23% of Discharges with Cardiac Arrhythmias Not Present on Admission Accounted for 870 Excess Days from Length of Stay Outliers at Baptist Health Hospital
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By: Emily Carpintero Dec. 27, 2017
A recent analysis by Dexur of CMS Medicare claims data for the time period of October 2015 through September 2016 showed that at Baptist Health Hospital, in Little Rock, Arkansas, the top condition not present on admission (POA) associated with length of stay (LOS) outliers was cardiac arrhythmias, with a total of 870 excess days from LOS outliers. Dexur analyzed total Medicare inpatient discharges, total LOS outliers from discharges, and the total excess days from LOS outliers for every condition. LOS outliers are patients that exceed the average length of stay for a specific DRG-code. LOS outliers from conditions not present on admission are a significant metric that healthcare professionals utilize to proactively and efficiently provide patients with the care they need while minimizing hospital usage.
Excess Days from LOS Outliers for 10 Conditions
According to Dexur data, the top three conditions not present upon admission were cardiac arrhythmias, anemia and acute posthemorrhagic anemia and coronary artery disease. 796 of cardiac arrhythmias discharges did not present the condition upon admission. Of the 796 discharges, 183 discharges were LOS outliers. The 796 LOS outliers accounted for 870 excess hospital days. The second most discharged condition that was not present upon admission was anemia and acute posthemorrhagic anemia with a total of 754 discharges. 196 of these discharges were LOS outliers, which accounted for 841 excess hospitalized days at Baptist Health Hospital. Coronary artery disease was the third highest discharged condition not present upon admission; 146 of these discharges extended past average LOS, accounting for 558 of excess hospitalized days.
Baptist Health Hospital offers a variety of treatments for patients with cardiac arrhythmias including electrophysiology, catheter ablation, pacemakers, atrial fibrillation ablations, a-fib mini maze, and cardiac resynchronization therapy. Cardiac arrhythmias may often go unnoticed by patients, so it’s not surprising that this is a top condition not present upon admission. Nearly 13% of of their discharges with cardiac arrhythmias not present upon admission exceeded the average LOS; this is not an extremely high percentage considering their patients were initially admitted for other conditions.
| Condition | Total Discharges with Condition not POA | Total LOS Discharge Outliers with Condition not POA | % of LOS Outlier Discharges with Condition not POA | Excess Days from LOS Outliers with Condition not POA | Excess LOS as a % of Total Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cardiac Arrhythmias | 796 | 183 | 22.99% | 850 | 1.14% |
| Anemia And Acute Posthemorrhagic Anemia | 754 | 196 | 25.99% | 841 | 1.12% |
| Coronary Artery Disease | 686 | 146 | 21.28% | 558 | 0.75% |
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