Trends in Potentially Preventable Hospitalizations Among Adults and Children, 1997-2004. Statistical Brief No. 36

摘要

Because of major concerns with both the cost and quality of health care, a priority of policy makers and health care providers is to identify areas where quality improvement and lower costs coincide. Potentially preventable admissionsinpatient stays that could be prevented with high quality primary and preventive careare one area where higher quality care can cost less. Higher rates of these preventable hospitalizations identify areas where potential improvements in the health care delivery system could be made to improve patient outcomes and decrease costs. Changes in these rates over time may signal an improvement or worsening in the quality of ambulatory care, in access to timely and effective treatment of certain conditions for specific populations, or in patient adoption of healthy behaviors. This Statistical Brief presents data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) on changes in the rates of potentially preventable hospitalizations. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)s Prevention Quality Indicators (PQIs) are used to develop hospitalization rates for selected chronic and acute conditions in adults and children for 1997, 2000, and 2004. This brief also evaluates trends in total hospital costs associated with these potentially preventable hospitalizations. All differences between estimates noted in the text are statistically significant at the 0.05 level or better.