Dataset Information

Incidence of "never events" among weekend admissions versus weekday admissions to US hospitals: national analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To evaluate the association between weekend admission to hospital and 11 hospital acquired conditions recently considered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid as "never events" for which resulting healthcare costs are not reimbursed.

Design

National analysis.

Setting

US Nationwide Inpatient Sample discharge database.

Participants

351 million patients discharged from US hospitals, 2002-10.

Main outcome measures

Univariate rates and multivariable likelihood of hospital acquired conditions among patients admitted on weekdays versus weekends, as well as the impacts of these events on prolonged length of stay and total inpatient charges.

Results

From 2002 to 2010, 351,170,803 patients were admitted to hospital, with 19% admitted on a weekend. Hospital acquired conditions occurred at an overall frequency of 4.1% (5.7% among weekend admissions versus 3.7% among weekday admissions). Adjusting for patient and hospital cofactors the probability of having one or more hospital acquired conditions was more than 20% higher in weekend admissions compared with weekday admissions (odds ratio 1.25, 95% confidence interval 1.24 to 1.26, P<0.01). Hospital acquired conditions have a negative impact on both hospital charges and length of stay. At least one hospital acquired condition was associated with an 83% (1.83, 1.77 to 1.90, P<0.01) likelihood of increased charges and 38% likelihood of prolonged length of stay (1.38, 1.36 to 1.41, P<0.01).

Conclusion

Weekend admission to hospital is associated with an increased likelihood of hospital acquired condition, cost, and length of stay. Future protocols and staffing regulations must be tailored to the requirements of this high risk subgroup.

SUBMITTER: Attenello FJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4398994 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundPatients with atrial fibrillation-flutter (AF) admitted on the weekends were initially reported to have poor outcomes. The primary purpose of this study is to re-evaluate the outcomes for weekend versus weekday AF hospitalization using the 2014 Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS).MethodsIncluded hospitalizations were aged above 18 years. The hospitalizations with AF were identified using the international classification of diseases 9 (ICD-9) codes (427.31, 427.32). In-hospital mortality, length of stay (LOS), other co-morbidities, cardioversion procedures, and time to cardioversion were recorded. All analysis was performed using SAS 9.4 statistical software (Cary, North Carolina).ResultsA total of 453,505 hospitalizations with atrial fibrillation and flutter as primary discharge diagnosis were identified. Among the total hospitalizations with a primary diagnosis of AF, 20.3% were admitted on the weekend. Among the weekend hospitalizations, 0.19% died in hospital compared to 0.74% among those admitted during the week. After adjusting for patient characteristics, hospital characteristics and disease severity, the adjusted odds for in-hospital mortality were not significantly different for weekend vs. weekday hospitalizations (OR = 0.91, 95% CI [0.77-1.11]; p = 0.33). The weekend admissions were associated with significantly lower odds of cardioversion procedures (OR = 0.72, 95% CI [0.69-0.76], P < 0.0001), lower cost of hospitalization (USD 8265.8 on weekends vs. USD 8966.5 on the weekdays, P < 0.001), slightly lower rate of anticoagulation (17.09% on the weekends vs. 18.73% on the weekdays. P < 0.0001), and slightly increased time to cardioversion (1.94 days on the weekend vs. 1.73 days on weekdays, P < 0.0005). The mean length of hospital stay (LOS) was statistically not different in both groups: (3.49 days ± 3.70 (SD) in the weekend group vs. 3.47 days ± 3.50 (SD) in the weekday group, P = 0.42).DiscussionThe weekend AF hospitalizations did not have a clinically significant difference in mortality and LOS compared to those admitted on a weekday. However, the use of cardioversion procedures and cost of hospitalization was significantly lower on the weekends.