Hospital-level compliance with asthma care quality measures at children's hospitals and subsequent asthma-related outcomes

A Quality Improvement Initiative to Minimize Unnecessary Chest X-Ray Utilization in Pediatric Asthma Exacerbations

Background

Current national guidelines recommend against chest X-rays (CXRs) for patients with acute asthma exacerbation (AAE). The overuse of CXRs in AAE has become a concern, prompting the need for a quality improvement (QI) project to decrease CXR usage through guideline-based interventions. We aimed to reduce the percentage of CXRs not adhering to national guidelines obtained for pediatric patients presenting to the Emergency Department (ED) with AAE by 50% within 12 months of project initiation.

Methods

We conducted this study at a New York City urban level-2 trauma center. The team was composed of members from the ED and pediatric departments. Electronic medical records of children aged 2 to 18 years presenting with AAE were evaluated. Monthly data on CXR utilization encompassing instances where the ordered CXR did not adhere to guidelines was collected before and after implementing interventions. The interventions included provider education, visual reminders, printed cards, grand-round presentations, and electronic medical records modifications.

Results

The study encompassed 887 eligible patients with isolated AAE. Baseline data revealed a mean preintervention CXR noncompliance rate of 37.5% among children presenting to the ED with AAE. The interventions resulted in a notable decrease in unnecessary CXR utilization, reaching 16.7%, a reduction sustained throughout subsequent months.

Conclusions

This QI project successfully reduced unnecessary CXR utilization in pediatric AAE. A multi-faceted approach involving education, visual aids, and electronic reminders aligned clinical practice with evidence-based guidelines. This QI initiative is a potential template for other healthcare institutions seeking to curtail unnecessary CXR usage in pediatric AAE.

Age- and Diagnosis-Based Trends for Unplanned Pediatric Rehospitalizations in the United States

Background and objectives: Hospital readmission rate helps to highlight the effectiveness of post-discharge care. There remains a paucity of plausible age-based categorization especially for ages below one year for hospital readmission rates.

Methods: Data from the 2017 Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project National Readmissions Database was analyzed for ages 0-18 years. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify predictors for unplanned early readmissions. 

Results: We identified 5,529,389 inpatient pediatric encounters which were further divided into age group cohorts. The overall rate of readmissions was identified at 3.2%. Beyond infancy, the readmission rate was found to be 6.7%. Across all age groups, the major predictors of unplanned readmission were cancers, diseases affecting transplant recipients and sickle cell patients. It was determined that reflux, milk protein allergy, hepatitis and inflammatory bowel diseases were significant diagnoses leading to readmission. Anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation depicted higher readmission rates in those older than 13 years. Across ages one to four years, dehydration, asthma and bronchiolitis were negative predictors of unplanned readmission. 

Conclusions: Thirty-day unplanned readmissions remain a problem leading to billions of taxpayer dollars lost per annum. Effective strategies for mandatory outpatient follow-up may help the financial aspect of care while also enhancing the quality of care.

Risk Factors for Pediatric Asthma Readmissions: A Systematic Review

OBJECTIVE

To systematically review the literature on pediatric asthma readmission risk factors.

STUDY DESIGN

We searched PubMed/MEDLINE, CINAHL, Scopus, PsycINFO, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials for published articles (through November 2019) on pediatric asthma readmission risk factors. Two authors independently screened titles and abstracts and consensus was reached on disagreements. Full-text articles were reviewed and inclusion criteria applied. For articles meeting inclusion criteria, authors abstracted data on study design, patient characteristics, and outcomes, and 4 authors assessed bias risk.

RESULTS

Of 5749 abstracts, 74 met inclusion criteria. Study designs, patient populations, and outcome measures were highly heterogeneous. Risk factors consistently associated with early readmissions (≤30 days) included prolonged length of stay (OR range, 1.1-1.6) and chronic comorbidities (1.7-3.2). Risk factors associated with late readmissions (>30 days) included female sex (1.1-1.6), chronic comorbidities (1.5-2), summer discharge (1.5-1.8), and prolonged length of stay (1.04-1.7). Across both readmission intervals, prior asthma admission was the most consistent readmission predictor (1.3-5.4).

CONCLUSIONS

Pediatric asthma readmission risk factors depend on the readmission interval chosen. Prior hospitalization, length of stay, sex, and chronic comorbidities were consistently associated with both early and late readmissions.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

CRD42018107601.

The Evolution of Quality Benchmarks for Bronchiolitis

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Evidence suggests that average performance on quality measures for bronchiolitis has been improving over time, but it is unknown whether optimal performance, as defined by Achievable Benchmarks of Care (ABCs), has also changed. Thus, we aimed to compare ABCs for established bronchiolitis quality measures between 2 consecutive time periods. As a secondary aim, we evaluated performance gaps, defined as the difference between median performance and ABCs, to identify measures that may benefit most from targeted quality initiatives.

METHODS

We used hospital administrative data from the Pediatric Health Information System database to calculate ABCs and performance gaps for nonrecommended bronchiolitis tests and treatments in 2 groups (patients discharged from the emergency department [ED] and those hospitalized) over 2 time periods (2006-2014 and 2014-2019) corresponding to publication of national bronchiolitis guidelines.

RESULTS

Substantial improvements were identified in ABCs for chest radiography (ED -8.8% [confidence interval (CI) -8.3% to -9.4%]; hospitalized -17.5% [CI -16.3% to -18.7%]), viral testing (hospitalized -14.6% [CI -13.5% to -15.7%]), antibiotic use (hospitalized -10.4% [CI -8.9% to -11.1%]), and bronchodilator use (ED -9.0% [CI -8.4% to -9.6%]). Viral testing (ED 11.5% [CI 10.9% to 12.1%]; hospitalized 21.5% [CI 19.6% to 23.4%]) and bronchodilator use (ED 13.8% [CI 12.8% to 14.8%]; hospitalized 22.8% [CI 20.6% to 25.1%]) demonstrated the largest performance gaps.

CONCLUSIONS

Marked changes in ABCs over time for some bronchiolitis quality measures highlight the need to reevaluate improvement targets as practice patterns evolve. Measures with large performance gaps, such as bronchodilator use and viral testing, are recommended as targets for ongoing quality improvement initiatives.

Racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities in paediatric critical care in the USA

In an era of tremendous medical advancements, it is important to characterise and address inequities in the provision of health care and in outcomes. There is a large body of evidence describing such disparities by race or ethnicity and socioeconomic position in critically ill adults; however, this important issue has received less attention in children and adolescents (aged ≤21 years). This Review presents a summary of the available evidence on disparities in outcomes in paediatric critical illness in the USA as a result of racism and socioeconomic privilege. The majority of evidence of racial and socioeconomic disparities in paediatric critical care originates from the USA and is retrospective, with only one prospective intervention-based study. Although there is mixed evidence of disparities by race or ethnicity and socioeconomic position in general paediatric intensive care unit admissions and outcomes in the USA, there are striking trends within some disease processes. Notably, there is evidence of disparities in management and outcomes for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, asthma, severe trauma, sepsis, and oncology, and in families' perceptions of care. Furthermore, there is clear evidence that critical care research is limited by under-enrolment of participants from minority race or ethnicity groups. We advocate for rigorous research standards and increases in the recruitment and enrolment of a diverse range of participants in paediatric critical care research to better understand the disparities observed, including the effects of racism and poverty. A clearer understanding of when, where, and how such disparities affect patients will better enable the development of effective strategies to inform practice, interventions, and policy.

Improving Delivery of Care through Standardized Monitoring in Children with Eosinophilic Esophagitis

Introduction:

Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is a chronic, antigen-driven disorder for which endoscopic monitoring and multidisciplinary care are recommended to achieve histologic remission. The EoE team at our large academic center developed a quality improvement (QI) initiative aimed to reduce variability in monitoring. This QI project focused on completing 3 process metrics within 6 months of diagnosis: (1) outpatient follow-up with a gastroenterologist; (2) referral to an allergist; and (3) Follow-up esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD).

Methods:

In January 2015, our QI team developed a registry of newly diagnosed EoE patients and maintained ongoing, weekly tracking of the process measures. Interventions to increase the completion of the process metrics included educational sessions, proactive reminders to providers, and targeted communications with patient families. Missed opportunities were evaluated by more in-depth chart review and categorized as provider- or patient-driven.

Results:

We tracked 6-month process metrics from 2015 through 2018. During this interval, follow-up visit rates in GI improved from 77% to 86%, and the percentage of referrals placed to allergy increased from 65% to 77%. The percentage of patients completing a repeat EGD improved from 33% to 61%. Among patients without a repeated EGD, nearly 70% of those missed opportunities were provider-driven.

Conclusions:

In patients newly diagnosed with EoE, QI interventions, including patient registry development, implementation of a local standard of care, and creating a patient tracking system, improved adherence with national EoE monitoring guidelines.

Hospital-Initiated Care Bundle, Posthospitalization Care, and Outcomes in Adults with Asthma Exacerbation

BACKGROUND

Hospitalization for asthma exacerbation is an opportune setting for initiating preventive efforts. However, hospital-initiated preventive asthma care remains underdeveloped and its effectiveness is uncertain.

OBJECTIVE

To examine the effectiveness of a hospital-initiated asthma care bundle on posthospitalization asthma care and clinical outcomes.

METHODS

Prospective multicenter study of adults (18-54 years) hospitalized for asthma exacerbation in 2017 to 2019. During the hospitalization, we implemented an asthma-care bundle (inpatient laboratory testing, asthma education, and discharge care), and prospectively measured chronic asthma care (eg, immunoglobulin E testing, specialist care) and asthma exacerbation (ie, systemic corticosteroid use, emergency department [ED] visit, hospitalizations) outcomes. By applying a self-controlled case series method, we examined within-person changes in these outcomes before (2-year period) and after (1-year period) the bundle implementation.

RESULTS

Of 103 adults hospitalized for asthma exacerbation, the median age was 40 years and 72% were female. Compared with the preimplementation period, the postimplementation period had improved posthospitalized asthma care, including serum specific immunoglobulin E testing (rate ratio [RR] 2.18; 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 0.99-4.84; P = .051) and evaluation by asthma specialist (RR 2.66; 95% CI 1.77-4.04; P < .001). Likewise, after care bundle implementation, patients had significantly lower annual rates of systemic corticosteroid use (4.2 vs 2.9 per person-year; RR 0.70; 95% CI 0.61-0.80; P < .001), ED visits (3.2 vs 2.7 per person-year; RR 0.83; 95% CI 0.72-0.95; P = .008), and hospitalizations (2.1 vs 1.8 per person-year; RR 0.82; 95% CI 0.69-0.97; P = .02). Stratified analyses by sex, race/ethnicity, and health insurance yielded consistent results.

CONCLUSIONS

After hospital-initiated care bundle implementation, patients had improved posthospitalization care and reduced rates of asthma exacerbation.

Hospital-level compliance with the commission on cancer's quality of care measures and the association with patient survival

Background

Quality measurement has become a priority for national healthcare reform, and valid measures are necessary to discriminate hospital performance and support value‐based healthcare delivery. The Commission on Cancer (CoC) is the largest cancer‐specific accreditor of hospital quality in the United States and has implemented Quality of Care Measures to evaluate cancer care delivery. However, none has been formally tested as a valid metric for assessing hospital performance based on actual patient outcomes.

Methods

Eligibility and compliance with the Quality of Care Measures are reported within the National Cancer Database, which also captures data for robust patient‐level risk adjustment. Hospital‐level compliance was calculated for the core measures, and the association with patient survival was tested using Cox regression.

Results

Seven hundred sixty‐eight thousand nine hundred sixty‐nine unique cancer cases were included from 1323 facilities. Increasing hospital‐level compliance was associated with improved survival for only two measures, including a 35% reduced risk of mortality for the gastric cancer measure G15RLN (HR 0.65, 95% CI 0.58–0.72) and a 19% reduced risk of mortality for the colon cancer measure 12RLN (HR 0.81, 95% CI 0.77–0.85). For the lung cancer measure LNoSurg, increasing compliance was paradoxically associated with an increased risk of mortality (HR 1.14, 95% CI 1.08–1.20). For the remaining measures, hospital‐level compliance demonstrated no consistent association with patient survival.

Conclusion

Hospital‐level compliance with the CoC’s Quality of Care Measures is not uniformly aligned with patient survival. In their current form, these measures do not reliably discriminate hospital performance and are limited as a tool for value‐based healthcare delivery.

A systematic concept analysis of 'technology dependent': challenging the terminology

There are an increasing number of children who are dependent on medical technology to sustain their lives. Although significant research on this issue is taking place, the terminology used is variable and the concept of technology dependence is ill-defined. A systematic concept analysis was conducted examining the attributes, antecedents, and consequences of the concept of technology dependent, as portrayed in the literature. We found that this concept refers to a wide range of clinical technology to support biological functioning across a dependency continuum, for a range of clinical conditions. It is commonly initiated within a complex biopsychosocial context and has wide ranging sequelae for the child and family, and health and social care delivery.Conclusion: The term technology dependent is increasingly redundant. It objectifies a heterogenous group of children who are assisted by a myriad of technology and who adapt to, and function with, this assistance in numerous ways. What is Known: • There are an increasing number of children who require medical technology to sustain their life, commonly referred to as technology dependent. This concept analysis critically analyses the relevance of the term technology dependent which is in use for over 30 years. What is New: • Technology dependency refers to a wide range of clinical technology to support biological functioning across a dependency continuum, for a range of clinical conditions. It is commonly initiated within a complex biopsychosocial context and has wide-ranging sequelae for the child and family, and health and social care delivery. • The paper shows that the term technology dependent is generally portrayed in the literature in a problem-focused manner. • This term is increasingly redundant and does not serve the heterogenous group of children who are assisted by a myriad of technology and who adapt to, and function with, this assistance in numerous ways. More appropriate child-centred terminology will be determined within the TechChild project.

Predictors of Quality Improvement in Pediatric Asthma Care

BACKGROUND

Little is known about what hospital and emergency department (ED) factors predict performance in pediatric quality improvement efforts.

OBJECTIVES

Identify site characteristics and implementation strategies associated with improvements in pediatric asthma care.

METHODS

In this secondary analysis, we used data from a national quality collaborative. Data on site factors were collected via survey of implementation leaders. Data on quality measures were collected via chart review of children with a primary diagnosis of asthma. ED measures included severity assessment at triage, corticosteroid administration within 60 minutes, avoidance of chest radiographs, and discharge from the hospital. Inpatient measures included early administration of bronchodilator via metered-dose inhaler, screening for tobacco exposure, and caregiver referral to smoking cessation resources. We used multilevel regression models to determine associations between site factors and changes in mean compliance across all measures.

RESULTS

Sixty-four EDs and 70 inpatient units participated. Baseline compliance was similar by site characteristics. We found significantly greater increases in compliance in EDs within nonteaching versus teaching hospitals (12% vs 5%), smaller versus larger hospitals (10% vs 4%), and rural and urban versus suburban settings (6%-7% vs 3%). In inpatient units, we also found significantly greater increases in compliance in nonteaching versus teaching hospitals (36% vs 17%) and community versus children's hospitals (23% vs 14%). Changes in compliance were not associated with organizational readiness or number of audit and feedback sessions or improvement cycles.

CONCLUSIONS

Specific hospital and ED characteristics are associated with improvements in pediatric asthma care. Identifying setting-specific barriers may facilitate more targeted implementation support.

Effectiveness of Pediatric Asthma Pathways in Community Hospitals: A Multisite Quality Improvement Study

Pathways guide clinicians through evidence-based care of specific conditions. Pathways have been demonstrated to improve pediatric asthma care, but mainly in studies at tertiary children's hospitals. Our global aim was to enhance the quality of asthma care across multiple measures by implementing pathways in community hospitals.

Methods

This quality improvement study included children ages 2-17 years with a primary diagnosis of asthma. Data were collected before and after pathway implementation (total 28 mo). Pathway implementation involved local champions, educational meetings, audit/feedback, and electronic health record integration. Emergency department (ED) measures included severity assessment at triage, timely systemic corticosteroid administration (within 60 mins), chest radiograph (CXR) utilization, hospital admission, and length of stay (LOS). Inpatient measures included screening for secondhand tobacco and referral to cessation resources, early administration of bronchodilator via metered-dose inhaler, antibiotic prescription, LOS, and 7-day readmission/ED revisit. Analyses were done using statistical process control.

Results

We analyzed 881 ED visits and 138 hospitalizations from 2 community hospitals. Pathways were associated with increases in the proportion of children with timely systemic corticosteroid administration (Site 1: 32%-57%, Site 2: 62%-75%) and screening for secondhand tobacco (Site 1: 82%-100%, Site 2: 54%-89%); and decreases in CXR utilization (Site 1: 44%-29%), ED LOS (Site 1: 230-197 mins), and antibiotic prescription (Site 2: 23%-3%). There were no significant changes in other outcomes.

Conclusions

Pathways improved pediatric asthma care quality in the ED and inpatient settings of community hospitals.

Variation in tonsillectomy cost and revisit rates: analysis of administrative and billing data from US children's hospitals

BACKGROUND

Tonsillectomy is one of the most common and cumulatively expensive surgical procedures in children. We determined if substantial variation in resource use, as measured by standardised costs, exists across hospitals for performing tonsillectomy and if higher resource use is associated with better quality of care, as measured by revisits to hospital.

METHODS

We conducted a retrospective analysis of children undergoing routine outpatient tonsillectomy between 2011 to 2017 across US children's hospitals using an administrative and billing data source. The primary outcome measures were the hospital tonsillectomy standardised cost and the 30-day revisit rate to hospital. We analysed the interhospital variation in standardised cost by determining the number of outlier hospitals in standardised cost and the intraclass correlation coefficient.

RESULTS

131 814 children (median age 6 years, IQR: 4,9; female sex 52.5%) underwent tonsillectomy for airway obstruction (62.9%) and infection (23.9%) across 28 hospitals. The median adjusted hospital standardised cost for tonsillectomy was $2392 (IQR: $1827, $2793; range: $1166 to $4222). There was substantial interhospital variation in costs as 11 (40%) hospitals were cost outliers, and the intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.62, suggesting that 62% of the variation in cost was attributable to variation between hospitals. The median hospital revisit rate was 9.5% (IQR: 7.8, 12.1) and higher hospital costs did not correlate with lower revisit rates (rs =0.03, 95% CI -0.36 to 0.41; p=0.87).

CONCLUSIONS

There is substantial variation in hospital resource use and standardised costs for routine outpatient tonsillectomy across US children's hospitals. Higher resource use is not associated with lower revisit rates. Further study is needed to understand the practices of lower resource use hospitals who deliver high quality of care.

Pathways for Improving Inpatient Pediatric Asthma Care (PIPA): A Multicenter, National Study

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Pathways guide clinicians through evidence-based care of specific conditions. Pathways have been demonstrated to improve inpatient asthma care but mainly in studies at large, tertiary children's hospitals. It remains unclear if these effects are generalizable across diverse hospital settings. Our objective was to improve inpatient asthma care by implementing pathways in a diverse, national sample of hospitals.

METHODS

We used a learning collaborative model. Pathway implementation strategies included local champions, external facilitators and/or mentors, educational seminars, quality improvement methods, and audit and feedback. Outcomes included length of stay (LOS) (primary), early administration of metered-dose inhalers, screening for secondhand tobacco exposure and referral to cessation resources, and 7-day hospital readmissions or emergency revisits (balancing). Hospitals reviewed a sample of up to 20 charts per month of children ages 2 to 17 years who were admitted with a primary diagnosis of asthma (12 months before and 15 months after implementation). Analyses were done by using multilevel regression models with an interrupted time series approach, adjusting for patient characteristics.

RESULTS

Eighty-five hospitals enrolled (40 children's and 45 community); 68 (80%) completed the study (n = 12 013 admissions). Pathways were associated with increases in early administration of metered-dose inhalers (odds ratio: 1.18; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.14-1.22) and referral to smoking cessation resources (odds ratio: 1.93; 95% CI: 1.27-2.91) but no statistically significant changes in other outcomes, including LOS (rate ratio: 1.00; 95% CI: 0.96-1.06). Most hospitals (65%) improved in at least 1 outcome.

CONCLUSIONS

Pathways did not significantly impact LOS but did improve quality of asthma care for children in a diverse, national group of hospitals.

Association Between Adherence to Evidence-Based Practices for Treatment of Patients With Traumatic Rib Fractures and Mortality Rates Among US Trauma Centers

IMPORTANCE

Rib fractures are sustained by nearly 15% of patients who experience trauma and are associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Evidence-based practice (EBP) rib fracture management guidelines and treatment algorithms have been published. However, few studies have evaluated trauma center adherence to EBP or the clinical outcomes of each practice within a national cohort.

OBJECTIVE

To examine adherence to 6 EBPs for rib fractures across US trauma centers and the association with in-hospital mortality.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS

A retrospective cohort study was conducted from January 1, 2007, to December 31, 2014, of 777 US trauma centers participating in the National Trauma Data Bank. A total of 625 617 patients (age, ≥16 years) were evaluated. Patients without rib fractures and those with no signs of life or institutions with poor data quality were excluded. Data analysis was performed from January 1, 2007, to December 31, 2014.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES

Six EBPs were defined: (1) neuraxial blockade, (2) intensive care unit admission, (3) pneumatic stabilization, (4) chest computed tomographic scans for older adults (≥65 years) with 3 or more rib fractures, (5) surgical rib fixation for flail chest, and (6) tube thoracostomy placement for hemothorax and/or pneumothorax. Multiple imputation was used to account for missing data. Patients were propensity score matched in a 1:1 fashion based on demographic characteristics; injury severity parameters, including the Injury Severity Score (range, 0-75; higher scores indicate more severe injuries); and comorbidities. Logistic regression was used to determine the association of each practice with all-cause in-hospital mortality.

RESULTS

Of the 625 617 patients with rib fractures included in this analysis, 456 196 patients (73%) were white and 432 229 patients (69%) were male; the median age of the patients was 51 (interquartile range, 37-65) years, and the mean (SD) Injury Severity Score was 18.3 (11.1). The mean (SD) number of rib fractures was 4.2 (2.6). On univariate analysis, patients treated at verified level I trauma centers were more likely to receive 5 or 6 EBPs (all but pneumatic stabilization). Of those who met eligibility, only 4578 of 111 589 patients (4%) received neuraxial blockade, 46 456 of 111 589 patients (42%) were admitted to the intensive care unit, 3302 of 24 319 patients (14%) received surgical rib fixation, 1240 of 111 589 patients (1%) received pneumatic stabilization, 109 160 of 258 334 patients (42%) received tube thoracostomy, and 32 405 of 81 417 patients (40%) received chest computed tomographic scans. Three EBPs were associated with decreased mortality: neuraxial blockade (odds ratio [OR], 0.64; 95% CI, 0.51-0.79; P < .001) for patients aged 65 years or older with 3 or more rib fractures, surgical rib fixation (OR, 0.13; 95% CI, 0.01-0.18; P < .001), and intensive care unit admission (OR, 0.93; 95% CI, 0.86-1.00; P = .04) for patients aged 65 years or older with 3 or more rib fractures. Pneumatic stabilization (OR, 1.71; 95% CI, 1.25-2.35; P < .001) and chest tube placement (OR, 1.27; 95% CI, 1.21-1.33; P < .001) were associated with increased mortality in older patients with 3 or more rib fractures. On multivariable analysis, insurance status, race/ethnicity, injury severity, hospital bed size, and trauma center verification level were associated with receiving EBPs for rib fractures.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE

Significant variation appears to exist in the delivery of EBPs for rib fractures across US trauma centers. Three EBPs were associated with reduced mortality, but EBP adherence was poor. Multiple factors, including trauma center verification level, appear to be associated with patients receiving EBPs for rib fractures.

Distinguishing Children's Hospitals From Non-Children's Hospitals in Large Claims Data

BACKGROUND

The first methodologic step needed to compare pediatric health outcomes at children's hospitals (CHs) and non-children's hospitals (NCHs) is to classify hospitals into CH and NCH categories. However, there are currently no standardized or validated methods for classifying hospitals. The purpose of this study was to describe a novel and reproducible hospital classification methodology.

METHODS

By using data from the 2015 American Hospital Association survey, 4464 hospitals were classified into 4 categories (tiers A-D) on the basis of self-reported presence of pediatric services. Tier A included hospitals that only provided care to children. Tier B included hospitals that had key pediatric services, including pediatric emergency departments, PICUs, and NICUs. Tier C included hospitals that provided limited pediatric services. Tier D hospitals provided no key pediatric services. Classifications were then validated by using publicly available data on hospital membership in various pediatric programs as well as Health Care Cost Institute claims data.

RESULTS

Fifty-one hospitals were classified as tier A, 228 as tier B, 1721 as tier C, and 1728 as tier D. The majority of tier A hospitals were members of the Children's Hospital Association, Children's Oncology Group, and National Surgical Quality Improvement Program-Pediatric. By using claims data, the percentage of admissions that were pediatric was highest in tier A (88.9%), followed by tiers B (10.9%), C (3.9%), and D (3.9%).

CONCLUSIONS

Using American Hospital Association survey data is a feasible and valid method for classifying hospitals into CH and NCH categories by using a reproducible multitiered system.

Does participation in the community outreach for asthma care and healthy lifestyles (COACH) program alter subsequent use of hospital services for children discharged with asthma?

Introduction: Transition from hospital to home is a challenging time for children with asthma and their caregivers because of the high risk for reutilization of acute hospital services. Detecting effective quality improvement initiatives to reduce utilization of urgent services in children discharged with asthma is an important clinical and public health question. This study was designed to identify the role of a multimodal, nurse-driven, inpatient initiated Community Outreach for Asthma Care and Healthy lifestyles (COACH) program on subsequent use of hospital services for pediatric patients with asthma.Methods: We utilized comparative effectiveness design to identify the difference in recurrent emergency department (ED) visits and/or admissions within 12-months after discharge between patients with asthma who engaged in the COACH program (Intervention group) and those who did not (Comparison group). We used administrative databases of hospitals included in the Meridian Health system to identify the number of and time to asthma-related readmissions and ED re-attendances.Results: We found no difference in the rate or number of recurrent hospital-based services used within 12 months, but found a reduction in ED re-visitation and/or readmission within 30 days for COACH program participants prior to and after adjustment for age, race/ethnicity, insurance status, and clinical presentation (Odd Ratio 0.44, 95% Confidence Interval 0.20, 0.93).Conclusion: Participation in the COACH program decreases the likelihood for subsequent use of hospital services within a month of discharge for children with asthma. Enhanced post-discharge interactions with families may reduce long-term reuse of hospital-based services for COACH program participants.

Approaches to Address Premature Death of Patients When Assessing Patterns of Use of Health Care Services After an Index Event

BACKGROUND

Studies of the use of health care after the onset of disease are important for assessing quality of care, treatment disparities, and guideline compliance. Cohort definition and analysis method are important considerations for the generalizability and validity of study results. We compared different approaches for cohort definition (restriction by survival time vs. comorbidity score) and analysis method [Kaplan-Meier (KM) vs. competing risk] when assessing patterns of guideline adoption in elderly patients.

METHODS

Medicare beneficiaries aged 65-95 years old who had an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in 2008 were eligible for this study. Beneficiaries with substantial frailty or an AMI in the prior year were excluded. We compared KM with competing risk estimates of guideline adoption during the first year post-AMI.

RESULTS

At 1-year post-AMI, 14.2% [95% confidence interval (CI), 14.0%-14.5%) of beneficiaries overall initiated cardiac rehabilitation when using competing risk analysis and 15.1% (95% CI, 14.8%-15.3%) from the KM analysis. Guideline medication adoption was estimated as 52.3% (95% CI, 52.0%-52.7%) and 53.4% (95% CI, 53.1%-53.8%) for competing risk and KM methods, respectively. Mortality was 17.0% (95%CI, 16.8%-17.3%) at 1 year post-AMI. The difference in cardiac rehabilitation initiation at 1-year post-AMI from the overall population was 0.1%, 1.7%, and 1.9% compared with 30-day survivor, 1-year survivor, and comorbidity-score restricted populations, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

In this study, the KM method consistently overestimated the competing risk method. Competing risk approaches avoid unrealistic mortality assumptions and lead to interpretations of estimates that are more meaningful.

Hospital-to-Home Interventions, Use, and Satisfaction: A Meta-analysis

CONTEXT

Hospital-to-home transitions are critical opportunities to promote patient safety and high-quality care. However, such transitions are often fraught with difficulties associated with increased health care use and poor patient satisfaction.

OBJECTIVE

In this review, we determine which pediatric hospital discharge interventions affect subsequent health care use or parental satisfaction compared with usual care.

DATA SOURCES

We searched 7 bibliographic databases and 5 pediatric journals.

STUDY SELECTION

Inclusion criteria were: (1) available in English, (2) focused on children <18 years of age, (3) pediatric data reported separately from adult data, (4) not focused on normal newborns or pregnancy, (5) discharge intervention implemented in the inpatient setting, and (6) outcomes of health care use or caregiver satisfaction. Reviews, case studies, and commentaries were excluded.

DATA EXTRACTION

Two reviewers independently abstracted data using modified Cochrane data collection forms and assessed quality using modified Downs and Black checklists.

RESULTS

Seventy one articles met inclusion criteria. Although most interventions improved satisfaction, interventions variably reduced use. Interventions focused on follow-up care, discharge planning, teach back-based parental education, and contingency planning were associated with reduced use across patient groups. Bundled care coordination and family engagement interventions were associated with lower use in patients with chronic illnesses and neonates.

LIMITATIONS

Variability limited findings and reduced generalizability.

CONCLUSIONS

In this review, we highlight the utility of a pediatric discharge bundle in reducing health care use. Coordinating follow-up, discharge planning, teach back-based parental education, and contingency planning are potential foci for future efforts to improve hospital-to-home transitions.

Barriers and Facilitators to Asthma Care After Hospitalization as Reported by Caregivers, Health Providers, and School Nurses

OBJECTIVES

To develop a comprehensive understanding of the barriers and/or facilitators for asthma management for the health professionals and caregivers of children with >1 hospitalization.

METHODS

Individual interviews were conducted with family caregivers and health professionals. Focus groups were conducted with school nurses. The interview and focus group guide were used to probe for barriers and facilitators of asthma management. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and coded by using qualitative software. Themes were identified by using content analysis in the interviews and descriptive qualitative analysis in the focus groups.

RESULTS

Caregivers (n = 10), asthma educators (n = 4), physicians (n = 4), and a payer (n = 1) were individually interviewed. School nurses were interviewed via a focus group (n = 10). Children had a median age of 7 years, mean length of stay of 1.9 days, and 56% had a previous hospitalization in the previous 12 months. The "gaps in asthma knowledge" theme (which includes an inadequate understanding of asthma chronicity, activity restrictions, and management with controller medications) emerged as a theme for both caregivers and health professionals but with different health beliefs. School nurses reinforced the difficulty they have in managing children who have asthma in schools, and they identified using the asthma action plan as a facilitator.

CONCLUSIONS

Caregivers and health professionals have different health beliefs about asthma knowledge, which raises challenges in the care of a child who has asthma. In addition, school nurses highlight specific barriers that are focused on medication use in schools. A comprehensive understanding of the barriers and facilitators of asthma management that families experience after hospital discharge is crucial to design better efforts to support families.

Timing and Causes of Common Pediatric Readmissions

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate and compare readmission causes and timing within the first 30 days after hospitalization for 3 acute and 3 chronic common pediatric conditions.

STUDY DESIGN

Data from the 2013 to 2014 Nationwide Readmissions Database were used to examine the daily percentage of readmissions occurring on days 1-30 and the leading causes of readmission after hospitalization for 3 acute (appendicitis, bronchiolitis/croup, and gastroenteritis) and 3 chronic (asthma, epilepsy, and sickle cell) conditions for patients aged 1-17 years (n = 2 753 488). Data were analyzed using Cox proportional hazards regression.

RESULTS

The 30-day readmission rates ranged from 2.6% (SE, 0.1) after hospitalizations for appendectomy to 19.1% (SE, 0.5) after hospitalizations for sickle cell anemia. More than 50% of 30-day readmissions after acute conditions occurred within 15 days after discharge, whereas readmissions after chronic conditions occurred more uniformly throughout the 30 days after discharge. Higher numbers of patient comorbidities were associated with increased risk of readmission at days 1-7, 8-15, and 16-30 after discharge for all conditions examined. Most 30-day readmissions after chronic conditions were for the same diagnosis or closely related conditions as the index admission (67% for asthma, 65% for seizure disorder, and 82% for sickle cell anemia) in contrast with 50% or fewer readmissions after acute conditions (46% for appendectomy, 47% for bronchiolitis/croup, and 19% for gastroenteritis).

CONCLUSIONS

The timing and causes of pediatric readmissions vary greatly across pediatric conditions. To be effective, strategies for reducing readmissions need to account for the index diagnosis to better target the highest risk period and causes for readmission.

Predictors of repeated acute hospital attendance for asthma in children: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Asthma attacks are common and have significant physical, psychological, and financial consequences. Improving the assessment of a child's risk of subsequent asthma attacks could support front-line clinicians' decisions on augmenting chronic treatment or specialist referral. We aimed to identify predictors for emergency department (ED) or hospital readmission for asthma from the published literature.

METHODS

We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, AMED, PsycINFO, and CINAHL with no language, location, or time restrictions. We retrieved observational studies and randomized controlled trials (RCT) assessing factors (personal and family history, and biomarkers) associated with the risk of ED re-attendance or hospital readmission for acute childhood asthma.

RESULTS

Three RCTs and 33 observational studies were included, 31 from Anglophone countries and none from Asia or Africa. There was an unclear or high risk of bias in 14 of the studies, including 2 of the RCTs. Previous history of emergency or hospital admissions for asthma, younger age, African-American ethnicity, and low socioeconomic status increased risk of subsequent ED and hospital readmissions for acute asthma. Female sex and concomitant allergic diseases also predicted hospital readmission.

CONCLUSION

Despite the global importance of this issue, there are relatively few high quality studies or studies from outside North America. Factors other than symptoms are associated with the risk of emergency re-attendance for acute asthma among children. Further research is required to better quantify the risk of future attacks and to assess the role of commonly used biomarkers.

Effectiveness of Pediatric Asthma Pathways for Hospitalized Children: A Multicenter, National Analysis

OBJECTIVE

To determine if clinical pathways affect care and outcomes for children hospitalized with asthma using a multicenter study.

STUDY DESIGN

This was a retrospective, multicenter cohort study using an administrative database, the Pediatric Health Information System. We evaluated the impact of inpatient pediatric asthma pathways on children age 2-17 years admitted for asthma from 2006 to 2015 in 42 children's hospitals. Date of pathway implementation for each hospital was collected via survey. Using generalized estimating equations with an interrupted time series approach (to account for secular trends), we determined the association of pathway implementation with length of stay (LOS), 30-day readmission, chest radiograph utilization, ipratropium administration >24 hours, and administration of bronchodilators, systemic steroids, and antibiotics. All analyses were risk-adjusted for patient and hospital characteristics.

RESULTS

Clinical pathway implementation was associated with an 8.8% decrease in LOS (95% CI 6.7%-10.9%), 3.1% decrease in hospital costs (95% CI 1.9%-4.3%), increased odds of bronchodilator administration (OR 1.53[1.21-1.95]) and decreased odds of antibiotic administration (OR 0.93[0.87-0.99]) (n = 189 331). We found no associations between pathway implementation and systemic steroid administration, ipratropium administration for >24 hours, chest radiograph utilization, or 30-day readmission.

CONCLUSIONS

Clinical pathways can decrease LOS, costs, and unnecessary antibiotic use without increasing rates of readmissions, leading to higher value care.

Inpatient Quality Improvement Interventions for Asthma: A Meta-analysis

CONTEXT

Despite the availability of evidence-based guidelines for the management of pediatric asthma, health care utilization remains high.

OBJECTIVE

Systematically review the inpatient literature on asthma quality improvement (QI) and synthesize impact on subsequent health care utilization.

DATA SOURCES

Medline and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (January 1, 1991-November 16, 2016) and bibliographies of retrieved articles.

STUDY SELECTION

Interventional studies in English of inpatient-initiated asthma QI work.

DATA EXTRACTION

Studies were categorized by intervention type and outcome. Random-effects models were used to generate pooled risk ratios for health care utilization outcomes after inpatient QI interventions.

RESULTS

Thirty articles met inclusion criteria and 12 provided data on health care reutilization outcomes. Risk ratios for emergency department revisits were: 0.97 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.06-14.47) <30 days, 1.70 (95% CI: 0.67-4.29) for 30 days to 6 months, and 1.22 (95% CI: 0.52-2.85) for 6 months to 1 year. Risk ratios for readmissions were: 2.02 (95% CI: 0.73-5.61) for <30 days, 1.68 (95% CI: 0.88-3.19) for 30 days to 6 months, and 1.27 (95% CI 0.85-1.90) for 6 months to 1 year. Subanalysis of multimodal interventions suggested lower readmission rates (risk ratio: 1.49 [95% CI: 1.17-1.89] over a period of 30 days to 1 year after the index admission). Subanalysis of education and discharge planning interventions did not show effect.

LIMITATIONS

Linkages between intervention and outcome are complicated by the multimodal approach to QI in most studies.

CONCLUSIONS

We did not identify any inpatient strategies impacting health care reutilization within 30 days of index hospitalization. Multimodal interventions demonstrated impact over the longer interval.

Asthma Care Quality Measures at Children's Hospitals and Asthma-Related Outcomes

OBJECTIVE

The Joint Commission requires hospitals to report on Children's Asthma Care (CAC) measures, although their relationship to outcomes is not clear. The objective of this study was to (1) characterize metrics hospitals use for asthma, and to (2) determine if the number and type of metrics used is associated with readmission rates.

STUDY DESIGN

Pediatric hospital quality leaders were asked to identify asthma metrics utilized by their respective organizations via an online survey. "Use" of metrics was defined as periodically measuring data regardless of performance. Linear regression was used to determine if the number or domain of metrics grouped by topic used was associated with 7-, 30-, and 90-day same-cause readmission rates obtained from the Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS).

RESULTS

Among respondents (n = 27, 62.7%), the mean number of metrics used was 20.5 (SD = 9.1, range = 4-38). There was no association between the number or domain type of metrics used and 7-, 30-, or 90-day readmission rates.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite using a wide variety of asthma metrics, there was no association between use of any metric or domain of metrics and asthma-related readmission rates. Additional work should identify asthma process measures that are associated with meaningful outcomes.

Impact of Discharge Components on Readmission Rates for Children Hospitalized with Asthma

OBJECTIVES

To describe hospital-based asthma-specific discharge components at children's hospitals and determine the association of these discharge components with pediatric asthma readmission rates.

STUDY DESIGN

This is a multicenter retrospective cohort study of pediatric asthma hospitalizations in 2015 at children's hospitals participating in the Pediatric Health Information System. Children ages 5 to 17 years were included. An electronic survey assessing 13 asthma-specific discharge components was sent to quality leaders at all 49 hospitals. Correlations of combinations of asthma-specific discharge components and adjusted readmission rates were calculated.

RESULTS

The survey response rate was 92% (45 of 49 hospitals). Thirty-day and 3-month adjusted readmission rates varied across hospitals, ranging from 1.9% to 3.9% for 30-day readmissions and 5.7% to 9.1% for 3-month readmissions. No individual or combination discharge components were associated with lower 30-day adjusted readmission rates. The only single-component significantly associated with a lower rate of readmission at 3 months was having comprehensive content of education (P < .029). Increasing intensity of discharge components in bundles was associated with reduced adjusted 3-month readmission rates, but this did not reach statistical significance. This was seen in a 2-discharge component bundle including content of education and communication with the primary medical doctor, as well as a 3-discharge component bundle, which included content of education, medications in-hand, and home-based environmental mitigation.

CONCLUSIONS

Children's hospitals demonstrate a range of asthma-specific discharge components. Although we found no significant associations for specific hospital-level discharge components and asthma readmission rates at 30 days, certain combinations of discharge components may support hospitals to reduce healthcare utilization at 3 months.

Variability in asthma quality and costs in children with different Medicaid insurance plans in Maricopa County

OBJECTIVE

To describe the variation in asthma quality and costs among children with different Medicaid insurance plans.

METHODS

We used 2013 data from the Center for Health Information and Research, which houses a database that includes individuals who have Medicaid insurance in Arizona. We analyzed children ages 2-17 years-old who lived in Maricopa County, Arizona. Asthma medication ratio (AMR, a measure of appropriate asthma medication use), outpatient follow-up within 2 weeks after asthma-related hospitalization (a measure of continuity of care), asthma-related hospitalizations, and all emergency department (ED) visits were the primary quality metrics. Direct costs were reported in 2013 $US dollars. We used one-way analysis of variance to compare the health plans for AMR and per member cost (total, ER, and hospital), and the chi-squared test for the outpatient follow-up measure. We used coefficient of variation to identify variation of each measure across all individuals in the study.

RESULTS

In 2013, 90,652 children in Maricopa County were identified as having asthma. The average patient-weighted AMR for children with persistent asthma was 0.35, well short of the goal of ≥0.70, and only 36% of hospitalized asthma patients had outpatient follow-up within 2 weeks of hospitalization. AMR, total costs, and ED costs varied significantly (p <.0001) when comparing health plans while hospital costs and outpatient follow-up showed no significant variation.

CONCLUSIONS

Targeting appropriate medication use for asthma may help reduce variation, improve outcomes, and increase healthcare value for children with asthma and Medicaid insurance in the US.

A Quality Improvement Intervention to Improve Inpatient Pediatric Asthma Controller Accuracy

OBJECTIVES

Our objective was to investigate if a rigorous quality improvement (QI) intervention could increase accuracy of pediatric asthma controller medications on discharge from an inpatient hospitalization.

METHODS

Our interprofessional QI team developed interventions such as improving documentation and creating standardized language to ensure patients were discharged on an appropriate asthma controller medication and improve assessment of asthma symptom control. Each week of 2015-2016, the first 5 patients discharged with status asthmaticus from the pediatric wards were reviewed for documentation of the 6 asthma control questions and accuracy of the discharge controller therapy. Correct discharge medication was defined as being prescribed the age-appropriate medication and dose on the basis of baseline controller therapy, compliance with baseline medication, and responses to asthma control assessment. The weekly proportion of control questions that were accessed and correct controller medications that were prescribed were analyzed by using Nelson rules and interrupted time series.

RESULTS

A total of 240 preintervention and 252 postintervention charts were reviewed. The primary outcome of the median proportion of patients discharged on appropriate controller therapy improved from 60% in preintervention data to 80% in the postintervention period. The process measure of proportion of asthma control questions that were assessed improved from 43% in the preintervention period to 98% by the final months of the intervention period. Both of these changes were statistically significant as per Nelson's rules and interrupted time series analyses (P = .02 and P < .001, respectively, for postintervention break).

CONCLUSIONS

An interdisciplinary QI team successfully improved the accuracy of asthma controller therapy on discharge and the inpatient assessment of asthma control questions.

Why Clinical Practice Guidelines Hinder Rather Than Help

Asthma is the leading cause of hospitalization among children. Recognition of inadequate control of asthma stimulated the development of Guidelines by an Expert Panel convened by the National Asthma and Prevention Program of the National Institute of Health. Those Guidelines with several revisions spanning 24 years were well-intentioned but ineffective at altering the continued high prevalence of urgent care and hospitalization among children with asthma. Meanwhile, there is strong evidence that specialists, with their greater clinical experience and knowledge have demonstrated excellent outcome compared with non-specialist care. It is time to recognize that there is strong evidence-based data that asthma specialty programs and not Guidelines disseminated to generalists alter the outcome of asthma.

National estimates of 30-day readmissions among children hospitalized for asthma in the United States

OBJECTIVE

Previous single-center studies have reported that up to 40% of children hospitalized for asthma will be readmitted. The study objectives are to investigate the prevalence and timing of 30-day readmissions in children hospitalized with asthma, and to identify factors associated with 30-day readmissions.

METHODS

Data (n = 12,842) for children aged 6-18 years hospitalized for asthma were obtained from the 2013 Nationwide Readmission Database (NRD). The primary study outcome was time to readmission within 30 days after discharge attributable to any cause. Several predictors associated with the risk of admission were included: patient (age, sex, median household income, insurance type, county location, and pediatric chronic complex condition), admission (type, day, emergency services utilization, length of stay (LOS), and discharge disposition), and hospital (ownership, bed size, and teaching status). Cox's proportional hazards model was used to identify predictors.

RESULTS

Of 12,842 asthma-related index hospitalizations, 2.5% were readmitted within 30-days post-discharge. Time to event models identified significantly higher risk of readmission among asthmatic children aged 12-18 years, those who resided in micropolitan counties, those with >4-days LOS during index hospitalization, those who were hospitalized in an urban hospital, who had unfavorable discharge (hazard ratio 2.53, 95% confidence interval 1.33-4.79), and those who were diagnosed with a pediatric complex chronic condition, respectively, than children in respective referent categories.

CONCLUSION

A multi-dimensional approach including effective asthma discharge action plans and follow-up processes, home-based asthma education, and neighborhood/community-level efforts to address disparities should be integrated into the routine clinical care of asthma children.

Adding Social Determinant Data Changes Children's Hospitals' Readmissions Performance

OBJECTIVES

To determine whether social determinants of health (SDH) risk adjustment changes hospital-level performance on the 30-day Pediatric All-Condition Readmission (PACR) measure and improves fit and accuracy of discharge-level models.

STUDY DESIGN

We performed a retrospective cohort study of all hospital discharges meeting criteria for the PACR from 47 hospitals in the Pediatric Health Information database from January to December 2014. We built four nested regression models by sequentially adding risk adjustment factors as follows: chronic condition indicators (CCIs); PACR patient factors (age and sex); electronic health record-derived SDH (race, ethnicity, payer), and zip code-linked SDH (families below poverty level, vacant housing units, adults without a high school diploma, single-parent households, median household income, unemployment rate). For each model, we measured the change in hospitals' readmission decile-rank and assessed model fit and accuracy.

RESULTS

For the 458 686 discharges meeting PACR inclusion criteria, in multivariable models, factors associated with higher discharge-level PACR measure included age <1 year, female sex, 1 of 17 CCIs, higher CCI count, Medicaid insurance, higher median household income, and higher percentage of single-parent households. Adjustment for SDH made small but significant improvements in fit and accuracy of discharge-level PACR models, with larger effect at the hospital level, changing decile-rank for 17 of 47 hospitals.

CONCLUSIONS

We found that risk adjustment for SDH changed hospitals' readmissions rate rank order. Hospital-level changes in relative readmissions performance can have considerable financial implications; thus, for pay for performance measures calculated at the hospital level, and for research associated therewith, our findings support the inclusion of SDH variables in risk adjustment.

Rising utilization of inpatient pediatric asthma pathways

INTRODUCTION

Clinical pathways are detailed care plans that operationalize evidence-based guidelines into an accessible format for health providers. Their goal is to link evidence to practice to optimize patient outcomes and delivery efficiency. It is unknown to what extent inpatient pediatric asthma pathways are being utilized nationally.

OBJECTIVES

(1) Describe inpatient pediatric asthma pathway design and implementation across a large hospital network. (2) Compare characteristics of hospitals with and without pathways.

METHODS

We conducted a descriptive, cross-sectional, survey study of hospitals in the Pediatric Research in Inpatient Settings Network (75% children's hospitals, 25% community hospitals). Our survey determined if each hospital used a pathway and pathway characteristics (e.g. pathway elements, implementation methods). Hospitals with and without pathways were compared using Chi-square tests (categorical variables) and Student's t-tests (continuous variables).

RESULTS

Surveys were distributed to 3-5 potential participants from each hospital and 302 (74%) participants responded, representing 86% (106/123) of surveyed hospitals. From 2005-2015, the proportion of hospitals utilizing inpatient asthma pathways increased from 27% to 86%. We found variation in pathway elements, implementation strategies, electronic medical record integration, and compliance monitoring across hospitals. Hospitals with pathways had larger inpatient pediatric programs [mean 12.1 versus 6.1 full-time equivalents, p = 0.04] and were more commonly free-standing children's hospitals (52% versus 23%, p = 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

From 2005-2015, there was a dramatic rise in implementation of inpatient pediatric asthma pathways. We found variation in many aspects of pathway design and implementation. Future studies should determine optimal implementation strategies to better support hospital-level efforts in improving pediatric asthma care and outcomes.

Nursing-led Home Visits Post-hospitalization for Children with Medical Complexity

PURPOSE

Hospital discharge for children with medical complexity (CMC) can be challenging for families. Home visits could potentially benefit CMC and their families after leaving the hospital. We assessed the utility of post-discharge home visits to identify and address health problems for recently hospitalized CMC.

DESIGN AND METHODS

A prospective study of 36 CMC admitted to a children's hospital from 4/15/2015 to 4/14/2016 identified with a possible high risk of hospital readmission and offered a post-discharge home visit within 72h of discharge. The visit was staffed by a hospital nurse familiar with the child's admission. The home visit goals were to reinforce education of the discharge plan, assess the child's home environment, and identify and address any problems or issues that emerged post-discharge.

RESULTS

The children's median age was 6years [interquartile range (IQR) 2-18]. The median distance from hospital to their home was 38miles (IQR 8-78). All (n=36) children had multiple chronic conditions; 89% (n=32) were assisted with medical technology. The nurse identified and helped with a post-discharge problem during every (n=36) visit. Of the 147 problems identified, 26.5% (n=39) pertained to social/family issues (e.g., financial instability), 23.8% (n=35) medications (e.g., wrong dose), 20.4% (n=30) durable medical equipment (e.g., insufficient supply or faulty function), 20.4% (n=30) child's home environment (e.g., unsafe sleeping arrangement), and 8.8% (n=13) child's health (e.g., unresolved health problem).

CONCLUSIONS

Home visits helped identify and address post-discharge issues that occurred for discharged CMC.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

Hospitals should consider home visits when optimizing discharge care for CMC.

Development and Testing of the Pediatric Respiratory Illness Measurement System (PRIMES) Quality Indicators

OBJECTIVES

To develop and test quality indicators for assessing care in pediatric hospital settings for common respiratory illnesses.

PATIENTS

A sample of 2796 children discharged from the emergency department or inpatient setting at 1 of the 3 participating hospitals with a primary diagnosis of asthma, bronchiolitis, croup, or community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2011.

SETTING

Three tertiary care children's hospitals in the United States.

METHODS

We developed evidence-based quality indicators for asthma, bronchiolitis, croup, and CAP. Expert panel-endorsed indicators were included in the Pediatric Respiratory Illness Measurement System (PRIMES). This new set of pediatric quality measures was tested to assess feasibility of implementation and sensitivity to variations in care. Medical records data were extracted by trained abstractors. Quality measure scores (0-100 scale) were calculated by dividing the number of times indicated care was received by the number of eligible cases. Score differences within and between hospitals were determined by using the Student's t-test or analysis of variance.

RESULTS

CAP and croup condition-level PRIMES scores demonstrated significant between-hospital variations (P < .001). Asthma and bronchiolitis condition-level PRIMES scores demonstrated significant within-hospital variation with emergency department scores (means [SD] 82.2(6.1)-100.0 (14.4)] exceeding inpatient scores (means [SD] 71.1 (2.0)-90.8 (1.3); P < .001).

CONCLUSIONS

PRIMES is a new set of measures available for assessing the quality of hospital-based care for common pediatric respiratory illnesses.

Multifaceted quality improvement initiative to decrease pediatric asthma readmissions

BACKGROUND

Asthma is the most common chronic disease of childhood and a leading cause of hospitalization in children. A primary goal of asthma control is prevention of hospitalizations. A hospital admission is the single strongest predictor of future hospital admissions for asthma. The 30-day asthma readmission rate at our institution was significantly higher than that of other hospitals in the Children's Hospital Association. As a result, a multifaceted quality improvement project was undertaken with the goal of reducing the 30-day inpatient asthma readmission rate by 50% within two years.

METHODS

Analysis of our institution's readmission patterns, value stream mapping of asthma admission, discharge, and follow-up processes, literature review, and examination of comparable successful programs around the United States were all utilized to identify potential targets for intervention. Interventions were implemented in a stepwise manner, and included increasing inhaler availability after discharge, modifying asthma education strategies, and providing in-home post-discharge follow-up. The primary outcome was a running 12-month average 30-day inpatient readmission rate. Secondary outcomes included process measures for individual interventions.

RESULTS

From a peak of 7.98% in January 2013, a steady decline to 1.65% was observed by July 2014, which represented a 79.3% reduction in 30-day readmissions.

CONCLUSION

A significant decrease in hospital readmissions for pediatric asthma is possible, through comprehensive, multidisciplinary quality improvement that spans the continuum of care.

Association between Postdischarge Oral Corticosteroid Prescription Fills and Readmission in Children with Asthma

OBJECTIVES

To assess the relationships between postdischarge emergency department visits, oral corticosteroid (OCS) use, and 15- to 90-day asthma readmission in children.

STUDY DESIGN

Retrospective study of 9288 children from 12 states in the Truven MarketScan Database, ages 2-18 years, hospitalized between January 1, 2009, and June 30, 2011, with asthma, and continuously enrolled in Medicaid for 6 months prior and 3 months after hospitalization. The primary outcome was 15- to 90-day readmission for asthma. Secondary outcomes were postdischarge emergency department visits (within 28 days) and outpatient OCS prescription fills (6-28 days postdischarge or earlier if coinciding with an outpatient asthma visit). Logistic regression was used to assess the relationship of hospital readmission with patient characteristics and asthma health services surrounding the index admission.

RESULTS

Median age at index admission was 6 years (IQR, 3-9); 62% were male and 49% were black; 2.8% had a 15- to 90-day readmission (median, 50 days; IQR, 32-70). After index discharge, 4% had an emergency department visit (median, 17 days; IQR, 12-24) and 11% had an outpatient OCS fill (median, 14 days; IQR, 6-21). In multivariable analysis, children with a postdischarge outpatient OCS fill (OR, 3.2; 95% CI, 2.4-4.6) or hospitalization within 6 months preceding the index admission (OR, 2.9; 95% CI, 2.0-4.0) had the greatest likelihood for hospital readmission.

CONCLUSIONS

OCS fill within 28 days of hospital discharge was most strongly associated with 15- to 90-day hospital readmission. This finding may inform evolving strategies to reduce asthma readmissions in children.

Association between pediatric home management plan of care compliance and asthma readmission

OBJECTIVES

In 2007, The Joint Commission implemented three children's asthma care (CAC) measures to help improve the quality of care for patients admitted with asthma. Due to lack of consistent evidence showing a relationship between home management plan of care (HMPC) compliance and readmission rates, CAC-3 was retired in 2016. We aimed to understand the relationship between HMPC compliance and revisits to the hospital, and investigate which components of the HMPC, if any, were driving the effect.

METHODS

This was a retrospective cohort study at a quaternary care freestanding children's hospital, including patients between 2 and 17 years of age admitted with a primary diagnosis of asthma between January 1, 2006, and July 1, 2013. Bivariate and multiple logistic regression analyses examined effects of HMPC provider compliance on hospital readmission and emergency department utilization for asthma within 180 days of initial discharge, controlling for admission to the intensive care unit, age, gender, ethnicity, insurance type, and whether inhaled corticosteroids were prescribed.

RESULTS

A total of 1,176 patients were included. Those discharged with an HMPC (n = 756, of which 84% were fully compliant) were found to have significantly lower readmission rates (7 vs. 11.9%; aOR = 0.63; 95% CI, 0.41-0.95) and ED revisit rates (aOR = 0.73; 95% CI, 0.56-0.96) within 180 days of discharge.

CONCLUSIONS

Providing an HMPC upon discharge was found to be associated with decreased asthma readmission and ED utilization rates. This suggests that although HMPC is no longer a required measure, there may still be utility in continuing this practice.

Modification of an Established Pediatric Asthma Pathway Improves Evidence-Based, Efficient Care

OBJECTIVE

In September 2011, an established pediatric asthma pathway at a tertiary care children's hospital underwent significant revision. Modifications included simplification of the visual layout, addition of evidence-based recommendations regarding medication use, and implementation of standardized admission criteria. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of the modified asthma pathway on pathway adherence, percentage of patients receiving evidence-based care, length of stay, and cost.

METHODS

Cases were identified by using International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification diagnosis codes. Data were analyzed for 24 months before and after pathway modification. Statistical process control was used to examine changes in processes of care, and interrupted time series was used to examine outcome measures, including length of stay and cost in the premodification and postmodification periods.

RESULTS

A total of 5584 patients were included (2928 premodification; 2656 postmodification). Pathway adherence was high (79%-88%) throughout the study period. The percentage of patients receiving evidence-based care improved after pathway modification, and the results were sustained for 2 years. There was also improved efficiency, with a 30-minute (10%) decrease in emergency department length of stay for patients admitted with asthma (P = .006). There was a nominal (<10%) increase in costs of asthma care for patients in the emergency department (P = .04) and no change for those admitted to the hospital.

CONCLUSIONS

Modification of an existing pediatric asthma pathway led to sustained improvement in provision of evidence-based care and patient flow without adversely affecting costs. Our results suggest that continuous re-evaluation of established clinical pathways can lead to changes in provider practices and improvements in patient care.

A Quality Improvement Collaborative to Improve the Discharge Process for Hospitalized Children

OBJECTIVE

To assess the impact of a quality improvement collaborative on quality and efficiency of pediatric discharges.

METHODS

This was a multicenter quality improvement collaborative including 11 tertiary-care freestanding children's hospitals in the United States, conducted between November 1, 2011 and October 31, 2012. Sites selected interventions from a change package developed by an expert panel. Multiple plan-do-study-act cycles were conducted on patient populations selected by each site. Data on discharge-related care failures, family readiness for discharge, and 72-hour and 30-day readmissions were reported monthly by each site. Surveys of each site were also conducted to evaluate the use of various change strategies.

RESULTS

Most sites addressed discharge planning, quality of discharge instructions, and providing postdischarge support by phone. There was a significant decrease in discharge-related care failures, from 34% in the first project quarter to 21% at the end of the collaborative (P < .05). There was also a significant improvement in family perception of readiness for discharge, from 85% of families reporting the highest rating to 91% (P < .05). There was no improvement in unplanned 72-hour (0.7% vs 1.1%, P = .29) and slight worsening of the 30-day readmission rate (4.5% vs 6.3%, P = .05).

CONCLUSIONS

Institutions that participated in the collaborative had lower rates of discharge-related care failures and improved family readiness for discharge. There was no significant improvement in unplanned readmissions. More studies are needed to evaluate which interventions are most effective and to assess feasibility in non-children's hospital settings.

Severe and Moderate Asthma Exacerbations in Asthmatic Children and Exposure to Ambient Air Pollutants

BACKGROUND

It is well established that short-term exposure to ambient air pollutants can exacerbate asthma, the role of early life or long-term exposure is less clear. We assessed the association between severe asthma exacerbations with both birth and annual exposure to outdoor air pollutants with a population-based cohort of asthmatic children in the province of Quebec (Canada).

METHOD

Exacerbations of asthma occurring between 1 April 1996 and 31 March 2011 were defined as one hospitalization or emergency room visit with a diagnosis of asthma for children (<13 years old) already diagnosed with asthma. Annual daily average concentrations of ozone (O₃) and nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) were estimated at the child's residential postal code. Satellite based levels of fine particulate (PM2.5) estimated for a grid of 10 km by 10 km were also assigned to postal codes of residence for the whole province. Hazard ratios (HRs) were estimated from Cox models with a gap time approach for both birth and time-dependant exposure.

RESULTS

Of the 162,752 asthmatic children followed (1,020,280 person-years), 35,229 had at least one asthma exacerbation. The HRs stratified by age groups and adjusted for the year of birth, the ordinal number of exacerbations, sex, as well as material and social deprivation, showed an interquartile range increase in the time-dependant exposure to NO₂ (4.95 ppb), O₃ (3.85 ppb), and PM2.5 (1.82 μg/m³) of 1.095 (95% CI 1.058-1.131), 1.052 (95% CI 1.037-1.066) and 1.025 (95% CI 1.017-1.031), respectively. While a positive association was found to PM2.5, no associations were found between exposure at birth to NO₂ or O₃.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results support the conclusion, within the limitation of this study, that asthma exacerbations in asthmatic children are mainly associated with time dependent residential exposures less with exposure at birth.

The Creation of a Pediatric Hospital Medicine Dashboard: Performance Assessment for Improvement

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Leaders of pediatric hospital medicine (PHM) recommended a clinical dashboard to monitor clinical practice and make improvements. To date, however, no programs report implementing a dashboard including the proposed broad range of metrics across multiple sites. We sought to (1) develop and populate a clinical dashboard to demonstrate productivity, quality, group sustainability, and value added for an academic division of PHM across 4 inpatient sites; (2) share dashboard data with division members and administrations to improve performance and guide program development; and (3) revise the dashboard to optimize its utility.

METHODS

Division members proposed a dashboard based on PHM recommendations. We assessed feasibility of data collection and defined and modified metrics to enable collection of comparable data across sites. We gathered data and shared the results with division members and administrations.

RESULTS

We collected quarterly and annual data from October 2011 to September 2013. We found comparable metrics across all sites for descriptive, productivity, group sustainability, and value-added domains; only 72% of all quality metrics were tracked in a comparable fashion. After sharing the data, we saw increased timeliness of nursery discharges and an increase in hospital committee participation and grant funding.

CONCLUSIONS

PHM dashboards have the potential to guide program development, mobilize faculty to improve care, and demonstrate program value to stakeholders. Dashboard implementation at other institutions and data sharing across sites may help to better define and strengthen the field of PHM by creating benchmarks and help improve the quality of pediatric hospital care.

Improving Quality of Acute Asthma Care in US Hospitals: Changes Between 1999-2000 and 2012-2013

BACKGROUND

Little is known about the longitudinal change in the quality of acute asthma care for hospitalized children and adults in the United States. We investigated whether the concordance of inpatient asthma care with the national guidelines improved over time, identified hospital characteristics predictive of guideline concordance, and determined whether guideline-concordant care is associated with a shorter hospital length of stay (LOS).

METHODS

This study was an analysis of data from two multicenter chart review studies of hospitalized patients aged 2 to 54 years with acute asthma during two time periods: 1999-2000 and 2012-2013. Outcomes were guideline concordance at the patient and hospital levels, and association of patient composite concordance with hospital LOS.

RESULTS

The analytic cohort for the comparison of guideline concordance comprised 1,634 patients: 834 patients from 1999-2000 vs 800 patients from 2012-2013. Over these 15 years, inpatient asthma care became more concordant at the hospital-level, with the mean composite score increasing from 74 to 82 (P < .001). However, during 2012-2013, wide variability in guideline concordance of acute asthma care remained across hospitals, with the greatest variation in provision of individualized written action plan at discharge (SD, 36). Guideline concordance was significantly lower in Midwestern and Southern hospitals compared with Northeastern hospitals. After adjusting for severity, patients who received care perfectly concordant with the guidelines had significantly shorter hospital LOS (-14% [95% CI, -23 to -4]; P = .009).

CONCLUSIONS

Between 1999 and 2013, the guideline concordance of acute asthma care for hospitalized patients improved. However, interhospital variability remains substantial. Greater concordance with evidence-based guidelines was associated with a shorter hospital LOS.

Seizure Action Plans Do Not Reduce Health Care Utilization in Pediatric Epilepsy Patients

Management of pediatric epilepsy requires complex coordination of care. We hypothesized that an improved seizure management care plan would reduce health care utilization and improve outcomes. The authors conducted a cohort study with historical controls of 120 epilepsy patients before and after implementation of a "Seizure Action Plan." The authors evaluated for differences in health care utilization including emergency department visits, hospitalizations, clinic visits, telephone calls, and the percentage of emergency department visits that resulted in hospitalization in patients who did or did not have a Seizure Action Plan. The authors found that there was no decrease in these measures of health care utilization, and in fact the number of follow-up clinic visits was increased in the group with Seizure Action Plans (4.2 vs 3.3, P = .006). However, the study was underpowered to detect smaller differences. This study suggests that pediatric epilepsy quality improvement measures may require alternative approaches to reduce health care utilization and improve outcomes.

Increasing Medication Possession at Discharge for Patients With Asthma: The Meds-in-Hand Project

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Many patients recently discharged from an asthma admission do not fill discharge prescriptions. If unable to adhere to a discharge plan, patients with asthma are at risk for re-presentation to care. We sought to increase the proportion of patients discharged from an asthma admission in possession of their medications (meds in hand) from a baseline of 0% to >75%.

METHODS

A multidisciplinary improvement team performed 3 plan-do-study-act cycles over 2 years and, using a statistical process control chart, tracked the proportion of patients admitted with asthma discharged with meds in hand as the primary outcome. An exploratory, retrospective analysis of insurance data was conducted with a convenience sample of Medicaid-insured patients, comparing postdischarge utilization between patients discharged with meds in hand and usual care. Generalized estimating equations accounted for nonindependence in the data.

RESULTS

Changes to the discharge process culminated in the development of a discharge medication delivery service. Outpatient pharmacist delivery of discharge medications to patient rooms achieved the project aim of 75% of patients discharged with meds in hand. In a subset of patients for whom all insurance claims were available, those discharged with meds in hand had lower odds of all-cause re-presentation to the emergency department within 30 days of discharge, compared with patients discharged with usual care (odds ratio, 0.22; 95% confidence interval, 0.05-0.99).

CONCLUSIONS

Our initiative led to several discharge process improvements, including the creation of a medication delivery service that increased the proportion of patients discharged in possession of their medications and may have decreased unplanned visits after discharge.

Multiple Behavior Change Intervention to Improve Detection of Unmet Social Needs and Resulting Resource Referrals

OBJECTIVE

It is critical that pediatric residents learn to effectively screen families for active and addressable social needs (ie, negative social determinants of health). We sought to determine 1) whether a brief intervention teaching residents about IHELP, a social needs screening tool, could improve resident screening, and 2) how accurately IHELP could detect needs in the inpatient setting.

METHODS

During an 18-month period, interns rotating on 1 of 2 otherwise identical inpatient general pediatrics teams were trained in IHELP. Interns on the other team served as the comparison group. Every admission history and physical examination (H&P) was reviewed for IHELP screening. Social work evaluations were used to establish the sensitivity and specificity of IHELP and document resources provided to families with active needs. During a 21-month postintervention period, every third H&P was reviewed to determine median duration of continued IHELP use.

RESULTS

A total of 619 admissions met inclusion criteria. Over 80% of intervention team H&Ps documented use of IHELP. The percentage of social work consults was nearly 3 times greater on the intervention team than on the comparison team (P < .001). Among H&Ps with documented use of IHELP, specificity was 0.96 (95% confidence interval 0.87-0.99) and sensitivity was 0.63 (95% confidence interval 0.50-0.73). Social work provided resources for 78% of positively screened families. The median duration of screening use by residents after the intervention was 8.1 months (interquartile range 1-10 months).

CONCLUSIONS

A brief intervention increased resident screening and detection of social needs, leading to important referrals to address those needs.

Factors associated with 30-day unplanned pediatric surgical readmission

BACKGROUND

Unplanned readmissions are costly to family satisfaction and negatively associated with quality of care. We hypothesized that patient, operative, and hospital factors would be associated with pediatric readmission.

METHODS

All patients with an inpatient operation from 10/1/2008 to 7/28/2014 at a freestanding children's hospital were included. A retrospective cohort study using multivariable forward stepwise logistic regression determined factors associated with unplanned readmission within 30 days of discharge.

RESULTS

Among 20,785 patients with an operation there were 26,978 encounters and 3,092 readmissions (11.5%). Thirteen of 33 candidate variables considered in the stepwise regression were significantly associated with readmission. Patients with an emergency department visit within 365 days of operation, American Society of Anesthesiologists class 4 or greater, Hispanic ethnicity and late-day or holiday/weekend discharges were more likely to have an unplanned readmission (odds ratio [OR] = 1.96; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.76 to 2.19, OR = 2.00; 95% CI = 1.58 to 2.53, OR = 1.16; 95% CI = 1.04 to 1.29, OR = 2.27; 95% CI = 1.55 to 3.63. respectively).

CONCLUSIONS

Patient and hospital factors may be associated with readmission. Day and time of discharge represent variability of care and are important targets for hospital initiatives to decrease unplanned readmission.

Socioeconomic Status and Hospitalization Costs for Children with Brain and Spinal Cord Injury

OBJECTIVE

To determine if household income is associated with hospitalization costs for severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) and spinal cord injury (SCI).

STUDY DESIGN

Retrospective cohort study of inpatient, nonrehabilitation hospitalizations at 43 freestanding children's hospitals for patients <19 years old with unintentional severe TBI and SCI from 2009-2012. Standardized cost of care for hospitalizations was modeled using mixed-effects methods, adjusting for age, sex, race/ethnicity, primary payer, presence of chronic medical condition, mechanism of injury, injury severity, distance from residence to hospital, and trauma center level. Main exposure was zip code level median annual household income.

RESULTS

There were 1061 patients that met inclusion criteria, 833 with TBI only, 227 with SCI only, and 1 with TBI and SCI. Compared with those with the lowest-income zip codes, patients from the highest-income zip codes were more likely to be older, white (76.7% vs 50.4%), have private insurance (68.9% vs 27.9%), and live closer to the hospital (median distance 26.7 miles vs 81.2 miles). In adjusted models, there was no significant association between zip code level household income and hospitalization costs.

CONCLUSIONS

Children hospitalized with unintentional, severe TBI and SCI showed no difference in standardized hospital costs relative to a patient's home zip code level median annual household income. The association between household income and hospitalization costs may vary by primary diagnosis.

Improving Pediatric Asthma Care and Outcomes Across Multiple Hospitals

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Gaps exist in inpatient asthma care. Our aims were to assess the impact of an evidence-based care process model (EB-CPM) 5 years after implementation at Primary Children's Hospital (PCH), a tertiary care facility, and after its dissemination to 7 community hospitals.

METHODS

Participants included asthmatics 2 to 17 years admitted at 8 hospitals between 2003 and 2013. The EB-CPM was implemented at PCH between January 2008 and March 2009, then disseminated to 7 community hospitals between January and June 2011. We measured compliance using a composite score (CS) for 8 quality measures. Outcomes were compared between preimplementation and postimplementation periods. Confounding was addressed through multivariable regression analyses.

RESULTS

At PCH, the CS increased and remained at >90% for 5 years after implementation. We observed sustained reductions in asthma readmissions (P = .026) and length of stay (P < .001), a trend toward reduced costs (P = .094), and no change in hospital resource use, ICU transfers, or deaths. The CS also increased at the 7 community hospitals, reaching 80% to 90% and persisting >2 years after dissemination, with a slight but not significant readmission reduction (P = .119), a significant reduction in length of stay (P < .001) and cost (P = .053), a slight increase in hospital resource use (P = .032), and no change in ICU transfers or deaths.

CONCLUSIONS

Our intervention resulted in sustained, long-term improvement in asthma care and outcomes at the tertiary care hospital and successful dissemination to community hospitals.