Dataset Information

Characteristics of U.S. Acute Care Hospitals That Have Implemented Telemedicine Critical Care.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Telemedicine critical care is associated with improved efficiency, quality, and cost-effectiveness. As of 2010, fewer than 5% of U.S. hospitals had telemedicine critical care, and fewer than 10% of ICU beds were covered. We evaluated recent telemedicine critical care implementation and bed coverage rates in the United States and compared characteristics of hospitals with and without telemedicine critical care.

Design

Cross-sectional study of 2018 American Hospital Association Annual Survey Database.

Setting

U.S. hospitals.

Patients

None.

Interventions

None.

Measurements and main results

We obtained data regarding telemedicine critical care implementation, ICU capability (defined as ≥ 1 ICU bed), other hospital characteristics, and the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index, a measure of ICU market competition based on hospital referral regions. Among 4,396 hospitals (response rate 71%), 788 (17.9%) had telemedicine critical care, providing potential coverage to 27,624 (28% of total) ICU beds. Among 306 hospital referral regions, 197 (64%) had a respondent hospital with telemedicine critical care. Telemedicine critical care implementation was associated with being a nonprofit (odds ratio, 7.75; 95% CI, 5.18-11.58) or public (odds ratio, 4.16 [2.57-6.73]) compared with for-profit hospital; membership in a health system (odds ratio, 3.83 [2.89-5.08]; stroke telemedicine presence (odds ratio, 6.87 [5.35-8.81]); ICU capability (odds ratio, 1.68 [1.25-2.26]); and more competitive ICU markets (odds ratio per 1,000-point decrease in Herfindahl-Hirschman Index 1.11 [1.01-1.22]). Notably, rural critical access hospitals had lower odds of telemedicine critical care implementation (odds ratio, 0.49 [0.34-0.70]). Teaching status, geographic region, and rurality were not associated with telemedicine critical care implementation.

Conclusions

About one fifth of respondent hospitals had telemedicine critical care by 2018, providing potential coverage of nearly one third of reported ICU beds. This represents a substantial increase in telemedicine critical care implementation over the last decade. Future expansion to include more rural hospitals that could benefit most may be aided by addressing hospital financial and market barriers to telemedicine critical care implementation.

SUBMITTER: Ofoma UR

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8245115 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:ObjectivesTo determine the total numbers of privileged and full-time equivalent intensivists in acute care hospitals with intensivists and compare the characteristics of hospitals with and without intensivists.DesignRetrospective analysis of the American Hospital Association Annual Survey Database (Fiscal Year 2015).SettingTwo-thousand eight-hundred fourteen acute care hospitals with ICU beds.PatientsNone.InterventionsNone.Measurements and main resultsOf the 2,814 acute care hospitals studied, 1,469 (52%) had intensivists and 1,345 (48%) had no intensivists. There were 28,808 privileged and 19,996 full-time equivalent intensivists in the 1,469 hospitals with intensivists. In these hospitals, the median (25-75th percentile) numbers of privileged and full-time equivalent intensivists were 11 (5-24) and 7 (2-17), respectively. Compared with hospitals without intensivists, hospitals with privileged intensivists were primarily located in metropolitan areas (91% vs 50%; p < 0.001) and at the aggregate level had nearly thrice the number of hospital beds (403,522 [75%] vs 137,146 [25%]), 3.6 times the number of ICU beds (74,222 [78%] vs 20,615 [22%]), and almost twice as many ICUs (3,383 [65%] vs 1,846 [35%]). At the hospital level, hospitals with privileged intensivists had significantly more hospital beds (median, 213 vs 68; p < 0.0001), ICU beds (median, 32 vs 8; p < 0.0001), a higher ratio of ICU to hospital beds (15.6% vs 12.6%; p < 0.0001), and a higher number of ICUs per hospital (2 vs 1; p < 0.0001) than hospitals without intensivists.ConclusionsAnalyzing the intensivist section of the American Hospital Association Annual Survey database is a novel approach to estimating the numbers of privileged and full-time equivalent intensivists in acute care hospitals with ICU beds in the United States. This methodology opens the door to an enhanced understanding of the current supply and distribution of intensivists as well as future research into the intensivist workforce.

Project description:Rationale: Whether critical care improvements over the last 10 years extend to all hospitals has not been described.Objectives: To examine the temporal trends of critical care outcomes in minority and non-minority-serving hospitals using an inception cohort of critically ill patients.Measurements and Main Results: Using the Philips Health Care electronic ICU Research Institute Database, we identified minority-serving hospitals as those with an African American or Hispanic ICU census more than twice its regional mean. We examined almost 1.1 million critical illness admissions among 208 ICUs from across the United States admitted between 2006 and 2016. Adjusted hospital mortality (primary) and length of hospitalization (secondary) were the main outcomes. Large pluralities of African American (25%, n = 27,242) and Hispanic individuals (48%, n = 26,743) were cared for in minority-serving hospitals, compared with only 5.2% (n = 42,941) of white individuals. Over the last 10 years, although the risk of critical illness mortality steadily decreased by 2% per year (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.97-0.98) in non-minority-serving hospitals, outcomes within minority-serving hospitals did not improve comparably. This disparity in temporal trends was particularly noticeable among African American individuals, where each additional calendar year was associated with a 3% (95% CI, 0.96-0.97) lower adjusted critical illness mortality within a non-minority-serving hospital, but no change within minority-serving hospitals (hazard ratio, 0.99; 95% CI, 0.97-1.01). Similarly, although ICU and hospital lengths of stay decreased by 0.08 (95% CI, -0.08 to -0.07) and 0.16 (95% CI, -0.16 to -0.15) days per additional calendar year, respectively, in non-minority-serving hospitals, there was little temporal change for African American individuals in minority-serving hospitals.Conclusions: Critically ill African American individuals are disproportionately cared for in minority-serving hospitals, which have shown significantly less improvement than non-minority-serving hospitals over the last 10 years.

Project description:BackgroundA point-prevalence survey that was conducted in the United States in 2011 showed that 4% of hospitalized patients had a health care-associated infection. We repeated the survey in 2015 to assess changes in the prevalence of health care-associated infections during a period of national attention to the prevention of such infections.MethodsAt Emerging Infections Program sites in 10 states, we recruited up to 25 hospitals in each site area, prioritizing hospitals that had participated in the 2011 survey. Each hospital selected 1 day on which a random sample of patients was identified for assessment. Trained staff reviewed medical records using the 2011 definitions of health care-associated infections. We compared the percentages of patients with health care-associated infections and performed multivariable log-binomial regression modeling to evaluate the association of survey year with the risk of health care-associated infections.ResultsIn 2015, a total of 12,299 patients in 199 hospitals were surveyed, as compared with 11,282 patients in 183 hospitals in 2011. Fewer patients had health care-associated infections in 2015 (394 patients [3.2%; 95% confidence interval {CI}, 2.9 to 3.5]) than in 2011 (452 [4.0%; 95% CI, 3.7 to 4.4]) (P<0.001), largely owing to reductions in the prevalence of surgical-site and urinary tract infections. Pneumonia, gastrointestinal infections (most of which were due to Clostridium difficile [now Clostridioides difficile]), and surgical-site infections were the most common health care-associated infections. Patients' risk of having a health care-associated infection was 16% lower in 2015 than in 2011 (risk ratio, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.74 to 0.95; P=0.005), after adjustment for age, presence of devices, days from admission to survey, and status of being in a large hospital.ConclusionsThe prevalence of health care-associated infections was lower in 2015 than in 2011. To continue to make progress in the prevention of such infections, prevention strategies against C. difficile infection and pneumonia should be augmented. (Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.).

Project description:BackgroundIn acute-care hospitals, patients treated in an ICU for surgical reasons or sudden deterioration are treated in an outpatient ward, ICU, and other multiple departments. It is unclear how healthcare providers are initiating advance care planning (ACP) for such patients and assisting them with it. The purpose of this study is to clarify healthcare providers' perceptions of the ACP support provided to patients receiving critical care in acute-care hospitals.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted using questionnaires. In this study, 400 acute-care hospitals with ICUs in Japan were randomly selected, and 1490 subjects, including intensivists, surgeons, ICU nurses, surgical floor nurses, and surgical outpatient nurses, participated. Survey items examined whether ICU patients received ACP support, the participants' degree of confidence in providing ACP support, the patients' treatment preferences, and the decision-making process, and whether any discussion was conducted on change of values.ResultsResponses were obtained from 598 participants from 157 hospitals, 41.4% of which reportedly supported ACP provision to ICU patients. The subjects with the highest level of ACP understanding were surgeons (45.8%), and differences in understanding were observed across specialties (P < 0.001). Among the respondents, physicians and nurses expressed high levels of confidence in providing ACP support to patients requiring critical care. However, 15.2% of all the subjects mentioned that they would not attempt to resuscitate the patients. In addition, 25.7% of the participants handed over patients' values to other departments or hospitals, whereas 25.3% handed over the decision-making process.ConclusionsAmong the participating hospitals, 40% provided ACP support to patients receiving critical care. The low number is possibly because support providers lack understanding of the content of patients' ACP or about how to support and use ACP. Second, it is sometimes too late to start providing ACP support after ICU admission. Third, healthcare providers differ in their perception of ACP, widely considered an ambiguous concept. Finally, in acute-care hospitals with different healthcare settings, it is necessary to confirm and integrate the changes in feelings and thoughts of patients.

Project description:BackgroundPneumonia is a common cause of illness and death of the elderly in Japan. Its prevalence is escalating globally with the aging of population. To describe the latest trends in pneumonia hospitalizations, especially aspiration pneumonia (AP) cases, we assessed the clinical records of pneumonia patients admitted to core acute care hospitals in Miyagi prefecture, Japan.MethodsA retrospective multi-institutional joint research was conducted for hospitalized pneumonia patients aged ≥20 years from January 2019 to December 2019. Clinical data of patients were collected from the medical records of eight acute care hospitals.ResultsOut of the 1,800 patients included in this study, 79% of the hospitalized pneumonia patients were aged above 70 years. The most common age group was in the 80s. The ratio of AP to total pneumonia cases increased with age, and 692 out of 1,800 patients had AP. In univariate analysis, these patients had significantly older ages, lower body mass index (BMI), a lower ratio of normal diet intake and homestay before hospitalization, along with more AP recurrences and comorbidities. During hospitalization, AP patients had extended fasting periods, more swallowing assessments and interventions, longer hospitalization, and higher in-hospital mortality rate than non-AP patients. A total of 7% and 2% AP patients underwent video endoscopy and video fluorography respectively. In multivariate analysis, lower BMI, lower C-reactive protein, a lower ratio of homestay before hospitalization, a higher complication rate of cerebrovascular disease, dementia, and neuromuscular disease were noted as a characteristic of AP patients. Swallowing interventions were performed for 51% of the AP patients who had been hospitalized for more than two weeks. In univariate analysis, swallowing intervention improved in-hospital mortality. Lower AP recurrence before hospitalization and a lower ratio of homestay before hospitalization were indicated as characteristics of AP patients of the swallowing intervention group from multivariate analysis. Change in dietary pattern from normal to modified diet was observed more frequently in the swallowing intervention group.ConclusionAP accounts for 38.4% of all pneumonia cases in acute care hospitals in Northern Japan. The use of swallowing evaluations and interventions, which may reduce the risk of dysphagia and may associate with lowering mortality in AP patients, is still not widespread.