scholarly journals Younger Dual-Eligibles Who Use Federally Qualified Health Centers Have More Preventable Emergency Department Visits, but Some Have Fewer Hospitalizations

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew J. Potter ◽  
Amal N. Trivedi ◽  
Brad Wright

Objective: To determine whether younger dual-eligibles receiving care at federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) have lower rates of ambulatory care sensitive (ACS) hospitalization and emergency department (ED) visits. Data Sources: We used the 100% Medicare Part A and Part B institutional claims from 2007 to 2010 for dual-eligibles younger than 65 years, enrolled in traditional fee-for-service Medicare, who received care at an FQHC or lived in a primary care service area with an FQHC. Methods: Our cross-sectional analysis used negative binomial regressions to model ACS hospitalizations and ED visits as a function of prior year FQHC use. The model adjusted for beneficiary age, gender, race, and chronic diseases, as well as county fixed effects, time trends, and race-FQHC use interactions. Results: FQHC use is associated with a decrease in ACS hospitalization rates for whites (2.8 per 1000 persons), but an increase among blacks (2.5 per 1000 persons). FQHC use is also associated with an increase in ACS ED visits, from 27 to 33 more visits per 1000 persons per year, depending on patient race. Conclusions: ACS hospital use is higher for FQHC users than nonusers, but white FQHC users have fewer ACS hospitalizations. More research is needed to understand how this relationship varies within and between centers.

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 187-192
Author(s):  
John A Staples ◽  
Ketki Merchant ◽  
Shannon Erdelyi ◽  
Adam Lund ◽  
Jeffrey R Brubacher

BackgroundAnnual ‘4/20’ cannabis festivals occur around the world on April 20 and often feature synchronised consumption of cannabis at 4:20 pm. The relationship between these events and demand for emergency medical services has not been systematically studied.MethodsWe conducted a population-based retrospective cohort study in Vancouver, Canada, using 10 consecutive years of data (2009–2018) from six regional hospitals. The number of emergency department (ED) visits between 4:20 pm and 11:59 pm on April 20 were compared with the number of visits during identical time intervals on control days 1 week earlier and 1 week later (ie, April 13 and April 27) using negative binomial regression.ResultsA total of 3468 ED visits occurred on April 20 and 6524 ED visits occurred on control days. A non-significant increase in all-cause ED visits was observed on April 20 (adjusted relative risk: 1.06; 95% CI 1.00 to 1.12). April 20 was associated with a significant increase in ED visits among prespecified subgroups including a 5-fold increase in visits for substance misuse and a 10-fold increase in visits for intoxication. The hospital closest to the festival site experienced a clinically and statistically significant 17% (95% CI 5.1% to 29.6%) relative increase in ED visits on April 20 compared with control days.InterpretationSubstance use at annual ‘4/20’ festivals may be associated with an increase in ED visits among key subgroups and at nearby hospitals. These findings may inform harm reduction initiatives and festival medical care service planning.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (12) ◽  
pp. e0243279
Author(s):  
Catherine Myong ◽  
Peter Hull ◽  
Mary Price ◽  
John Hsu ◽  
Joseph P. Newhouse ◽  
...  

Importance Federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) receive federal funding to serve medically underserved areas and provide a range of services including comprehensive primary care, enabling services, and behavioral health care. Greater funding for FQHCs could increase the local availability of clinic-based care and help reduce more costly resource use, such as emergency department visits (ED). Objective To examine the impact of funding increases for FQHCs after the ACA on the use of FQHCs and EDs. Methods Retrospective study using the Massachusetts All Payer Claims Database (APCD) 2010–2013 that included APCD enrollees in 559 Massachusetts ZIP codes (N = 6,173,563 in 2010). We calculated shift-share predictions of changes in FQHC funding at the ZIP code-level for FQHCs that received Community Health Center funds in any year, 2010–13 (N = 31). Outcomes were the number of ZIP code enrollees with visits to FQHCs and EDs, overall and for emergent and non-emergent diagnoses. Results In 2010, 4% of study subjects visited a FQHC, and they were more likely to be younger, have Medicaid, and live in low-income areas. We found that a standard deviation increase in prior year FQHC funding (+31 percentage point (pp)) at the ZIP code level was associated with a 2.3pp (95% CI 0.7pp to 3.8pp) increase in enrollees with FQHC visits and a 1.3pp (95% CI -2.3pp to -0.3pp) decrease in enrollees with non-emergent ED visits, but no significant change in emergent ED visits (0.3pp, 95% CI -0.8pp to 1.4pp). Conclusions We found that areas exposed to greater FQHC funding increases had more growth in the number of enrollees seen by FQHCs and greater reductions in ED visits for non-emergent conditions. Investment in FQHCs could be a promising approach to increase access to care for underserved populations and reduce costly ED visits, especially for primary care treatable or non-emergent conditions.


2021 ◽  
pp. OP.20.00889
Author(s):  
Arthur S. Hong ◽  
Danh Q. Nguyen ◽  
Simon Craddock Lee ◽  
D. Mark Courtney ◽  
John W. Sweetenham ◽  
...  

PURPOSE: To determine whether emergency department (ED) visit history prior to cancer diagnosis is associated with ED visit volume after cancer diagnosis. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study of adults (≥ 18 years) with an incident cancer diagnosis (excluding nonmelanoma skin cancers or leukemia) at an academic medical center between 2008 and 2018 and a safety-net hospital between 2012 and 2016. Our primary outcome was the number of ED visits in the first 6 months after cancer diagnosis, modeled using a multivariable negative binomial regression accounting for ED visit history in the 6-12 months preceding cancer diagnosis, electronic health record proxy social determinants of health, and clinical cancer-related characteristics. RESULTS: Among 35,090 patients with cancer (49% female and 50% non-White), 57% had ≥ 1 ED visit in the 6 months immediately following cancer diagnosis and 20% had ≥ 1 ED visit in the 6-12 months prior to cancer diagnosis. The strongest predictor of postdiagnosis ED visits was frequent (≥ 4) prediagnosis ED visits (adjusted incidence rate ratio [aIRR]: 3.68; 95% CI, 3.36 to 4.02). Other covariates associated with greater postdiagnosis ED use included having 1-3 prediagnosis ED visits (aIRR: 1.32; 95% CI, 1.28 to 1.36), Hispanic (aIRR: 1.12; 95% CI, 1.07 to 1.17) and Black (aIRR: 1.21; 95% CI, 1.17 to 1.25) race, homelessness (aIRR: 1.95; 95% CI, 1.73 to 2.20), advanced-stage cancer (aIRR: 1.30; 95% CI, 1.26 to 1.35), and treatment regimens including chemotherapy (aIRR: 1.44; 95% CI, 1.40 to 1.48). CONCLUSION: The strongest independent predictor for ED use after a new cancer diagnosis was frequent ED visits before cancer diagnosis. Efforts to reduce potentially avoidable ED visits among patients with cancer should consider educational initiatives that target heavy prior ED users and offer them alternative ways to seek urgent medical care.


2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (suppl_1) ◽  
pp. S333-S334
Author(s):  
So Lim Kim ◽  
Angela Everett ◽  
Susan J Rehm ◽  
Steven Gordon ◽  
Nabin Shrestha

Abstract Background Outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OPAT) carries risk of vascular access complications, antimicrobial adverse effects, and worsening of infection. Both OPAT-related and unrelated events may lead to emergency department (ED) visits. The purpose of this study was to describe adverse events that result in ED visits and risk factors associated with ED visits during OPAT. Methods OPAT courses between January 1, 2013 and December 31, 2016 at Cleveland Clinic were identified from the institution’s OPAT registry. ED visits within 30 days of OPAT initiation were reviewed. Reasons and potential risk factors for ED visits were sought in the medical record. Results Among 11,440 OPAT courses during the study period, 603 (5%) were associated with 1 or more ED visits within 30 days of OPAT initiation. Mean patient age was 58 years and 57% were males. 379 ED visits (49%) were OPAT-related; the most common visit reason was vascular access complication, which occurred in 211 (56%) of OPAT-related ED visits. The most common vascular access complications were occlusion and dislodgement, which occurred in 99 and 34 patients (47% and 16% of vascular access complications, respectively). In a multivariable logistic regression model, at least one prior ED visit in the preceding year (prior ED visit) was most strongly associated with one or more ED visits during an OPAT course (OR 2.96, 95% CI 2.38 – 3.71, p-value < 0.001). Other significant factors were younger age (p 0.01), female sex (p 0.01), home county residence (P < 0.001), and having a PICC (p 0.05). 549 ED visits (71%) resulted in discharge from the ED within 24 hours, 18 (2%) left against medical advice, 46 (6%) were observed up to 24 hours, and 150 ED visits (20%) led to hospital admission. Prior ED visit was not associated with hospital admission among patients who visited the ED during OPAT. Conclusion OPAT-related ED visits are most often due to vascular access complications, especially line occlusions. Patients with a prior ED visit in the preceding year have a 3-fold higher odds of at least one ED visit during OPAT compared with patients without a prior ED visit. A strategy of managing occlusions at home and a focus on patients with prior ED visits could potentially prevent a substantial proportion of OPAT-related ED visits. Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures.


2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 1773-1789
Author(s):  
Kathleen Decker ◽  
Pascal Lambert ◽  
Katie Galloway ◽  
Oliver Bucher ◽  
Marshall Pitz ◽  
...  

In 2013, CancerCare Manitoba (CCMB) launched an urgent cancer care clinic (UCC) to meet the needs of individuals diagnosed with cancer experiencing acute complications of cancer or its treatment. This retrospective cohort study compared the characteristics of individuals diagnosed with cancer that visited the UCC to those who visited an emergency department (ED) and determined predictors of use. Multivariable logistic mixed models were run to predict an individual’s likelihood of visiting the UCC or an ED. Scaled Brier scores were calculated to determine how greatly each predictor impacted UCC or ED use. We found that UCC visits increased up to 4 months after eligibility to visit and then decreased. ED visits were highest immediately after eligibility and then decreased. The median number of hours between triage and discharge was 2 h for UCC visits and 9 h for ED visits. Chemotherapy had the strongest association with UCC visits, whereas ED visits prior to diagnosis had the strongest association with ED visits. Variables related to socioeconomic status were less strongly associated with UCC or ED visits. Future studies would be beneficial to planning service delivery and improving clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean D. Young ◽  
Qingpeng Zhang ◽  
Jiandong Zhou ◽  
Rosalie Liccardo Pacula

AbstractThe primary contributors to the opioid crisis continue to rapidly evolve both geographically and temporally, hampering the ability to halt the growing epidemic. To address this issue, we evaluated whether integration of near real-time social/behavioral (i.e., Google Trends) and traditional health care (i.e., Medicaid prescription drug utilization) data might predict geographic and longitudinal trends in opioid-related Emergency Department (ED) visits. From January 2005 through December 2015, we collected quarterly State Drug Utilization Data; opioid-related internet search terms/phrases; and opioid-related ED visit data. Modeling was conducted using least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression prediction. Models combining Google and Medicaid variables were a better fit and more accurate (R2 values from 0.913 to 0.960, across states) than models using either data source alone. The combined model predicted sharp and state-specific changes in ED visits during the post 2013 transition from heroin to fentanyl. Models integrating internet search and drug utilization data might inform policy efforts about regional medical treatment preferences and needs.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Alexis De Crescenzo ◽  
Barbara Alison Gabella ◽  
Jewell Johnson

Abstract Background The transition in 2015 to the Tenth Revision of the International Classification of Disease, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) in the US led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to propose a surveillance definition of traumatic brain injury (TBI) utilizing ICD-10-CM codes. The CDC’s proposed surveillance definition excludes “unspecified injury of the head,” previously included in the ICD-9-CM TBI surveillance definition. The study purpose was to evaluate the impact of the TBI surveillance definition change on monthly rates of TBI-related emergency department (ED) visits in Colorado from 2012 to 2017. Results The monthly rate of TBI-related ED visits was 55.6 visits per 100,000 persons in January 2012. This rate in the transition month to ICD-10-CM (October 2015) decreased by 41 visits per 100,000 persons (p-value < 0.0001), compared to September 2015, and remained low through December 2017, due to the exclusion of “unspecified injury of head” (ICD-10-CM code S09.90) in the proposed TBI definition. The average increase in the rate was 0.33 visits per month (p < 0.01) prior to October 2015, and 0.04 visits after. When S09.90 was included in the model, the monthly TBI rate in Colorado remained smooth from ICD-9-CM to ICD-10-CM and the transition was no longer significant (p = 0.97). Conclusion The reduction in the monthly TBI-related ED visit rate resulted from the CDC TBI surveillance definition excluding unspecified head injury, not necessarily the coding transition itself. Public health practitioners should be aware that the definition change could lead to a drastic reduction in the magnitude and trend of TBI-related ED visits, which could affect decisions regarding the allocation of TBI resources. This study highlights a challenge in creating a standardized set of TBI ICD-10-CM codes for public health surveillance that provides comparable yet clinically relevant estimates that span the ICD transition.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan Singh Erkamp ◽  
Dirk Hendrikus van Dalen ◽  
Esther de Vries

Abstract Background Emergency department (ED) visits show a high volatility over time. Therefore, EDs are likely to be crowded at peak-volume moments. ED crowding is a widely reported problem with negative consequences for patients as well as staff. Previous studies on the predictive value of weather variables on ED visits show conflicting results. Also, no such studies were performed in the Netherlands. Therefore, we evaluated prediction models for the number of ED visits in our large the Netherlands teaching hospital based on calendar and weather variables as potential predictors. Methods Data on all ED visits from June 2016 until December 31, 2019, were extracted. The 2016–2018 data were used as training set, the 2019 data as test set. Weather data were extracted from three publicly available datasets from the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute. Weather observations in proximity of the hospital were used to predict the weather in the hospital’s catchment area by applying the inverse distance weighting interpolation method. The predictability of daily ED visits was examined by creating linear prediction models using stepwise selection; the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) was used as measurement of fit. Results The number of daily ED visits shows a positive time trend and a large impact of calendar events (higher on Mondays and Fridays, lower on Saturdays and Sundays, higher at special times such as carnival, lower in holidays falling on Monday through Saturday, and summer vacation). The weather itself was a better predictor than weather volatility, but only showed a small effect; the calendar-only prediction model had very similar coefficients to the calendar+weather model for the days of the week, time trend, and special time periods (both MAPE’s were 8.7%). Conclusions Because of this similar performance, and the inaccuracy caused by weather forecasts, we decided the calendar-only model would be most useful in our hospital; it can probably be transferred for use in EDs of the same size and in a similar region. However, the variability in ED visits is considerable. Therefore, one should always anticipate potential unforeseen spikes and dips in ED visits that are not shown by the model.


2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 673-683 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. A. Adam ◽  
S. A. Collier ◽  
K. E. Fullerton ◽  
J. W. Gargano ◽  
M. J. Beach

National emergency department (ED) visit prevalence and costs for selected diseases that can be transmitted by water were estimated using large healthcare databases (acute otitis externa, campylobacteriosis, cryptosporidiosis, Escherichia coli infection, free-living ameba infection, giardiasis, hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection, Legionnaires’ disease, nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) infection, Pseudomonas-related pneumonia or septicemia, salmonellosis, shigellosis, and vibriosis or cholera). An estimated 477,000 annual ED visits (95% CI: 459,000–494,000) were documented, with 21% (n = 101,000, 95% CI: 97,000–105,000) resulting in immediate hospital admission. The remaining 376,000 annual treat-and-release ED visits (95% CI: 361,000–390,000) resulted in $194 million in annual direct costs. Most treat-and-release ED visits (97%) and costs ($178 million/year) were associated with acute otitis externa. HAV ($5.5 million), NTM ($2.3 million), and salmonellosis ($2.2 million) were associated with next highest total costs. Cryptosporidiosis ($2,035), campylobacteriosis ($1,783), and NTM ($1,709) had the highest mean costs per treat-and-release ED visit. Overall, the annual hospitalization and treat-and-release ED visit costs associated with the selected diseases totaled $3.8 billion. As most of these diseases are not solely transmitted by water, an attribution process is needed as a next step to determine the proportion of these visits and costs attributable to waterborne transmission.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 384-391 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maribeth C Lovegrove ◽  
Andrew I Geller ◽  
Katherine E Fleming-Dutra ◽  
Nadine Shehab ◽  
Mathew R P Sapiano ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Antibiotics are among the most commonly prescribed medications for children; however, at least one-third of pediatric antibiotic prescriptions are unnecessary. National data on short-term antibiotic-related harms could inform efforts to reduce overprescribing and to supplement interventions that focus on the long-term benefits of reducing antibiotic resistance. Methods Frequencies and rates of emergency department (ED) visits for antibiotic adverse drug events (ADEs) in children were estimated using adverse event data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System–Cooperative Adverse Drug Event Surveillance project and retail pharmacy dispensing data from QuintilesIMS (2011–2015). Results On the basis of 6542 surveillance cases, an estimated 69464 ED visits (95% confidence interval, 53488–85441) were made annually for antibiotic ADEs among children aged ≤19 years from 2011 to 2015, which accounts for 46.2% of ED visits for ADEs that results from systemic medication. Two-fifths (40.7%) of ED visits for antibiotic ADEs involved a child aged ≤2 years, and 86.1% involved an allergic reaction. Amoxicillin was the most commonly implicated antibiotic among children aged ≤9 years. When we accounted for dispensed prescriptions, the rates of ED visits for antibiotic ADEs declined with increasing age for all antibiotics except sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim. Amoxicillin had the highest rate of ED visits for antibiotic ADEs among children aged ≤2 years, whereas sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim resulted in the highest rate among children aged 10 to 19 years (29.9 and 24.2 ED visits per 10000 dispensed prescriptions, respectively). Conclusions Antibiotic ADEs lead to many ED visits, particularly among young children. Communicating the risks of antibiotic ADEs could help reduce unnecessary prescribing. Prevention efforts could target pediatric patients who are at the greatest risk of harm.


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