Florida Hospital Orlando was the Only Hospital in the Country with Over 2,000 Septicemia or Severe Sepsis Medicare Inpatient Discharges in 2016

In Sepsis

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By: Saparja Nag Dec. 22, 2017

An analysis on 2016 CMS administrative claims recently conducted by Dexur found that Florida Hospital Orlando led the nation in combined DRG-871 and DRG-872 Medicare discharges. These DRGs are defined as septicemia or severe sepsis without MV > 96 hours with MCC for DRG-871 and without MCC for DRG-872. The following four hospitals were Oroville Hospital, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Yale-New Haven Hospital, and Methodist University Hospital. Septicemia or severe sepsis commonly occur when a bacterial infection enters the bloodstream and spreads throughout the body. This often leads to tissue damage, organ failure, and death.

This analysis of DRG-871 and DRG-872 discharges included all major hospitals with more than 3,500 Medicare inpatient discharges during the January to December 2016 time period. Florida Hospital Orlando had the most DRG-871 discharges at 1,841 while Oroville Hospital had the highest number of DRG-872 discharges with 594 discharges. These two hospitals ranked 1st and 2nd, respectively, in terms of total septicemia (DRG-871 + DRG-872). Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Yale-New Haven Hospital, and Methodist University Hospital were ranked 3rd, 4th, and 5th, each with around 1,500 total septicemia discharges. There were 734,215 combined DRG-871 and DRG-872 discharges, meaning that these top 5 hospitals made up 1.2% of all the septicemia or severe sepsis discharges in the country.

Sepsis occurs when an already existing infection triggers widespread infections throughout the body. Infections of the lungs like pneumonia, the kidney like urinary tract infections, the skin, and the gut are most often linked with sepsis, as are certain bacteria. Medicare-aged patients are more susceptible to sepsis, as are those with chronic conditions and with weakened immune systems. These hospitals are located in geographically distinct regions; the only two hospitals in the same state, Oroville Hospital and Cedars Sinai Medical Center, are located nearly 500 miles apart from each other in Northern California and Southern California, respectively. The other three hospitals are Florida Hospital Orlando in Florida, Yale-New Haven Hospital in Connecticut, and Methodist University Hospital in Tennessee.

Hospital Name	DRG-871 Discharges	DRG-872 Discharges	DRG-871 + DRG-872 Total Discharges	Total Medicare Inpatient Discharges	Percentage of National Total DRG-871 + DRG-872 Discharges
Florida Hospital Orlando	1,841	442	2,283	36,260	0.311%
Oroville Hospital	1,179	594	1,773	5,720	0.241%
Cedars Sinai Medical Center	1,196	341	1,537	19,979	0.209%
Yale-New Haven Hospital	1,148	328	1,476	22,236	0.201%
Methodist University Hospital	1,168	291	1,459	19,304	0.199%

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Saparja Nag

Saparja is a healthcare journalist with a particular interest in how medicine can and should affect health policy. She has extensive experience as a health educator and research scientist in biochemistry. She also enjoys running, cooking elaborate meals, and then eating elaborate meals. Saparja received a Bachelors of Arts in Biochemistry from Vassar College.