2014 ◽  
Vol 48 (5) ◽  
pp. 817-826 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aline Pinto Marques ◽  
Dalia Elena Romero Montilla ◽  
Wanessa da Silva de Almeida ◽  
Carla Lourenço Tavares de Andrade

OBJECTIVE To analyze the temporal evolution of the hospitalization of older adults due to ambulatory care sensitive conditions according to their structure, magnitude and causes. METHODS Cross-sectional study based on data from the Hospital Information System of the Brazilian Unified Health System and from the Primary Care Information System, referring to people aged 60 to 74 years living in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Souhteastern Brazil. The proportion and rate of hospitalizations due to ambulatory care sensitive conditions were calculated, both the global rate and, according to diagnoses, the most prevalent ones. The coverage of the Family Health Strategy and the number of medical consultations attended by older adults in primary care were estimated. To analyze the indicators’ impact on hospitalizations, a linear correlation test was used. RESULTS We found an intense reduction in hospitalizations due to ambulatory care sensitive conditions for all causes and age groups. Heart failure, cerebrovascular diseases and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases concentrated 50.0% of the hospitalizations. Adults older than 69 years had a higher risk of hospitalization due to one of these causes. We observed a higher risk of hospitalization among men. A negative correlation was found between the hospitalizations and the indicators of access to primary care. CONCLUSIONS Primary healthcare in the state of Rio de Janeiro has been significantly impacting the hospital morbidity of the older population. Studies of hospitalizations due to ambulatory care sensitive conditions can aid the identification of the main causes that are sensitive to the intervention of the health services, in order to indicate which actions are more effective to reduce hospitalizations and to increase the population’s quality of life.


2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. e134-e141
Author(s):  
Soumya Mazumdar ◽  
Shanley Chong ◽  
Luke Arnold ◽  
Bin Jalaludin

Abstract Background Potentially preventable hospitalizations (PPHs) or ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSCs) represent hospitalizations that could be successfully managed in a primary care setting. Research from the USA and elsewhere on the role of primary care provider (PCP) access as a PPH driver has been conflicting. We investigated the role of PCP access in the creation of areas with persistently significant high rates of PPHs over time or PPH hotspots/spatial clusters. Methods Using a detailed dataset of PCPs and a dataset of 106 334 chronic PPH hospitalizations from South Western Sydney, Australia, we identified hotspots of chronic PPHs. We contrasted how hotspot PPHs were different from other PPHs on a range of factors including PCP access. Results and conclusions Six spatially contiguous areas comprising of eight postcodes were identified as hotspots with risks ranging from 1.6 to 2.9. The hotspots were found to be more disadvantaged and had better PCP access than other areas. Socioeconomic disadvantage explained the most variation (8%) in clustering while PCP access explained only a small fraction though using detailed PCP access measures helped. Nevertheless a large proportion of the variation remained unexplained (86.5%) underscoring the importance of individual level behaviours and other factors in driving chronic PPH clustering.


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
M Satokangas ◽  
M Arffman ◽  
A Leyland ◽  
I Keskimäki

Abstract Background Geographic variation is common in ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSCs) - used as a proxy indicator for primary care quality. Its use is debated as it is more strongly associated with individual socioeconomic position (SEP) and health status than factors related to primary care. While most earlier studies have been cross-sectional, this study aims to observe if these associations change over time. Finland offers a good possibility for this due to its extensive registers and unexplained over time convergence of geographic variation in ACSC. Methods This observational study obtained ACSCs in 2011-2017 from the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register and divided them into subgroups of acute, chronic and vaccine-preventable causes. In these subgroups we analysed geographic variations with a three-level multilevel logistic regression model - individuals, health centre areas (HC) and hospital districts (HD) - and estimated the proportion of the variance at each level explained by individual SEP and comorbidities, as well as both primary care and hospital supply and spatial access at three time points. Results In the preliminary results of the baseline geographic variation in total ACSCs in 2011-2013 - the model with age and sex - the variance between HDs was nearly twice that between HCs. Individual SEP and comorbidities explained 46% of the variance between HDs and 29% between HCs; and area-level proportion of ACSC periods in primary care inpatient wards a further 12% and 5%. This evened out the unexplained variance between HDs and HCs. Conclusions Geographic variation in ACSCs was more pronounced in hospital districts than in the smaller health centre areas. The excess variance between HDs was explained by individual SEP and health status as well as by use of primary care inpatient wards. Our findings suggest that not only hospital bed supply, but also the national structure of hospital services affects ACSCs. This challenges international ACSC comparisons. Key messages Geographic variation in ACSCs concentrated in larger areas with differing population characteristics. The national structure of hospital services, such as use of primary care inpatient wards, affects ACSCs.


2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 422-432
Author(s):  
Jinkyung Kim ◽  
Hye-Young Kang ◽  
Kwang-Soo Lee ◽  
Songhee Min ◽  
Euichul Shin

Hospitalization rates for ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSCs) can indicate the accessibility of a community’s primary care. We examined regional variation in ACSC hospitalization rates and identified associated factors. ACSC hospitalization rates in the 232 districts in 2013 ranged from 4.08 to 101.53 per 1000 adults. Spatial analysis showed that none of the 24 highest rate districts were located near Seoul, whereas 80% of the 45 lowest rate districts were, suggesting health care inequality between people living near Seoul and in other areas. Regression analysis showed significantly higher ACSC hospitalization rates in districts with higher elderly (β = 0.94) and low-income populations (β = 2.25), more remote areas (β = 0.29), and more hospital beds (β = 0.03). The number of primary care clinics was negatively associated with ACSC hospitalization (β = −1.37). For these variables, geographically weighted regression analysis provided local regression coefficients, useful for developing region-specific strategies to reduce ACSC hospitalization.


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
I Keskimäki ◽  
M Satokangas ◽  
S Lumme ◽  
V-M Partanen ◽  
M Arffman ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Hospitalisations due to ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSCs) have been used for assessing access to and quality of primary health care (PHC) in many countries. To assess the validity of ACSCs for assessing PHC performance we carried out a series of studies on regional and sociodemographic variations and time trends in ACSC hospitalisations and related mortality. Methods Hospitalisations due to ACSCs in Finland in 1992-2013 came from the national Hospital Discharge Register. The data were linked to population at risk data and individual sociodemographic indicators from Statistics Finland, and subsequently to area indicators of population health and socioeconomics, and health care organisation. Depending on study questions, we analysed ACSCs divided into acute, chronic and vaccine-preventable causes using appropriate statistical methods, such as multilevel Poisson models and trajectory modelling. Results We found ACSC hospitalisations to be highly associated to subsequent mortality with 4-10-fold excess 1-year mortality compared to the general population. ACSC hospitalisations showed substantial regional variations which declined over the study period due to decreasing variations in hospitalisations related to chronic ACSCs. The variations were mainly attributed to the hospital district level. In detailed analyses, about a quarter of the variance in ACSC hospitalisations was explained by individual level socioeconomic and health factors. In addition, population health indicators and factors related to hospital care organisation explained up to one third of the variance. Conclusions At patient level a hospitalisation due to ACSC is a sentinel event and associated to a high risk of poor health outcomes. However, using ACSC for benchmarking PHC providers should be addressed with caution and differences in sociodemographic factors and (co)morbidity of populations at risk, and regional heath and hospital care arrangements should be taken into account. Key messages Variations in hospitalisations due to ambulatory care sensitive conditions may mainly be linked to other factors than access to and quality of primary health care. More research is needed to validate ambulatory care sensitive conditions for use in assessing primary health care.


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