Trends in Potentially Preventable Inpatient Hospital Admissions and Emergency Department Visits

In this 2015 statistical brief, Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) authors outline trends in admissions and emergency department (ED) visits using a recent data set (2000 to 2012). Of particular interest to the COPD community will be the following findings: 1) while all inpatient stays decreased between 2005 and 2012 (with the exception of mental health hospitalizations), the rate of decrease for individuals with chronic disease was substantially lower than for those with acute conditions; 2) while both decreased, preventable hospital admissions decreased faster than inpatient stays; 3) there was a slight increase across both acute and chronic conditions for treat & release episodes of care; and 4) the increase in treat & release care was 1.5 times greater for preventable ED visits than for overall ED visits.

More specifically, the data showed that COPD accounted for the highest rate of avoidable inpatient stays and the second highest rate of preventable ED visits (behind only urinary tract infections). In addition, while the rate of avoidable inpatient stays declined in the window from 2008 to 2012, the increase in treat & release episodes of care for COPD was comparable.